The Brazilian Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy student came away from Hockenheim with one win, one pole position and a second place to lead the championship. Tuukka Taponen was on the podium on his debut.
Rafael Camara left his mark on the opening round of the European Formula Regional championship at Hockenheim, winning Race 1 having started from pole and finishing second in Race 2, after starting from third on the grid. The 19 year old Brazilian now leads the championship on 43 points. “It was a great start to the championship, even if wasn’t a perfect weekend,” he commented. Coming away with a first and second place means we came close to perfection and I’m happy with that. The result wasn’t a fluke, because the team has done great job since the winter. For my part, I tried to give my best to make a step forward and I’m happy that the result of this work was clear to see. I really want to thank my engineers and mechanics, as working with them is a pleasure, we had great fun and I think that is also important to get to where we want to. It’s only the start, but things are looking good and everyone is working a hundred percent to keep going like this.”
Tuukka. As for the other member of Maranello’s young driver programme, Tuukka Taponen made a strong start on his debut in the European series. The 17 year old Finn was second in Race 1 and then came ninth in Race 2, following a chaotic opening lap. He is fifth in the standings on 20 points.
Race-1. Camara lined up for Saturday’s race in pole position, with Taponen third. Rafael did not get the best of starts, third at the first corner, but he soon made up for it, passing Taponen and then the leader, Enzo Deligny to lead first time round. From then on, Rafael pulled out a small gap over the field, also doing a good job of managing the restart after a Safety Car period at half-distance. Taponen had to fight back after dropping two places on the opening lap, but he was up to fourth on lap 3 and then an overtaking move on lap 13 saw him up to third place. James Wharton was second past the chequered flag but was penalised for exceeding track limits when passing Taponen, so Tuukka inherited the runner-up spot.
Race-2. In a closely contested qualifying session, Camara was second fastest in his group, which put him third on the grid, with Taponen seventh. Rafael took off behind Evan Giltaire and Wharton, overtaking the Englishman on the opening laps, while Tuukka was involved in the chaos that occurred going into turn 6 and found himself down in ninth place. The Safety Car was on track from the end of lap 2 to lap 6 and then again from lap 8 until five minutes from the end, when the race resumed. But there was yet another accident so the Safety Car led the field past the chequered flag.