Rookie Nicolas Costa opened the second half of the 2023 Porsche Cup C6 Bank Mastercard Carrera Cup season in the same way he started the year: with a victory at Interlagos. The competitor in car #99 did not take pole, but managed to take advantage of the dispute between Werner Neugebauer and Marçal Muller in the first brake of the race, took the lead and, with a safe move, was the first to see the checkered flag in São Paulo .

Marçal dropped to fourth on the opening lap, but built a formidable comeback, passing Peter Ferter midway through the race and Werner Neugebauer towards the end to finish in second position.
After a complicated quali, in which he only finished ninth, seven-time champion Miguel Paludo finished fourth. Fifth, Ferter completed the podium and won in Sport even taking 5s of punishment for the clash with Muller on the first lap. The triumph in the Rookie went to Paulo Sousa, his first victory in the category.

For the Sprint Challenge, the name of Saturday in São Paulo was Eduardo Taurisano, competitor of car #88. He took pole, momentarily lost the lead to Antonella Bassani, but had the nerve to regain the lead and control the field in the two restarts after safety car interventions. It was his first win in the category.

Antonella took the flag in second. Cristian Mohr knew how to take advantage of the safety car's neutralizations to advance to third place at the end of the race. In fourth, Gustavo Zanon won his first career victory at Sport and the first overall podium in the 991.2 generation cars. And leader Marcelo Tomasoni, with a safe touch, took the #5 to the podium in fifth place and closed 100% of podiums in 2023.

On Sunday, the schedule starts at 11:40 am with the start of the Carrera Cup. Raijan Mascarello starts on pole.

The Sprint Challenge is scheduled to start at 12:20 pm, with Miguel Mariotti starting from the position of honour. The journey will be broadcast live on Band, Acelerados YouTube channel, Bandplay app and Porsche Cup C6 Bank Mastercard digital media channels.

Gustavo Zanon debuts new layout with overall podium and victory in his class at the Porsche Cup Brasil Sprint Challenge

This Saturday Gustavo Zanon won his first victory in the 2023 season of the Porsche Cup Brasil Sprint Challenge, in the Sport class. The 2022 Rookie champion showed a lot of speed by nailing pole position, leading every lap and winning a race for the first time in its class.

In addition, the driver of Porsche #33 took the overall podium, with fourth place.

It is not new that the pilot has been showing great performances, in the previous stage, in Goiânia, Zanon had a performance worthy of cinema, jumping from 20th to 13th place in just two laps. With a very strong pace, Zanon continued to climb overall and in the Sport class to the checkered flag, finishing in eighth overall and third among the Sport class cars.

This weekend, at Interlagos, the pilot did something different. In honor of Seguralta's 55th anniversary, Gustavo Zanon carried out an activation in his car that references the company's headquarters.

The project consisted of a freehand graffiti painting directly on the vehicle, carried out by Jaque Carvalho, a plastic artist with more than 12 years of career and responsible for the graffiti mural that is the trademark of the Seguralta building, in São José do Rio Preto (SP).

The painting was carried out on Thursday, in the pilot's box, in Interlagos and on the track, it drew attention for its beauty. Zanon spoke about the new car layout and on-track performance:

“Seguralta celebrates its 55th anniversary this year and we wanted to do something different. We brought in Jaque, who is an artist who made incredible art in our building. And today that building, that art, reflect a lot of what the company means to us: joy, lightness. We wanted to bring a little bit of that art to the car and it turned out amazing. Already on the track I think the new design brought luck, I did a good classification and in the race I led all the laps in the Sport class, I almost managed to get a third place overall, but I am very happy, it was very good.”

Porsche Cup: after disappointment, Paulo Sousa wins the first in the Rookie class of the Carrera Cup

Everyone is entitled to a day of redemption. And for Paulo Sousa, it was this Saturday. In his first season in the Carrera Cup, the driver, who competes in the Rookie class, had his first victory withdrawn in the first stage of the 2023 season due to a punishment imposed by the stewards, precisely at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, in Interlagos. But this Saturday, things turned around.

