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Brazilian V8 Stock Cars: Felipe Fraga starts ahead on title-decider

The 21-year old only needs a 12th place to clinch the championship; Barrichello starts second aware of the difficult mission he faces this Sunday

Felipe Fraga

Felipe Fraga

Ricardo Zonta
Bia Figueiredo
Marcos Gomes
Ricardo Maurício
Allam Khodair
Allam Khodair
Shell car remembering Chapecoense
Car of Guga Lima
Car of Julio Campos
Max Wilson
Marcos Gomes, Felipe Fraga
Felipe Fraga
Rubens Barrichello
Felipe Fraga, Rubens Barrichello

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 São 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.

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 Maurício 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 in Brazil.

Starting grid*

Position Car #
Driver Team Time/Gap
1 88 Felipe Fraga Cimed Racing 1:38.939
2 111 Rubens Barrichello Full Time Sports 0.011
3 77 Valdeno Brito TMG Racing 0.271
4 70 Diego Nunes União Química Racing 0.273
5 29 Daniel Serra Red Bull Racing 0.299
6 18 Allam Khodair Full Time Sports 0.367
7 65 Max Wilson Eurofarma RC 0.392
8 21 Thiago Camilo Ipiranga-RCM 0.399
9 90 Ricardo Mauricio Eurofarma RC 0.418
10 80 Marcos Gomes Cimed Racing 0.484
11 0 Cacá Bueno Red Bull Racing 0.539
12 83 Gabriel Casagrande C2 Axalta Racing 0.647
13 63 Nestor Girolami Eisenbahn Racing 0.672
14 73 Sergio Jimenez Cavaleiro Sports 0.696
15 5 Denis Navarro Vogel Motorsport 0.771
16 110 Felipe Lapenna Hot Car Competições 0.791
17 10 Ricardo Zonta Shell Racing 0.844
18 28 Galid Osman Ipiranga-RCM 0.859
19 46 Vitor Genz Eisenbahn Racing 0.876
20 9 Guga Lima TMG Racing 0.983
21 4 Julio Campos C2 Axalta Racing 1.002
22 3 Bia Figueiredo União Química Racing 1.065
23 12 Lucas Foresti Full Time-ProGP 1.077
24 117 Guilherme Salas RZ Motorsport 1.164
25 8 Rafael Suzuki Vogel Motorsport 1.298
26 25 Tuka Rocha RZ Motorsport 1.310
27 51 Átila Abreu Shell Racing 1.470
28 26 Raphael Abbate Hot Car Competições 1.499
29 99 Xandynho Negrão Cavaleiro Sports 1.579

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