After an awsome race the young pilot not only made an excellent start but also performed the most incredible maneuver of the race
Bahrain International Speedway hosts this weekend’s first round of F2 World Championship events. The competition, last round before pilots get to the F1 level, will count on the participation of 20 pilots this season and the only Brazilian in the tournament is the mineiro Sérgio Sette Câmara (YOUSE | Banco BMG | CCR | CEMIG | GASMIG).
The official schedule was opened yesterday, with free practice. Similar to his performance during the preseason, Sergio showed to be very fit and scored the third best mark. Rather excited, the pilot went on to the countdown, held at night time. With overheating brakes, the Brazilian could not pursue the perfect lap. Still, with laps as fast as 1m42s221 he secured the third row of the grid, leaving from the sixth position.
In a sweltering hot middle eastern afternoon, the Championship was finally off and running. After a spectacular stretch, Sergio jumped from sixth to second, before even hitting first corner, showing once again that he had recovered his breath in the fight. Two laps later, pressured by the dutch Nyck Devries, he eventually gave up his position. And after two other laps Sergio would lose the third place for the Japanese Nirei Fukuzumi.
As he bent the next corner, however, he finally managed to recover the third place. With an amazing rhythm, at around on the 12th lap, he soon coveted and engulfed Devries position, taking over second place.
After perfect pit stops, the Carlin team replaced their two cars back on track in the first and second positions. From then on, Sérgio appeared about a second and a half ahead of the Russian Artem Markelov. Lapping faster than Sette Câmara the Russian got close enough and, as he starte the last lap, he overtook right in front of the pit lane. Soon later, however, as both slowed to cut the curve, Sergio spectacularly zigzag in front of his opponent, leaving him squeaking tires as to avoid a major crash. Both kept on battling and the Brazilian managed to stand up for his second position until the celebrated flag wagged. “I’m happy for the race we made today. I was very focused and had already given much thought to my starting strategy. It all worked out, I was able to jump second and then the race went well. With three laps to go the team informed me of Markelov’s approach. My tires were certainly worse than his, what gave him some advantage. But in a go-kart maneuver, I managed to get zigzag ahead and regained my position. We still have a couple of problems in the car to be fixed, but I’m confident in another good result for tomorrow’s race”, the driver declared. The second phase of the Formula 2 World Championship starts at 08am this Sunday, April 8th, and will be live broadcast on SPORTV2 channel.