Nicolas Costa debuted in style as a regular driver in the Porsche Cup C6 Bank Mastercard sprint championship. Carioca from car #999 was the fastest in Friday's free practice, nailed the pole and won the opening race of the 2023 season of the Carrera Cup. He was the first driver to debut with victory in the main category since Marçal Muller, at the opening of the 2018 championship in Curitiba.

His triumph was marked by a very busy race, with intense disputes in all sections of the peloton. The second placed Muller, Miguel Paludo and Werner Neugebauer, valued the race a lot, with tough disputes during the entire race.

In the Sport class the battle for victory was an intense duel between Lucas Salles and Georgios Frangulis, with the #70 prevailing in the end despite numerous attempts by the “Grego”. In the Rookie, Paulo Sousa made contact with Bruno Campos' car when braking the S of Senna in a debate for leadership in the class in the middle of the race. Campos left the track and was excluded from the dispute. Sousa followed, but was overtaken by Edu Guedes. #9's competitor took the win, due to a punishment given to #25 for the previous incident.

As in the Carrera Cup, for the Challenge class, pole prevailed after giving up the lead on the opening lap and recovering the top of the field throughout the race. Marcelo Tomasoni was surprised by an aggressive Urubatan Jr at the lights out, but he knew how to position himself to make the change in the middle of the race. Crisitan Mohr also passed the #1 car and finished second.

In fourth, Antonio Junqueira won in the Sport class. Meanwhile, Célio Brasil won the Rookie with 15th overall.

This Sunday, the inverted grid races take place, with the schedule starting at 2:40 pm with the Carrera Cup. The second Challenge race comes next. Band broadcasts the races live as well as the Porsche Cup C6 Bank Mastercard channels on social media.

In the Carrera Cup, seven positions will be inverted, with Frangulis starting from the position of honor. In the Challenge, the draw after the podium inverted eight positions, determining the first row opened by Josimar Junior, with Antonella Bassani at his side.

“I'm very pleased with the result, happy to be competitive in practice, qualifying and the race. It's the total merit of the team. I am very happy with the result and the disputes, which were clean. I tried to give space and the opponents too. It was very intense and a great start. Now it's time to celebrate”

Nicolas Costa

“A very intense race, full of overtaking. I made a little mistake in setting up the car for the race and I had to retrain my driving during the race and go up at the end. I managed to recover from the difficult start and the touch at the start, to finish second overall with the overtaking at the end”
Marçal Muller

“Quali did not end as we expected. We are a little behind and we have to find out why. In the race I made a clean start and tried to save my equipment at the start, as I saw that Nicolas, Werner and Marçal were fighting. From the middle of the test to the end I attacked. I was a little faster than Marçal in the middle of the race, but I couldn't pass. From that moment on, it was about adapting to the car I had and holding on to performance. Third place at the end of the day is positive. Tomorrow there is a grid inversion, with another competition dynamic. It was a good start to the championship and we know we can perform even better in the next ones”
Miguel Paludo

“I had a brake problem yesterday in free practice. The tablet shattered. I had the same problem today in qualifying and in the race I could go while the pad was new. But in the end it was difficult”
Werner Neugebauer

“It was a very tough race, full of disputes and with a very strong pace from start to finish. I am happy and very tired. It worked, because the car was very good. I am very happy to start the year on the right foot.”
Lucas Salles

“I managed to take advantage of the qualifying result and made a good start. Then, when you're behind top riders like Miguel and Werner, it's easier to take references. So it ends up being a very constant play. Alceu passed Lucas, then got into a direct dispute with Lucas and it was really cool. Very nice to compete for the first position in the class. I was happy today”
Georgios Frangulis

“The race was spectacular, very difficult. I left behind and came recovering. It was a race to keep your head and, at the same time, be bold and take advantage of overtaking opportunities, because in a sprint race the driver cannot be left behind. So I tried to look for it every chance I got. I didn't know that Paulo was punished and I stayed until the end trying to pass. I only found out after the checkered flag”
Edu Guedes

“Today at the start Urubatan jumped too well. Tomasoni and I, not so much. I ended up dropping to fourth and had to come to recovery. Our arrangement was to get faster at the beginning of the race, and Tomasoni must have done the opposite. But it's great to start the season like this, with a good score. There are 12 races and tomorrow we will think about the strategy with the inversion of the grid”
Cristian Mohr

“It was a nice race. Within the rules and very intense from start to finish. The result was more or less what I expected, as in the front group I was the only one without a zero tyre. I ran on an eight-lap tire and it would be very difficult to hold off the competition like that. The third today was what it had to be”
Urubatan Jr

“It has been a weekend of learning. The car is new, everything is new to me. I managed to adapt well. I made a good start on the outside, when people braked on the inside. And I kept up the pace. It got a lot harder in the second half of the race. The car went too far back and I was worried, but luckily I managed to keep the car on the track after the disputes and I ended up on the podium. It was a very rewarding day and I'm ready for the next one.”
Antonio Junqueira

“Race was too difficult. I got hit at the start and dropped to eighth, so I had to make up ground and I also had some mistakes from those in front. I inherited some positions and passed other competitors. Until my car had no more performance in the end and I survived until the end. I'm thinking about the long term, so I'm satisfied with a podium overall and second place in the category.”
Junior Dinardi

“This represents much more than debuting in the Cup. Starting here is wonderful and this trophy means a lot to me. Each one knows about their journey, each one knows about their walk... I know the difficulties I went through in life and now is a moment of glory. I hope it's the first of many here in the category. My story is just beginning and I'm so happy!!”
Celio Brazil

