The 19-year-old driver Rafaela Ferreira achieved her second career victory in the Brazilian F4 Championship, and also climbed the podium for the fifth time this year. Cecília Rabelo scored a top 6 finish and approached the top 10 in the drivers standings.
After a break of just over 2 months, Formula 4 Brazil returned to action and for the first time in its recent history held its competitions outside the territory of its home country. The Oscar and Juan Gálvez Circuit, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was the stage for the fifth round of the 2024 season, where Rafaela Ferreira recorded new important feats.
Despite the challenge of having a new track on the calendar, the young drivers demonstrated quick adaptation to the 4.25km Argentine circuit. In the Free Practice sessions, the two female drivers on the grid - Rafa Ferreira and Cecília Rabelo recorded good lap times as well as showing progress, highlighted by a P2 finish by Ferreira and a P3 by Rabelo.
However, in the qualifying session for races 1 and 3, Ethan Nobels and Arthur Pavie performed better, leaving the two pole positions up for grabs in addition to the places on the front row. There was a great balance among the rest of the grid, with the gaps in the best lap times staying within the same minute. Thus, Rafaela Ferreira took a P4 and a P5 and Cecília Rabelo a double P8.
Race 1
In the first race of the weekend in Argentina, Rafaela Ferreira made a great start, holding fourth position and having a chance to fight for the top 3. But just like some other drivers had problems with the track conditions, she also ended up going off the track on the first lap - falling to P9. Cecília Rabelo avoided the incidents that occurred in front of her and moved up to P6.
On lap 3, race control announced a drive-through penalty for Rabelo - for jumping the start, and then the same punishment for Pepê Souza - for causing an incident. Cecília Rabelo dropped to 9th position, while Rafaela Ferreira moved up to 8th. Ferreira - who was trying to recover from the first lap incident, overtook Alceu Feldmann Neto on lap 9 and reached P7.
Without further incident, both drivers finished the first race of the weekend in Buenos Aires in the same positions - Ferreira in 7th and Rabelo in 9th. Arthur Pavie was the winner. And with the result of race 1 determining the starting grid for the next race, Rafaela Ferreira secured a place on the front row, in P2.
Race 2
The race held on Saturday, October 5th, marked an important milestone in F4 Brazil - being the 50th race in the history of the series, which is running its third season in 2024. The starting grid had Rafaela Ferreira in second place - alongside Alceu Feldmann Neto, who was on pole position. When the lights went out, Ferreira did an excellent job, taking the lead straight away, while Feldmann dropped to third.
But the green flag period was short-lived, after Lucca Zucchini caused a collision with Cecília Rabelo - who had started from 9th position. Before the end of the first lap, the safety car was deployed so that Rabelo's car could be recovered and the action was neutralized for about 5 minutes.
Rafa Ferreira did a great job on the restart, maintaining the lead and still opening a gap of more than two seconds to Feldmann. With some battles happening in the midfield, while Ferreira had set the fastest lap of the race, Arthur Pavie and Ethan Nobels were involved in an incident and the safety car had to be brought out again.
The second restart was waved with just over 4 minutes remaining and Rafaela Ferreira repeated her good work and remained at the front of the field. Despite the pressure made by Rogério Grotta, she resisted and remained in P1, until the race was interrupted for the third time - now due to Matheus Comparatto going off track. Thus, the drivers crossed the finish line under caution and Rafaela Ferreira secured her second victory in 2024.
“It was a race where everyone was very close, the times were very similar. The restarts were essential for today's result and I managed not to give any space. Everything was perfect for today's victory.” - said Rafaela Ferreira after the race.
Race 3
On Sunday, the drivers returned to the Oscar and Juan Gálvez Circuit for the last activity of the 5th round and this time both female drivers on the grid achieved good results. Starting in P5, Rafaela Ferreira had a great chance of fighting for a place on the podium - and she indeed achieved it.
The pole sitter - Ethan Nobels - had been overtaken by Matheus Comparatto and Arthur Pavie and dropped to third. Ferreira remained in fifth during the first laps, but she was always close to her competitors and soon moved up to P4 - when Pavie went off the track after receiving contact from Comparatto during a battle for the lead.
Soon afterwards, Nobels regained the lead and Comparatto received a drive-through penalty for the earlier incident. Thus, Rafaela Ferreira earned a place on the podium, moving up to P3, but she had to fight to defend her position, after Álvaro Cho approached her.
In the final part of the race, the duel for victory was between Ethan Nobels and the local driver - Gino Trappa. After two unsuccessful overtaking attempts, Trappa spun on the track and fell to the back of the grid. Coming right behind, Ferreira took second place - where she stayed until the end, despite pressure from Cho - who completed the podium in third place. Nobels was the winner.
The result of race 3 was Rafaela Ferreira's 5th podium finish in the 2024 season. Cecília Rabelo had a solid run and achieved an important result - crossing the finish line in P6, adding important points and recovering some of the damage caused by the early retirement in race 2.
The drivers' standings continues with Matheus Comparatto in the lead - with 194 points, and Rafaela Ferreira consolidated in the battle for the top 3. After achieving her second victory of the year and another podium, the TMG Racing driver now has 148 points - occupying fourth position, and 16 points behind Ethan Nobels, who sits in third. Cecília Rabelo collected 10 points and moved up to 11th place - now just 6 points away from the top 10.
F4 Brazil will return to action on November 2-3, in a weekend that will be unforgettable for the young drivers: just like in 2023, the single-seater series will share the Interlagos Circuit track with the Formula 1 São Paulo Grand Prix, as part of the support events.
Comments