In the weekend with a dry track and many novelties, the Belo Horizonte pilot managed to start in the front row on the two races of double round
The Minas Gerais pilot, Sérgio Sette (Banco Mercantil do Brasil | CEMIG | TAESA | MBR | Tear Têxtil | Lalubema | Patrus Transportes | Milplan) made in this weekend, between the 23rd and the 25th of May, his official debut in formula competitions. After seven years competing in a kart the pilot disputed this Saturday and Sunday the fourth round of the F3 Brazilian championship.
Without any kind of pressure, even since he was entering in a championship in his fourth stage, Sette Câmara arrived too excited to the most traditional temple of Brazilian auto racing, the Autódromo José Carlos pace in São Paulo. For the scenario to be complete, the rain and the wet track, situations which the Minas Gerais pilot had not yet experienced in an F-3, were present in all the activities of the weekend.
Counting on the teachings from the pilot Danilo Dirani, his driver-coach in this new phase of his career, Serginho has grown along the track activities. Two free practices were performed which, even being interrupted a few times by red flags, the pilot remarkably improved his times and, being very attentive to the orientations both from the team and Dirani, he could turn into effective improvement the knowledge acquired.
Surprise in the taking of times
At the end of Saturday morning the track was open for the qualifying session. At that moment the rain had stopped and, with the passing of the cars on the track, a little less wet trail was created. Serginho was reducing his time and occupied the fifth position among the 16 cars on the grid when Dirani gave him instructions on the details of the track at the time. Then, in a nearly perfect lap on the slippery track, Serginho registered the time of 1m45s600, he assumed the second position for the start of the first race, thus ensuring a place in the front row in his debut.
The start of this first race was authorized at 5:15PM., with a wet track and the weather getting dark quickly. The safety car was placed in front of the peloton and the start was made on the move. Serginho, who had never made a start, remained in the 1st platoon and followed for the Senna “S” and the opposite straight. Under a lot of pressure, on the approach to Laranjinha, he ended up escaping from track and falling to the eighth position. He quickly returned to the track, but the general conditions didn’t help much. With his usual determination, the pilot managed to be fast throughout the race, wining some positions and receiving the checkered flag in sixth place overall, fifth in the category “A”.
Following the regulation of the competition the starting grid of this Sunday’s race reverses the top six finishers of the race on Saturday; thus, Serginho ensured the right to start on the pole position. Again with the wet track the race was very difficult. The cars slipped a lot and staying on the ideal track was decisive to the outcome. Sette Camara was the victim of his inexperience and, at the entrance to the boxes chicane, ended up escaping from the track allowing the squad to overcome him. He remained in the dispute, but since there’s no way to get a better result, he went to the boxes. The Cesário F3 team tried to improve the car’s tuning and, with the complete goal of winning more mileage, put back the debuting pilot on the track who, in turn, completed the race in the eighth position of his class.
“I had a weekend of much learning here in Sao Paulo. It was my first race, on a difficult track and with rain throughout the weekend. I managed to show my potential, I was too fast in the taking of times, but on the races, the lack of experience made a difference and, in addition, the car also worsened somewhat. I will keep training on F3, but my focus goes back to my European karting season, which still has some races to be played. I want to thank to my sponsors, as well as to all from the Cesário F3 team, my relatives, Danilo Dirani and everybody who supported me. I am going to commit myself and, certainly, in my next race in F3 the history may be quite different”, commented the 16-year old pilot.