Bassani, Bufoni and Rabelo complete 500km of Interlagos in all-female trio

Antonella Bassani, Leticia Bufoni, and Cecília Rabelo teamed up in an all-female squad for the 500km of Interlagos, delivering a promising performance in the first part of the race, ultimately finishing P7 in the Challenge Rookie class and wrapping up a season of improvement in the Porsche Endurance Challenge Brazil.

Photo credits: Porsche Cup Brasil

Just a few days after the final round of the Porsche Cup Brazil Sprint championships and freshly crowned Vice-Champion, Antonella Bassani returned to the Autódromo Carlos Pace for the last race of the year—the 500km of Interlagos. This season-ending endurance race rounded out the Porsche Cup Brazil campaigns, with an almost 40 car field featuring some of the most popular Brazilian drivers in the sport.

Bassani had previously contested the endurance rounds at Estoril and Buenos Aires alongside racing rookie Leticia Bufoni. A skateboarding legend turned racing driver in 2024, Bufoni had shown promise in the development-series Sprint Trophy, consistently battling within the top five of her class.

In the final race of the season, contested just hours before the 500km endurance race, Leticia had finished seventh overall and fifth in class.

Joining them for the final race of the year was Brazilian F4 racer Cecília Rabelo, the first woman to claim pole position in the history of the Brazilian F4 Championship. Rabelo made her Porsche Cup debut at Buenos Aires, showcasing impressive speed in qualifying and a solid first stint, though her race was later hampered by technical issues.

Together, the all-female team of Bassani, Bufoni, and Rabelo, driving the #72 black-and-gold Porsche 991 GT3 Cup car, aimed to end the season on a high note and continue collect valuable experience in endurance racing.

Bassani set a competitive time of 1:40.358 in Q1 under damp and wet conditions, securing P2 in her session. Rabelo followed with a 1:40.507 in Saturday’s Q2 session, placing the #72 Mobil 1-sponsored car P3 in the Challenge Rookie class and P31 overall on the grid.

The race began on Saturday afternoon under dry conditions. Starting from P31 overall and third in class, Bassani quickly gained three places on the first lap, taking the class lead and moving up the overall field. She gained five more positions before an accident involving Leonardo Herrmann brought out the safety car on lap 3. Bassani had been almost a full second quicker than her closest class rival at that point.

The safety car was redeployed shortly after the restart following a collision between Fernando Barrichello and Peter Ferter on lap 6. A subsequent accident involving Monteiro and Cifali during the next restart resulted in significant disruptions, much of which occurred during Bassani’s stint, slowing down the team's progress.

When the first pit window opened, most of the field pitted under caution. Bassani initially stayed out, then pitted a lap later from fourth overall and in the Challenge class lead, handing over the car to Bufoni.

Photo credits: Porsche Cup Brasil

Leticia rejoined in the lead of the Challenge class on lap 19. A lengthy safety car period followed due to barrier damage, and the race resumed on lap 29. Bufoni avoided incidents but dropped to sixth in class and P29 overall amidst the chaos. She maintained a clean stint and improved her lap times, holding P5 in class before pitting on lap 43 from P17 overall to hand over to Rabelo.

Rabelo managed traffic well during her first stint, although she had to be extra cautious navigating the slower cars. She settled into P6 in class and began setting competitive laps, including the team’s then-fastest lap of 1:38.255 on lap 52. Despite her strong pace towards the end of the stint, Rabelo pitted on lap 58 from P6 in class, handing the car back to Bufoni.

Bufoni returned behind the wheel, maintaining an untroubled stint; the #72 entry however had now lost significant time to the leaders and went a lap down. She extended her second stint before pitting again on lap 79. However, a slow pit stop dropped the team to P7 in class, with Rabelo returning to into the driving seat.

In her second stint, Rabelo consistently improved her pace, dipping back under the 1:39 mark and delivering solid laps. She eventually handed the car over to Bassani for the final stint, with the team still in P7 in class and P29 overall.

Bassani re-entered the race for the last 20 laps and immediately set a 1:37 lap before topping it with a blistering 1:36.997, the second-best lap of the race in the Challenge class. Maintaining consistent 1:37 lap times, she delivered a strong finish despite being too far behind the class leaders to recover positions.

The team crossed the checkered flag P7 in the Challenge Rookie class and P30 overall.

"The Porsche Cup Brazil season ended with the 500 km of Interlagos", said Bassani. "I'm very happy to have been part of this 100% female team alongside Leticia Bufoni and Cecilia Rabelo. These were moments of great learning, a lot of overcoming and a lot of laughter."

"It was an incredible weekend, with new learning and lots of fun", echoed Rabelo, who will now focus on her final rounds of the Brazilian F4 in the coming weeks.

"I want to thank everyone who was there and made this possible: the mechanics, engineers, my partners, and Mobil 1 who made this dream come true."