“It was a very exciting race. In qualifying I didn't get what I wanted, but I knew that in the race I had the head to go forward, recover and have a better position tomorrow in the races. That's what happened. On the first lap unfortunately I was involved in an accident and dropped to 12th and managed to recover very well. I passed a bunch of guys and finished seventh, which was positive to marry the car and fix some things that I was missing. It was a race of necessity for me and a lot of new experiences, thinking about tomorrow.”
Antonella Bassani

Carrera Cup Results

1. #999 Nicolas Costa 27:54.358
2. #544 Marçal Muller +3.523
3. #7 Miguel Paludo +3.854
4. #8 Werner Neugebauer +4.288
5. #1 Alceu Feldmann +4.893
6. #70 Lucas Salles * +8.026
7. #88 Georgios Frangulis* +9.018
8. #29 Rodrigo Mello +9.135
9. #888 Lineu Pires* +12.128
10. #199 Nelson Marcondes* +14.338
11. #555 Ayman Darwich* +14.421
12. # 800 Raijan Mascarello* +20,788
13. #77 Francisco Horta* +22,836
14. #9 Edu Guedes** +30,834
15. #17 Ricardo Fontanari* +32,396
16. #121 João Barbosa** +35,763
17. #87 Nelson Monteiro * +44,215
18. #44 Gustavo Farah** +44,674
19. #33 Bruno Campos** +47,966
20. #25 Paulo Sousa** +50,692
21. #99 Nasser Aboultaif** +53,824
22. #74 Piero Cifali** +55,163
23. #85 Eduardo Menossi* +1: 00.321
DNF
#3 Franco Giaffone*
#80 Rouman Ziemkiewicz*
#56 Peter Ferter*
*Sport
**Rookie

Sprint Challenge
1. #5 Marcelo Tomasoni 26:58.853
2. #3 Cristian Mohr +1.582
3. #1 Urubatan Junior +5.412
4. #16 Antonio Junqueira* +16.367
5. #002 Junior Dinardi* +21.999
6. #66 Sadak Milk* +22,771
7. #72 Antonella Bassani +22,926
8. #77 Josimar Junior +23,674
9. #21 Miguel Mariotti +30,190
10. #57 Ramon Alcaraz* +30,870
11. #100 Seba Malucelli* +30,976
12. #15 Artur Ramos* +32,532
13. #71 SangHo Kim* +35,152
14. #19 Walter Lester* +42,125
15. #139 Célio Brasil** +50,066
16. #133 Israel Salmen** +1:13,854
17. #7 Luiz Souza** -1 lap
18. #51 Americo Lanzoni -1 lap
DNF
#33 Gustavo Zanon*
#38 Eric Santos**
#14 Andre Gaidzinksi*
*Sport
*Rookie

Carrera Cup Championships
1. #999 Nicolas Costa 28 points
2. #544 Marçal Muller 25
3. #7 Miguel Paludo 23
4. #8 Werner Neugebauer 21
5. #1 Alceu Feldmann 19
6. #70 Lucas Salles 17
7. #88 Georgios Frangulis 16
8. #29 Rodrigo Mello 15
9. #888 Lineu Pires 14
10. #199 Nelson Marcondes 13
11. #555 Ayman Darwich 12
12. #800 Raijan Mascarello 11
13. #77 Francisco Horta 10
14. #9 Edu Guedes 9
15. #17 Ricardo Fontanari 8
16. #121 João Barbosa 7
17. #87 Nelson Monteiro 6
18. #44 Gustavo Farah 5
19. #33 Bruno Campos 4
20. #25 Paulo Sousa 3

Carrera Sport
1. #70 Lucas Salles 18
2. #88 Georgios Frangulis 15
3. #888 Lineu Pires 13
4. #199 Nelson Marcondes 11
5. #555 Ayman Darwich 9 6.
#800 Raijan Mascarello 7
7. #77 Francisco Horta 6
8. #17 Ricardo Fontanari 5
9. #87 Nelson Monteiro 4
10. #85 Eduardo Menossi 3

Carrera Rookie
1. #9 Edu Guedes 18
2. #121 João Barbosa 15
3. #44 Gustavo Farah 13
4. #33 Bruno Campos 11 5.
#25 Paulo Sousa 9
6. #99 Nasser Aboultaif 7
7. #74 Piero Cifali 6

Sprint Challenge
1. #5 Marcelo Tomasoni 28
2. #3 Cristian Mohr 25
3. #1 Urubatan Junior 23
4. #16 Antonio Junqueira 21
5. #002 Junior Dinardi 19
6. #66 Sadak Leite 17
7. #72 Antonella Bassani 16
8. #77 Josimar Junior 15
9. #21 Miguel Mariotti 14
10. #57 Ramon Alcaraz
13 11. #100 Seba Malucelli 12
12. #15 Artur Ramos 11
13. #71 SangHo Kim 10
14. #19 Walter Lester 9
15. #139 Célio Brasil 8
16. #133 Israel Salmen 7
17. #7 Luiz Souza 6
18. #51 Americo Lanzoni 5

Challenge Sport
1. #16 Antonio Junqueira 18
2. #002 Junior Dinardi 15
3. #66 Sadak Leite 13
4. #57 Ramon Alcaraz 11
5. #100 Seba Malucelli 9
6. #15 Artur Ramos 7
7. #71 SangHo Kim 6
8. #19 Walter Lester 5
9. #139 Célio Brasil 4
10. #133 Israel Salmen 3

Challenge Rookie
1. #139 Célio Brasil 18
2. #133 Israel Salmen 15
3. #7 Luiz Souza 13
4. #51 Americo Lanzoni 11

Porsche Cup C6 Bank Mastercard – Stage 1 – Interlagos:

Sunday, March 5th
14:40 – 15:08 – Race 2 – Carrera Cup
15:16 – 15:44 – Race 2 – Sprint Challenge