Antonella Bassani makes her mark with fourth place finish in Carrera Cup Brazil at Velocitta

Antonella Bassani’s second round since her step up in the main category of the Porsche Carrera Cup Brazil marked a major step forward, with a breakthrough fourth-place finish in Race 1, confirming her rapid adaptation to the 992 Cup car and establishing herself as a podium challenger.

Photo credits: Porsche Cup Brasil

The 2025 season of Porsche Cup Brasil kicked off just ten days ago in Mogi Guaçu in grand style, with a record 72 entries across the three categories.

Among them was rising star Antonella Bassani, who made her debut in the top class of Carrera Cup after two standout seasons in the Sprint Challenge class.

Having established herself as one of the biggest stars of the series over the past two years — jumping straight from karting to the Porsche 991 GT3 Cup car — Bassani won the Sprint Challenge title on debut and secured the vice-champion title in her second year. In 2025, she stepped up to the main category, the Carrera Cup, driving the new 992 GT3 Cup car.

It’s a notoriously tricky machine to handle, especially under braking, even for experienced drivers, but Bassani was immediately up to pace and continued to impress.

She qualified 10th for her Carrera Cup debut and finished ninth in her first-ever race in the highly competitive series. In Race 2, she battled within the top 10 for the first half before finishing 14th. It was a valuable learning weekend, with momentum to build on for the second round, held just two weeks later at the same track.

Bassani, who drives the #72 Mobil1-sponsored entry in a program dedicated to women in motorsport — which also includes female mechanics and engineers — didn’t have to wait long to showcase her talent again. In the first practice session, she was second fastest, clocking a 1:28.667 lap, just behind overall pace-setter Marçal Muller.

“It was a very positive day", she commented. "I made great progress from one round to the next, and this morning was when I really got to grips with the car. I felt a big difference between the 991’s brakes and the Carrera’s, and I was able to adjust to that on Friday."

"We finished the afternoon practice in second place, and I know exactly where I lost time to the leader — which was in Sector 1", Bassani explained. "That’s good because I know where I went wrong and where we’re going to work to improve in qualifying. I’m very happy with the progress since the opening weekend here, and I’m confident we can fight for the podium.”

Photo credits: Porsche Cup Brasil

Antonella qualified seventh for the first race of the weekend — further improving on her best qualifying from the opening round. A top-five finish now seemed like an achievable next step.

At lights out, she held her position in a very busy field. While there were some contacts further down the pack, the race stayed green, and Bassani battled hard. She dropped to ninth by the end of the first lap after close duels with Comparatto and Regadas.

A few laps later, Bassani had a better exit out of the final corner and prepared a move on Regadas, just as Comparatto made a clean pass on Salles. Taking advantage of a battle ahead between Salles and Regadas, Antonella aimed to sneak through. Her opportunity came when the two cars collided with 19 minutes to go: Salles’ #70 car was nearly airborne and ended its race in the runoff area with a broken rear suspension. He managed to limp back to the pits, and the race continued under green.

Now up to seventh, Bassani faced a 4-second gap to close to Comparatto. Shortly after, Comparatto was handed a drive-through penalty for causing a collision, promoting Antonella to sixth with 15 minutes remaining.

The race took another twist when dominant leader Marçal Muller suffered a puncture and dropped back. This reshuffled the order, with Thiago Vivacqua taking the lead ahead of Miguel Mariotti, Miguel Paludo, Christian Hahn, and Bassani in fifth — less than three seconds behind Hahn.

As Vivacqua opened a small gap, the battle for second heated up. Bassani steadily gained ground and soon joined the fight, putting pressure on Mariotti and rekindling a rivalry from her Sprint Challenge season. With a clean move and five minutes to go, Antonella climbed to fourth with a brilliant overtake and began to pull away.

Vivacqua took victory ahead of Paludo and Hahn, with Antonella Bassani securing her first top-five finish in the Carrera Cup and standing on the podium with a remarkable fourth-place result.

“I’m very happy with fourth place", Antonella stated. "I don’t think I expected to climb so high and have such fast progression from one stage to the next. Tomorrow’s race will definitely be better than today’s, and I’m very happy with the result so far.”

Sunday offered another chance to continue her progress, and Bassani was now clearly a podium contender after just one round of adaptation.

She had an incredible start from the second row but was boxed in and had to back off, holding fourth place until the safety car was deployed at the end of the first lap after championship leader Christian Hahn crashed into the barriers.

On the restart with 20 minutes to go, Bassani came under pressure from Miguel Paludo.

Ahead of her, Vivacqua and Feldmann battled side by side for the win and collided, nearly blocking the track. Mariotti slipped through, while Bassani had to take to the grass to avoid the incident and dropped to the midfield.

Nevertheless, she rejoined in eighth and quickly resumed the fight. After closing in on Carlos Campos, she briefly dropped to ninth — just as Gustavo Zanon hit the barrier, prompting another safety car with only a few minutes left.

Two laps were added, setting up a final-lap shootout. While the leaders went three-wide for the win, chaos unfolded in the midfield as well. Bassani managed to pass Campos and nearly caught Comparatto, ultimately finishing eighth after a solid recovery — albeit unlucky due to the earlier incident avoidance.

Despite the misfortune in Race 2, Bassani’s second round marked a major step forward. She continues to prove her talent in the Porsche one-make series and now sits 11th in the championship standings. She’ll aim even higher in three weeks at the next round, held at the iconic Circuito de Interlagos in São Paulo — the home of Brazilian motorsport.