In a recovery competition, the pilot started in the seventh positionin the standings and finished third
The Zandvoort Circuit Park, in the Netherlands, hosted last weekend the 26th Edition of the Zandvoort Masters of F3. The competition, held in an unique event of the season, assembled this year teams from various parts of Europe and had the Brazilian pilot Sérgio Sette Câmara (Red Bull | Petrobras | Cemig | Mercantil do Brasil), member of the Red Bull Junior Team, completing the race in third position.
The participation of Sette Câmara in the event started quite encouraging. Two free practice sessions were held on Friday and, with a car that has been quite evolving the performance, he managed to achieve the third position in both practice sessions, with a difference of just over one-tenth from the fastest pilot on the track.
After talking with engineers and the thorough analysis of telemetry data, the pilot followed confident for the taking of times, which took place on Saturday morning. Excited, Serginho performed well and record the time of 1m30s098 which, compared to his time on the previous day’s practice, was a second and a half faster. However, his major competitors also have improved greatly their times and, as a result, Serginho just achieved the seventh position for the starting grid.
Knowing that he had a good car in his hands the Brazilian followed confident for the races. Yet on Saturday afternoon the qualifying race had 12 laps. After great start, Sette Câmara had a great performance, recovered two positions, supported attacks from competitors and received the checkered flag in fifth position.
On Sunday’s afternoon, then, the last and decisive race had place. Serginho, once again in a great start, won a position and followed by pressing competitors ahead of him. Several laps were accomplished in search of winning one more position; however, due to the very high level of aerodynamic pressure used in Zandvoort, making overtakings becomes almost impossible. But, with his attitude, Sette Câmara waited a moment of carelessness of his opponent and, in a very daring maneuver, he placed his car in the inside track and won the third place. At this point, the first two pilots had already opened a big difference, so the Brazilian followed in third place and, at the end of the 25 laps, he celebrated the third position and, more than that, the presence in the traditional Zandvoort podium for the second consecutive year.
“It was a weekend of a lot of work here in Zandvoort. Our car started well and we improved a lot in the practice sessions. Unfortunately, at the taking of times, the improvement of 1.5 second im comparison to the time of Friday, was still less than that of major competitors, ruining all our plans. The team got a good adjustment on the car’s clutch which allowed me to make good starts; so, I won important positions in starts and then in today’s race, I still managed to do an overtaking. This was not the result I expected, frankly, but being on the podium here on the Zandvoort’s Master is always special, “commented the 18-year-old pilot.