Rafaela Ferreira takes her third victory in F4 Brazil in Round 6 postponed race

In a remarkable 2024 season, Rafaela Ferreira continues to expand the list of historic achievements in Brazilian F4: the driver recently signed by Racing Bulls for F1 Academy took an outstanding victory by 0.083 of a second in the postponed race from round 6.

Photo credits: Marcelo de Melo / VICAR

After just over a month since the date it was supposed to take place - on November 2nd, the second race of round 6 of the 2024 F4 Brazil season was finally held and Rafaela Ferreira made history once again.

In quite a different scenario from the torrential rain that hit the Interlagos Circuit on the weekend when the Brazilian single-seater series shared the track with Formula 1, this time, on a warm and sunny afternoon, the driver of the pink TMG Racing car took another victory.

Opening the schedule of activities for the final round of F4 Brazil - which, like round 6, is also being held at Interlagos - the drivers had the opportunity to compete for a place on the podium and the points in the race that had been relocated on Thurdsay's afternoon. In the morning, unofficial practice sessions had been held so that drivers could reacclimate with their cars before heading into racing.

Following the rules, there was no qualifying session - as the reverse grid format saw the result of Race 1 of Round 6 shaping the grid. 13 drivers formed the starting grid, and starting from the front row in second place, Rafaela Ferreira had a great chance of fighting for a victory or at least one place on the podium. And expectations were fulfilled in the best possible way for the future F1 Academy driver.

When the lights went out, Rafa Ferreira immediately attacked Lucca Zucchini - who was on pole. She momentarily moved into the lead, but by the end of turn 3 she had been overtaken by Zucchini and Álvaro Cho. However, the two had contact in turn 4 while fighting for the top spot, also ending in collisions with other drivers who were close behind. Ferreira got through unharmed and took the lead on the pack definitively.

Five drivers suffered damage to their cars and were forced to retire early from the race - among them was Cecília Rabelo, who had started in 11th place and her car was also hit. The safety car stayed on track for about six minutes and at the restart Rafaela Ferreira was comfortably in the lead, followed by Matheus Comparatto and Rogério Grotta.

In the remaining 12 minutes there were no new incidents, but the driver of the pink TMG Racing car at the top of the field had to defend herself from Comparatto's attacks, and she did it brilliantly. Ferreira showed her talent once again and remained in first place until crossing the finish line just 0.083s ahead of her competitor - thus achieving her third career victory in F4 Brazil.

"I'm very happy, this is our third victory! This is my last weekend in F4 Brazil, so I'm happy to be leaving this with a golden key."

Rafa Ferreira commented on the result and the way she saw everything that happened on track: "It was a race in which we started well, despite almost having contact", she recalled. "That made me attack the kerb more and thus fall a little, and then Cho and Zucchini went ahead."

"It was a racing thing", she said about the collision between the two opponents - "sometimes we get lucky with some incidents and we knew they would fight for position, and I chose to stay outside and did well."

She continued, also talking about the final moments of the race: "I made a small mistake in the last corner, and Comparatto and I were on a very similar pace. He was always close, pushing, so I couldn't make any mistakes. And in the only one I made the car spread a little and he got closer. But luckily it was the last lap and we crossed the finish line almost side by side."

With all 21 races so far completed, Rafaela Ferreira enters at the final round of the championship close to the top 3 of the 2024 standings. She now has 201 points - having reduced the gap to just 17 points to Ethan Nobels, who currently occupies third in the drivers' standings.

On the weekend that will also mark her farewell to F4 Brazil, Ferreira will have three more chances to fight for new memorable feats - and possibly, for a place on the championship's podium.