Brazilian Bruna Tomaselli scored a P11 and a P7 in the Road to Indy's USF2000 on the streets of Toronto.
Bruna Tomaselli had another solid performance in last weekend's fourth round of the USF2000, the Road to Indy's program support series to IndyCar on the streets of Toronto.
The young Brazilian was optimistic about the challenging Canadian street circuit: "Last year I managed to do well in Toronto, but I ended up in a crash in the final laps, which took me out of the race. I knew that this year could have been very good" - said the 22 year-old, who scored the ninth fastest time in the only free practice session of the weekend.
"Being a street circuit, we end up with little time for practice and thus little time to set up the car," - she explained.
In the first qualifying session, Tomaselli set the seventh fastest time, while she could only manage P16 in the second qualifying.
Taking the start from the seventh grid slot for the first race of the weekend, the young racer opted for a cautious strategy in the first race: "I was in the middle of the pack, on a street circuit. We knew it would be a difficult and very careful race,"said the driver, who crossed the finish line in 11th place. As usual for the USF2000 series, racing was very intense from flag to flag and throughout the field.
"Obviously I expected more, and that made me change the strategy for race 2" - she commented after the first race of the Canadian weekend.
Starting the second race from the 16th place, Bruna had a recovering race which was reminescent of her karting days, as she moved up position after position.
"Everything I did in the first race, I changed for the second one. The car was good, I felt comfortable on a track that I like. I moved up the order and did one of my best races in the USF2000", commented the Pabst Racing driver, who ultimately gained nine positions after a series of impressive on-track overtakings to cross the finish line in seventh place.
"If I had more laps, I would have finished even further ahead. I'm very happy" - added the Brazilian, as she completed a remarkable comeback to attract the public's attention on the streets of Toronto.
Entering the weekend, one of Tomaselli's goals was to retain the top ten in the championship standings; a task that she successfully achieved. After the eighth and ninth races of the season, she now ranks ninth in the standings, with 103 points.
"It's all very close. Now it's time to focus on the next round in Lexington."- she concluded.
Road to Indy's USF2000 next round will be in held on the Mid-Ohio circuit in two weeks time.
In Bruna's words:
"I moved up the order and did one of my best races in the USF2000"
Ph credits: USF2000