On the streets of Baku, Azerbaijan, the Brazilian driver kept evolving in the category
The fourth round of the F2 World Championship was concluded on Sunday in Baku, Azerbaijan. Defending the colors of the Dutch team MP Motorsport, the Brazilian driver Sérgio Sette Câmara (PREDATOR Acer | SANEPAV | TAESA | BELL) has achieved his best result of the season so far. In the eighth round on Sunday, he finished in ninth place.
Sérgio’s weekend began on Friday with the only free practice session scheduled. Without ever having been in that circuit, which takes up more than six thousand meters of streets and avenues of the city, the Brazilian proved to be extremely prepared. Having done several simulator sessions he was completely familiarized with the track, so it didn’t take long for him to be able to have very fast laps. With 1m54s835 he got the fourth best mark of the session and remained confident for the qualifier.
In the qualifying session, held about two hours later, Sergio had two sets of new tyres to pursue his ideal lap. With the first set the Brazilian was very fast and returned to the pits with the seventh best time. With the second set, when the track was a little better, he was forced to abort his lap because of a red flag. A competitor that crashed in a guardrail obstructed the track and with that, he couldn’t do much, he missed his “lap of the tyre”. Thus, with only eight laps completed against 10 and 11 of the other competitors, his time was 1m53s853, which assured him the 11th position for the grid of the first race.
The first race was very fruitful for the Brazilian. After a conservative start Sette Câmara set a strong rhythm and, in a track layout he is very comfortable, much like Macau, he showed he was well adapted to the category. With very fast laps it didn’t take long for him to recover positions and, six laps to the end, he already appeared in the eighth place pressing the seventh and the sixth. Sérgio knew he was faster than his competitors and was studying the ideal moment for overtaking when, after an accident, four laps to the end, the race was ended. Despite finishing eighth, which would ensure him pole position for Sunday’s race, Sérgio and three other drivers were penalized in 10 seconds for speeding in a yellow flag sector, ending up with the 13th position.
This Sunday, once again with a car that proved fast and reliable, he made a good recovery race. Sérgio started in the seventh row of the grid, did well in the start and in the first lap, and then he started to put pressure on the competitors. Without a mandatory pit stop, and without any safety-car interruption, the driver gained four positions and finished the race in ninth place, his best finishing position this season.
“After the mechanical problems in Monaco I can say that I was happy to have a fast and reliable car here in Baku. I had an excellent moment in the free practice and, in the qualifier, if it wasn’t for the red flag, I would have certainly been between the sixth and eighth place in the grid. Unfortunately, the completely questionable penalty in the first race cost me my chance to score for the first time in the Championship and worse, the pole for Sunday’s race. Today it was nice again. I showed speed and quick decision when I had to overtake competitors on the track and gain positions. Honestly, I have to thank the team that managed to overcome the difficulties and brought an awesome set here. In two weeks we will be in Austria, in Red Bull Ring, a track that I like very much and I have fond memories from the F3”, said the young driver.
Sérgio Sette Câmara was in the TOP10 in Formula 2 for the first time.
