Marcos Gomes clinches Brazilian V8 Stock Cars title after chaotic race in Interlagos

Marcos Gomes

Marcos Gomes is the new Brazilian V8 Stock Car champion. The 31-year-old driver, son of the four-time Stock Car champion Paulo Gomes, is the first ever to repeat his father's feat in the country's most prestigious series. It came the hard way, though: a six-car crash in Turn 4 took out Rubens Barrichello, Beto Monteiro, Rafael Suzuki, Max Wilson, Bia Figueiredo and Allam Khodair. Ana Beatriz and, later on, Marcos Gomes, got back to the track, far behind the leaders.

For Gomes luck, Caca Bueno also involved himself in a smaller crash that damaged his bonnet, and he would finish in 20th place – he needed at least a fourth place finish (in case of a Gomes' DNF) to get his sixth title.

However, Marcos, inside the car, wasn't worried about where his rival were at the track. He only wanted to finish the race, even though seven laps behind the leaders. "I'm one of the happiest people on earth today. I saw a movie in my head. A horror movie. Caca also had his back luck and did not reach the points he needed. But we won this title on the other 11 rounds", said a happy Gomes. "I was far behind and there was nothing I could do. At the beginning of the season I knew it was possible to fight for the title, but this season was a dream", he said.

The Start

"Marquinhos deserved the title", stated Caca Bueno. "His team did a great work. But we cannot forget that I got suspended of one round in Curitiba were Marcos scored 34 points, and our difference at the end was only 32 points. Unfortunately, that jeopardized me and made me get to the final round needing an improbable combination of results. I am sure, though, that we will come back stronger in 2016", he said.

Aatila Abreu said farewell to his Mobil AMG team in great fashion. After Valdeno Brito's disqualification by missing the brake lights, the 2014 runner-up would win for the first time this season. "I spent seven great years at AMG, and I don't say goodbye; I'd rather say ‘see you soon'. It is the end of an era with these guys, a very good team, with very good people, and I wish them all the best in the future", said Abreu, who will replace Brito at Shell Racing alongside Ricardo Zonta in 2016.

Next season starts on March 6th at Curitiba.

Interlagos, final round. Results:
1-) 51 Aatila Abreu (AMG Motorsport) – 23 laps in 42min28s345 (140.2 km/h)
2-) 70 Diego Nunes (Vogel Motorsport) – a 2s527
3-) 88 Felipe Fraga (Voxx Racing Team) – a 4s451
4-) 83 Gabriel Casagrande (Axalta C2 Team) – a 7s209
5-) 46 Vitor Genz (Boettger Competicoes) – a 7s521
6-) 5 Denis Navarro (Vogel Motorsport) – a 8s954
7-) 21 Thiago Camilo (Ipiranga-RCM) – a 11s400
😎 10 Ricardo Zonta (Shell Racing) – a 15s460
9-) 11 Cesar Ramos (Total Racing) – a 23s677
10-) 28 Galid Osman (Ipiranga-RCM) – a 24s808
11-) 14 Luciano Burti (RZ Motorsport) – a 25s398
12-) 63 Nestor Girolami (Schin Racing Team) – a 31s881
13-) 26 Raphael Abbate (Hot Car Competicoes) – a 38s596
14-) 74 Popo Bueno (Total Racing) – a 42s483
15-) 66 Felipe Guimaraes (Boettger Competicoes) – a 44s136
16-) 1 Antonio Pizzonia (Prati-donaduzzi) – a 50s457
17-) 110 Felipe Lapenna (Schin Racing Team) – a 59s604
18-) 3 Bia Figueiredo (Uniao Quimica Racing) – a 59s632
19-) 25 Tuka Rocha (Uniao Quimica Racing) – a 59s682
20-) 0 Caca Bueno (Red Bull Racing) – a 1min16s094
21-) 73 Sergio Jimenez (Axalta C2 Team) – 4 laps
DID NOT FINISH
22-) 80 Marcos Gomes (Voxx Racing Team) – 7 laps
23-) 77 Valdeno Brito (Shell Racing) – 14 laps
24-) 29 Daniel Serra (Red Bull Racing) – 19 laps
25-) 90 Ricardo Mauricio (Eurofarma RC) – 20 laps
26-) 4 Julio Campos (Prati-donaduzzi) – 20 laps
27-) 100 Allam Khodair (Full Time Sports) – 22 laps
28-) 65 Max Wilson (Eurofarma RC) – 22 laps
29-) 42 Constantino Jr (AMG Motorsport) – 23 laps
30-) 69 Beto Monteiro (Hot Car Competicoes) – 23 laps
31-) 8 Rafael Suzuki (RZ Motorsport) – 23 laps
32-) 111 Rubens Barrichello (Full Time Sports) – 23 laps
EXC-) 9 Gustavo Lima (ProGP) – excluded for causing a collision
FASTEST LAP: atila Abreu, 1min40s461 (154.6 km/h)
Results subject to official confirmation

Final Standings
BRAZILIAN V8 STOCK CARS 2015
1-) Marcos Gomes – 242 points
2-) Caca Bueno – 212
3-) Thiago Camilo – 193
4-) Rubens Barrichello – 188
5-) Allam Khodair – 184
6-) Daniel Serra – 181
7-) Ricardo Mauricio – 173
😎 Max Wilson – 162
9-) Felipe Fraga – 159
10-) Aatila Abreu – 155
11-) Julio Campos – 154
12-) Valdeno Brito – 148
13-) Ricardo Zonta – 147
14-) Diego Nunes – 139
15-) Vitor Genz – 124
16-) Gabriel Casagrande – 110
17-) Sergio Jimenez – 108
18-) Antonio Pizzonia – 95
19-) Luciano Burti – 93
20-) Galid Osman – 92
21-) Denis Navarro – 79
22-) Cesar Ramos – 66
23-) Tuka Rocha – 58
24-) Raphael Matos – 55
25-) Lucas Foresti – 53
26-) Popo Bueno – 52
27-) Rafael Suzuki – 51
28-) Felipe Lapenna – 44
29-) Raphael Abbate – 40
30-) Nestor Girolami – 18
31-) Felipe Guimaraes – 14
32-) Bia Figueiredo – 13
33-) Gustavo Lima – 5
34-) Fabio Fogaca – 3
35-) Mauro Giallombardo – 2
36-) Alceu Feldmann – 0
37-) Pedro Boesel – 0
38-) Constantino Jr – 0
39-) Beto Monteiro – 0
40-) Felipe Maluhy – 0