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During a very
exciting weekend for fans of sportscar racing in Brazil, the
beautiful city of Curitiba in the south of the country was
the venue for the 5th and 6th rounds of the inaugural Brazilian GT3
Championship. The Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 has proved the
sports car to beat in the two Brazilian GT3 events
(comprising two races each) held so far and
this winning run continued at the weekend as the Italian
supercar ran out the winner of the two
races, first with the crew Bonifácio/Feldmann from the Boni
Sport Team and then in race two with the crew Negrão/Mattheis from
the A Mattheis Team. The Ferrari F430 run by the CRT Team was the second
in the 5th round with the crew Derani/Ricci, and in third was the Dodge Viper of Occhi Team with
a crew made up of Mazzochi and Matias. In the 6th round Bonifacio/Feldmann
were second with Derani/C.Ricci in third.
Mattheis in his
Lamborghini Gallardo was on the pole in the 5th round but he
was not
at the front for long, Bonifácio in a very audacious
manoeuvre in
the final “mineirinho” curve overtook Mattheis and assumed
the lead of the race. The first part of the race was full of
disputes, Rafael Derani in a Ferrari F430 overtook Renato Cattalini
to move into third position. On the ninth lap it was the turn of Mattheis
to be passed by Derani, however a wheel problem his
car stopped his great race up to that moment, and he lost
precious positions in the track.
In the second
phase of the race Negrão came back onto to the track in the second position
after replacing Mattheis in the Gallardo and was immediately
trying to wrest away the first position held by Feldmann. In a tough
dispute, Matias in his Dodge Viper overtook Paternostro in a
Ferrari F430 for third position. Ricci from the CRT Team
after taking the wheel in replacement for Walter Derani in
the seventh position, started lap after lap overtaking
everyone in front of him, and on the last lap he overtook Matias in a curve
and assumed second position. A flat tyre ended the chances of Negrão
to dispute the first position against Feldmann who then won
this round.
The second race
of the weekend (round six of the series) saw one of the most
spectacular accidents in Brazilian GT3 after a clash for third position between Derani
and Abramo Mazzochi in a Dodge Viper. The Viper pilot lost
control of his car and crashed into the guardrail violently
Fortunately Mazzochi got out of the car
without any injuries. However, because of the accident, the
safety car was on the track for the last two laps of the race.
Again, the two Lamborghinis were involved in the tough
dispute for the race lead, and because of a bad start, the
result of a touch in the rear of his car, Feldmann lost
several positions at the start.
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