After 13,612 kilometres at Interlagos in the endurance 2020 grand final, the season that celebrated 15 years of Porsche Cup Brazil activity on national soil comes to an end. In a troubled year, where engines were completely silenced from March to August due to the Coronavirus pandemic that plagued the world, the Porsche Carrera Cup was one of the few, if not the only, world motor sport category to increase its race schedule.

In all, drivers saw the lights go out 16 times in 2020, 13 short races and three long races spread across eight stages throughout the year.

For the Carrera Cup Brazil, Miguel Paludo was the great Champion of the Sprint Series with the right to record victories at Interlagos being surpassed in the last race of the year. Paludo won five of the thirteen short-race starts and became the main winner of the category at the Interlagos racetrack with 17 victories.

In the Sport class, Rodrigo Mello repeated the feat of 2019 and became champion of the entry class of 4.0 engine cars. Mello was the only driver who repeated the title won in 2019. The debut year of the car that carried the Lego colors could not have been better for the driver of the number 29.

The Endurance Series, a championship that again brought together the names of our grid receiving great names from national and world motorsport, proved increasingly competitive and with intense competitions throughout the three stages.

Even before the season begins at Velocitta, the long races have already received a major draw for the 2020 championship. Felipe Massa, formula one world runner-up in 2008 would crew the car number 91 along with Lico Kaesemodel.

"First of all, for the Porsche Cup, it was a great pride to have Felipe Massa participate in our championship, especially with the curriculum he has. I'm a fan not only as a driver, but as a person and having Felipe here added a lot to the category. I'm very impressed because we follow some drivers who have made their careers in single-seaters and when they need to make this type of transition take a while to understand the driving of the car. But in Felipe's case, his adaptation was instantaneous. His presence was very important for the Endurance Series championship" said Dener Pires, director of the category.

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With Felipe, four drivers who passed through the top category of the world motor sport accelerated in the 911 GT3 Cup in 2020.

This season, the Endurance championship was marked by beautiful disputes over the more than 1100 kilometers predicted by each car (300 at Velocitta, 300 in Goiânia and 500 in Interlagos). In all the platoons and virtually every mile of track we had cars splitting curves and knocking on the door at the end of the straight.

"Endurance races are increasingly competitive, the competitions are fierce and we want that: disputes until the last lap and not a relaxed Endurance race. It's top speed all the time, on the tracks, in the pits and that's a porsche cup trademark! More and more we will strive to evolve and bring the highest level of competitiveness, as it was this year."

The great Endurance Series champion in the Carrera Cup was Alceu Feldmann. The driver of the number 100 started the season with Dennis Dirani as his partner, but it was with Thiago Camilo with whom he achieved the best results in the long races.

Feldmann took the podium in all three stages of the Endurance, with a better result in second place in Goiânia. The consistency of the rider was key to securing the title for him in 2020.

Alceu already showed since the beginning of the year that it was very fast. In the short races he started with two wins and two third places in the first four races, a result that left him tied with Miguel Paludo in the lead and as the main pursuer of the car #7.

Dener Pires projects a winning future for the driver inside the Porsche Cup: "Alceu has already started the season well and I think if he hadn't been involved in accidents during the year he would have gotten even better at the Sprint. You can see that Alceu Feldmann is a great driver, very fast, and arrives strong in 2021 as one of the candidates for the title, both in endurance, in search of bi, as well as in the Sprint Series"

The Sport class title went to Nelson Piquet Jr.. It was the formula-e champion's first title in national motorsport.

The driver has been a figure in the Endurance Series since the early stages of long races.

"Nelsinho is a great talent, there is no doubt. From the first time he came riding I was very impressed with the quality of his riding, but unfortunately he had been hitting the crossbar. Always very fast, but something ended up happening that kept him out of the race. This year the stars aligned and everything worked out for him. This partnership with Fran was great, and the two managed to win not only the victory in their category, but also in general. The title was more than deserved for Nelsinho."

Another rider who shone in the year was Pedro Aguiar, who won the Overall title of the category. By summing up the points of the Sprint and Endurance Series, Aguiar was absolute, having won a victory in each sport, showing constancy and regularity throughout the season. For the Sport category, the feat was with Rodrigo Mello, who took his second title of the season.

Finally, Dener talked about the 2021 plans of the category. Shortly after the engines shut down for the last time this season, the Porsche Cup was already beginning to plan its steps towards the 16th year of the category that features the most produced racing cars on the planet.

"Our idea is to improve even more compared to this year. Although we listen to the compliments of Massa and other renowned riders we have things to evolve. I find it interesting to do races abroad, more than one race. Returning to the Algarve for example would be an interesting step. We saw Formula One do a great stage there this year. We also want to evolve in terms of media and technologically as well."

And so comes the end of another successful year within the Porsche Cup. A year that began festive with 15 years of the category in Brazil, he went through enormous uncertainties because of the Coronavirus pandemic and showed the strength of national motorsport with 8 stages complying with all the sanitary protocols necessary for the realization of a sporting event.

The first 15 years of Porsche Cup in Brazil were a success, now the category aims the next 15 to reach new levels within the national and world motor sport.