With another strong performance, famous skateboarder turned racing driver Leticia Bufoni keeps displaying natural talent and good speed behind the wheel in her learning-oriented season in Porsche Cup Brazil, claiming a sixth place in the Trophy class in only her second race weekend.
Racing rookie Leticia Bufoni contested her second round of the Porsche Cup Brazil, as part of the new Sprint Trophy category which is aimed as a developmental and formative class for young and new drivers into the highly-competitive Brazilian one-make series.
Bufoni - a six-time X-Games gold medalist and world renowned professional skateboarder - has in fact embarked on her journey as a racing driver, having always been a fan of the sport. And she did so with a remarkable debut at Autódromo Internacional Ayrton Senna in Goiânia last month, where she made big progress throughout the opening weekend and almost secured a second place on her first ever race at the wheel of the Porsche 991 GT3 Cup car.
In rainy conditions, Bufoni was the protagonist of a charge through the field that saw the #13 machine moving up from tenth on the grid to second in class - before a competitor made contact and spun her around on the very final corner of the race, dropping her to fifth in class.
Nevertheless, her remarkable debut was proof of Bufoni's natural talent behind the wheel and racecraft - which she would aim to hone in the remainder of the championship.
Leticia headed to the very technical 3.443 km Velocitta Circuit for the second round, aiming to continue her learning process behind the wheel.
She was tenth fastest overall and sixth in the Trophy class on Friday, before making a big step forward in qualifying on Saturday, when she clocked a 1:35.143 that placed her seventh in the Trophy class and P8 overall.
In very different weather to Goiânia, Bufoni lined up on the fourth row for the sole race of the weekend in sunny conditions. Silvio Morestoni led the pack at the green flag, with Gabriel Liber almost outbraking himself into turn 1 but retaining third. Bufoni was soon on the move, but was forced wide onto the grass on lap one, although she held on to seventh in class despite losing one place to Lucco, who had gained three positions.
Bufoni improved on her personal best at every lap and, while Lucco could open a small gap in the first laps, Leticia managed to go under the 1m37 mark for the first time on lap 5, closing in on the car ahead - albeit she also had to keep Cyntrymbaum at bay, less than half a second behind.
A contact between Liber and Stallone at turn one left the latter with a damaged front suspension, but the race remained green.
Bufoni, meanwhile, continued to display great pace and completed a great pass on Lucco as she moved up to sixth overall and fifth in class; unfortunately, she saw her progression come undone at turn 1 one lap later, as she spun and rejoined. The mistake only cost her one position among the Trophy class - and she was soon back up to speed, glued to the back of Victor Marques' #77 machine.
Bufoni cleared Marques - but now had 15 seconds to close in order to catch back Cyntrymbaum. Mauricio Barros spun on lap 10 - and the stranded #69 Porsche 911 triggered the safety car, which allowed Bufoni to get back within the front-running pack.
The race resumed for one last lap; Morestoni pulled away and took a dominant win, ahead of Moura Neto and Liber; while she fought elbows out on the final lap, Leticia Bufoni had a couple of Sport class entries in between her and the closest class rival, and therefore had to settle for sixth in class and eighth overall.
It was nevertheless another strong performance for the famous skateboarder turned racing driver, who is displaying natural talent and good speed behind the wheel in her learning-oriented season in Porsche Cup Brazil.
She is set to return to the Porsche one-make series at Interlagos for round 3 in two week's time.