Felipe Fraga starts ahead of Barrichello on title-decider
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| Fraga draws first blood |
The last qualifying session of the Brazilian V8 Stock Car season was full of suspense. At Interlagos, known as Brazil’s motorsport temple, series leader Felipe Fraga registered his fourth season pole position – his first in Sao Paulo. Even with a 12th place being enough in the race to clinch the title, the Cimed Racing driver hopes to have put a psychological pressure on his rival Rubens Barrichello, who starts second tomorrow.
"I think I put some of this pressure on him, but I recognize it is almost impossible to mess with his mind due to his huge experience – he had been through much more tense moments than this one. Anyway, I am calm with myself and I won’t get in his way to the victory. My focus is on the title", says Fraga, who lapped the 4.309-km Grand Prix circuit in 1min38s939, only 11 thousandths of a second faster than Rubens.
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| Barrichello |
The Medley-Full Time racer is aware of the difficulty of his mission, since the F1 start record-holder is 36 points behind and has to finish the race 11 positions ahead of his opponent. "Felipe has been driving in an incredible high-level standard, with an excellent car, so it is not a surprise, given that he is one of the best Brazilian drivers of this new generation. I am happy with this final moments of the season, because I was only 11 thousandths of a second behind his lap – which is nothing. We will need some luck; anyway, I really want to win this final race, I will push as hard as I can to do so, and then we just wait for what faith brings afterwards", he concluded.
Valdeno Brito doest not have any mathematical chance to fight for the title, but the third-placed driver promises to fight for victory on his farewell of TMG Racing. "I want to close the season on a high. The team deserves it", says Brito, who will drive for Carlos Alves’ Eisenbahn Racing Team in 2017.
Diego Nunes, Daniel Serra, Allam Khodair, Max Wilson, Thiago Camilo, Ricardo Mauricio and Marcos Gomes close the grid top-10. The final race of the season is 40 minutes plus one lap long, with no mandatory pit stops and eight ‘push-to-pass’ each driver. The race starts at 10:10 am local time, broadcast live by Globo TV.
STARTING GRID*:
1. 88 Felipe Fraga (Cimed Racing) – 1min38s939
2. 111 Rubens Barrichello (Full Time Sports) – 1min38s950
3. 77 Valdeno Brito (TMG Racing) – 1mn39s210
4. 70 Diego Nunes (Uniao Quimica Racing) – 1min39s212
5. 29 Daniel Serra (Red Bull Racing) – 1min39s238
6. 18 Allam Khodair (Full Time Sports) – 1min39s306
7. 65 Max Wilson (Eurofarma RC) – 1min39s331
8. 21 Thiago Camilo (Ipiranga-RCM) – 1min39s338
9. 90 Ricardo Mauricio (Eurofarma RC) – 1min39s357
10. 80 Marcos Gomes (Cimed Racing) – 1min39s423
11. 0 Caca Bueno (Red Bull Racing) – 1min39s478
12. 83 Gabriel Casagrande (C2 Axalta Racing) – 1min39s586
13. 63 Nestor Girolami (Eisenbahn Racing Team) – 1min39s611
14. 73 Sergio Jimenez (Cavaleiro Sports) – 1min39s635
15. 5 Denis Navarro (Vogel Motorsport) – 1min39s710
16. 110 Felipe Lapenna (Hot Car Min's) – 1min39s730
17. 10 Ricardo Zonta (Shell Racing) – 1min39s783
18. 110 Felipe Lapenna (Hot Car Competicoes) – 1min39s730
19. 46 Vitor Genz (Eisenbahn Racing Team) – 1min39s815
20. 9 Guga Lima (TMG Racing) – 1min39s922
21. 4 Julio Campos (C2 Axalta Racing) – 1min39s941
22. 3 Bia Figueiredo (Uniao Quimica Racing) – 1min40s004
23. 12 Lucas Foresti (Full Time-ProGP) – 1min40s016
24. 117 Guilherme Salas (RZ Motorsport) – 1min40s103
25. 8 Rafael Suzuki (Vogel Motorsport) – 1min40s237
26. 25 Tuka Rocha (RZ Motorsport) – 1min40s249
27. 51 Atila Abreu (Shell Racing) – 1min40s409
28. 26 Raphael Abbate (Hot Car Min's) – 1min40s438
29. 99 Xandynho Negrao (Cavaleiro Sports) – 1min40s518
*Results subject to official confirmation by the stewards