In his debut season in the competition, the pilot from Belo Horizonte arrived third in the last race of round Red Bull Ring, in Austria.
The eighth round of European F3 Championship finished on Sunday (2th). In the distant city of Spielberg, in Austria, the Brazilian pilot, Sérgio Sette Câmara (Banco Mercantil do Brasil / Lalubema), from Belo Horizonte, showed again his impressive development in the competition and, driving well since free practice session, he came back to score in the Championship.
The parlay began just last Friday when the preparatory training. In two sessions free, the pilot managed to take to the track all development done for him and the team Motopark Academy at the time. Therefore, with a car well hit, Serginho, his engineers and mechanics, sought to change small details of settings seeking to conquer even lower times.
At the end of Friday’s afternoon the two taking of times were held which defined the starting grid for the races of the round. With the time of 1m24s899 Serginho, won the right to start from the sixth position for the first race and, in the second classification, he went even faster. The time of 1m24s884 assured him the fourth position for the second race of the weekend and 1m24s942 assured him the third place for the race this Sunday.
“We are very excited for what we can conquer this weekend. Our car was really good from the beginning of practice and, with that, I had confidence to accelerate more and more and thus conquer achieve these times. We have here at Red Bull Ring our best starting position of the year and I want to turn it in, effectively, the best results of the year”, commented the pilot after two qualifying sessions.
The first race of the weekend took place on Saturday morning. Under bright sunshine and temperatures of around 25 degrees the start was allowed. Serginho, in a good start, remained in sixth place. In the first laps, even pressed, the No. 23 Motopark car was pretty good. In the eighth lap, however, he no longer could hold the opponents and lost some positions, dropping to ninth. In this position, with the same determination, Sette Câmara managed to stay until the end of the race and returned to appear in the scoring zone.
In the second race of the round, starting on the second row, Sette Câmara made a great start and started attacking the leaders. After three laps, the first five cars had already detached a bit from the rest of the platoon and Serginho was already seeking for the third position. At that point, however, the team informed him a penalty for starting too soon, what obliged him to do a slow passage through pits. Without a chance to appeal at that time, Serginho paid the penalty and returned to the track in the 29th position. Determined to keep fast, the pilot did a nice race, passed ten competitors and, at the end of 24 laps, he received the checkered flag in the 19th position.
The final race of the round was played this Sunday. Unlike the first two days the weather conditions changed radically and, a lot of rain delayed for more than two hours the start of the race. Serginho, in the third position on the grid, maintained his concentration intact until the moment of the start. With the safety car on the track, the departure was authorized and four laps were completed until, under the red flag, the race was stopped. With too much water on the track, cars were aquaplaning. About 20 minutes after the restart of the race was authorized with the same safety car. Two more laps were made and, unable to proceed further, the race was finished and the half of the points were counted. Therefore, in third position, Sérgio Sette Câmara returned to the podium and celebrated its second trophy in debut season in the European F3.
“I am very happy to have won this third position. It was rather dull due to the conditions of the race, but it meant to us a reward for the work we have done here in Austria since the first practice sessions. I thank to my sponsors, family and all who cheer for me. Let’s go ahead and, in the last three rounds of the year, I hope to return to this place, maybe in a few higher steps”, joked the 17-year-old pilot from Minas Gerais.