The Brazilian pilot followed his evolution process and won the fifth place in Portugal
The ninth triple round of the European Championship F3 was held this weekend. The Algarve Internacional Autotrack in Portimão-Portugal, received the races valid for the 25th, 26th and 27th continental Championship rounds. Defending the colors of the Motopark Academy team, the Brazilian pilot Sergio Sette Câmara (Banco Mercantil do Brasil / Lalubema) showed, once again, his great evolution in the category by ending the races on the fifth position, 11th and 13th places.
The Portuguese round of the Championship started, different from the others, at the beginning of the week. On Tuesday and Wednesday the teams had two days of official free practice to check their tunings and offer the pilots a better adaptation to the Portuguese circuit. Sette Câmara and the Motopark team took advantage of every minute of the open track to develop the equipment not just for that track, but also for the final two races of the season, scheduled for the Nurburgring and Hockenheim, in Germany.
As always, the official programming of the round began on Friday, with two free practice sessions. With a fast car and very well balanced, Sette Câmara showed all his learning by recording the second fastest time in first practice session, before the 32 competitors on the track. On the second practice, seeking improvements in some items, the adjustments were not as good and the pilot achieved the tenth place. On Friday afternoon the taking of times were held. In a misunderstanding at the time of the choice of tires calibration, the Motopark ended up making a mistake and thus, with a car less balanced than in the practice sessions, Sette Câmara managed to secure positions 12, 16 and 7 for the three respectively starts.
With his usual grit and determination, the pilot knew that the car was fast and reliable. In view of that, he left for the three races willing to make a recovery. With beautiful overtakings and having to overcome a deficiency that Volkswagen engines found on this track when compared to the Mercedes-Benz engines, Serginho has managed to evolve in all three races, finishing the first one on the 11th, the second on the13th and third on the 5th positions.
“It was a weekend of a lot of work here in Portugal. We had two days of training in midweek and, later, our intense racing program. I started very well in the practices, but our team ended up taking a wrong way in the qualifying what left us, all pilots in the box, in starting position worse than we expected. I did my best on the track, won positions and, in the last race, I was the fastest pilot with VW engines. Unlike most tracks in this season, our engine was losing a little when compared to the competitors and, as a result, it wasn’t easy winning positions. I continue excited for Germany where, within three weeks, we will have the penultimate stage of the Championship”, commented the 17-year pilot.
After nine rounds of the European F3, Sérgio Sette Câmara is on the 14th position of the Championships with 48.5 points.