Paulo Sousa was fourth in his class, when leaders Edu Guedes and Bruno Campos clashed on the S of Senna. Campos touched Guedes and took the opponent out of the race. After the checkered flag, he received a punishment: an addition of 20 seconds to the final race time, the equivalent of a drive through. And Sousa did his part: he overtook his rival Piero Cifali at the end of the race to be in a position to inherit the victory. And have the right to redemption.

“It was a victory that had been stuck since the first stage, when I lost the victory due to a penalty. But, there is a saying that every dog has its day and today was mine. I started in a higher gear and lost positions, I ran a conservative race, without risking much. I left for the end the overtaking of the victory against Piero Cifali, who defends himself very well”, said Paulo Sousa.

All of this in an overcoming test, as Paulo Sousa lost his front spoiler on the first lap. With that, he had to do the entire test with much less downforce on the front of the car. But he followed the advice of coach Galid Osman, who is also his partner in the Porsche Cup Endurance races, and won.

“Paul already deserved this victory. So glad she came today,” said Galid Osman.

What they said:

“The start was wonderful, I managed to make a very good jump. I have to highlight how honest Werner was, he gave us space, we took the corner side by side like we did the other times when I started on pole. I was very happy with the sportsmanship, despite our aggressiveness towards each other. From then on, I knew we had a slightly better tire condition, I tried to manage the race. I was pushing until I saw that he started to fight with Marçal and then I started to manage a little more. We ended up quickly anyway. It's never easy to open up an advantage here, just see that in the quali the top four were separated by less than a tenth. It's very competitive. So the important thing is not to make mistakes, try to be smooth with the car and keep the tires good until the end. There is more tomorrow, which will be more difficult starting from the back.”Nicholas Costa

“I am thrilled, fulfilled. I'm very happy, I just want to say thank you. I am very happy, speechless right now.”
Eduardo Taurisano

“It was a very troubled race for me. At the start, I already had the car next to Werner, even so, he touched the car up, almost ending our two races. Then, on the same lap, Ferter knocked me off the track, dirtying all my tires, my race almost ended there again. So, after that, I recovered to second place. I'm happy with the result, for what the race was, but not really satisfied with what happened.” Marçal Müller

“It was a really crazy win! I rode very well and at the pace of renowned guys in the category. Very happy with the result. My first year in the category, I'm very happy with that.” Peter Ferter

“It was a victory that had been stuck since the first stage, when I lost the victory due to a penalty. But, there is a saying that every dog has its day and today was mine. I started in a higher gear and lost positions, I ran a conservative race, without risking much. I left for the end the overtaking of the victory against Cifali, who defend themselves very well.” Paulo Sousa

“It was a very good race compared to the riders ahead of me in the championship. I got ahead of all of them. That's what matters now, it's not winning the race anymore, but fighting for the championship. It was a great race and, by the way, Eduardo Taurisano is at zero weight, and I carry forty kilos in the car. They are races, I tried, but I thought about the championship. That's what I did.” Antonella Bassani

“The new layout was very lucky, it was very good. The race was going very well, we managed to gain some distance. Unfortunately, the safety car came out and then I made a mistake there on the second leg of Senna's S and lost third place. But it was sensational. I managed to finish fourth overall, and first in the category. Merit of the team, without a doubt.” Gustavo Zanon

“It was a difficult race. The other Rookie competitors are doing very well and put a lot of pressure on them at the start. But I managed to keep my head, make my pace. Then, a lot of beating, safety car… I had managed to open the other competitors of the Rookie and ended up having a safety car. There remains that doubt of what will happen. The others will close in again, but I managed to get my head together again, set my pace and finish the race well.” Célio Brazil

“100% of podiums this year, I'm so happy. Today we had a little more pace, but I think the car wasn't right for qualifying. In the race we were better than Mohr, we pressed, but there comes a time when the championship speaks a little louder, you know? I'm doing calculations, I already have a third that was discarded, so we're adding the second part of the season. And after the safety car, I think I let the tires get too hot, I spent a half there, but it's great. I am happy and constancy will make the result in the end.” Marcelo Tomasoni