Reigning Stock Car champion, Daniel Serra will start his title defense on front. But thanks to Joao Paulo de Oliveira. The Super GT regular, who shares de number 29 car with Serra, set the fastest time during this Friday’s qualifying and will be on pole in Brazilian Stock Car‘s opening round, in Interlagos.

For this race, called “Corrida de Duplas, Stock Car regulars invited well-known drivers from others series to race alongside them. It’s similar to Blancpain Sprint Series‘ rules.

At today’s Q3, only the invited driver could do a single flyer lap. And Oliveira prevailed.

DTM’s Augusto Farfus, who raced in Stock Car’s season finale last year, will start second. This weekend he is paired with rookie Lucas Di Grassi.

Filipe Albuquerque, from Imsa, was third in Rubens Barrichello’s car. The former F1 driver said he was impressed with his partner’s perfomance and as he got used with the car so easy.

Nick Catsburg was fourth. The 88 car, which the Dutch shares with Felipe Fraga (Stock Car’s 2016 champ), was the only from powerhouse Cimed (a four-car organization with stellar lineup) to reach Q2.

Fastest in Q2, Laurens Vanthoor and Ricardo Zonta will start fifth.

Dominant pair after the free practices, Cesar Ramos and Kelvin van der Linde will be sixth after the South African wasn’t able to set a time in Q3, as his car had a puncture.

In Q2, both Stock Car regulars and their teammates had less than ten minutes to do their laps. The fast six, who moved to Q3, were defined by aggregated times.

In his first race after F1, Felipe Massa, who teamedup with five-times champion Caca Bueno for Cimed, stopped in Q2. He will start eleventh and blamed his older tyres for not doing Q3. 

In Q1, two drivers had problems, including one of the favorites duo: Atila Abreu and Supercars’ Mark Winterbottom. And former F1 Tarso Marques also suffered a puncture.

Results:

1. 29 D.Serra/J.P.Oliveira (Eurofarma RC) – 1:37.032
2. 11 L.Di Grassi/A.Farfus (Hero Motorsport) – 1:37.174
3. 111 R.Barrichello/F.Albuquerque (Full Time Sports) – 1:37.179
4. 88 F.Fraga/N.Catsburg (Cimed Racing) – 1:37.283
5. 10 R.Zonta/L.Vanthoor (Shell V-Power) – 1:37.375
6. 30 C.Ramos/K.V.D.Linde (Blau Motorsport) – sem tempo no Q3

Q2
7. 21 T.Camilo/N.Mueller (Ipiranga Racing) – 1min37s009
8. 80 M.Gomes/P.Derani (Cimed Racing – 1min37s107
9. 70. D.Nunes/L.Burti (Full Time) – 1min37s209
10. 33 N.Piquet/R.Frijns (Full Time) – 1min37s213
11. 0 C.Bueno/F.Massa (Cimed Racing) – 1min37s293
12. 18 A.Khodair/A.Hellmeister (Blau Motorsport) – 1min37s475
13. 44 B.Baptista/N.Figueiredo (Hero Motorsport) – 1min37s515
14. 65 M.Wilson/F.Giaffone (Eurofarma RC) – 1min37s523
15. 110 F.Lapenna/G.Robe (Cavaleiro Sports) – 1min37s702

Q1
16. 46 V.Genz/D.Muffato (Eisenbahn Racing Team – 1min37s265
17. 3 B.Figueiredo/B.Monteiro (Ipiranga Racing) – 1min37s279
18. 90 R.Maurício/F.Nasr (Full Time Sport) – 1min37s332
19. 1 A.Pizzonia/O.Jarvis (Prati-Donaduzzi) – 1min37s364
20. 117 G.Salas/M.Altuna (Hot Car Bardahl) – 1min37s369
21. 83 G.Casagrande/C.V.D.Drift (Vogel Motorsport) – 1min37s387
22. 55 S.Jimenez/F.Carbone (Squadra G-Force) – 1min37s402
23. 77 V.Brito/J.Bleekemolen (Eisenbahn Racing Team) – 1min37s437
24. 4 J.Campos/J.Green (Prati-Donaduzzi) – 1min37s477
25. 28 G.Osman/D.Fineschi (Cavaleiro Sports) – 1min37s487
26. 12 L.Foresti/J.D’Ambrosio (Cimed Racing) – 1min37s509
27. 5 D.Navarro/F.Girolami (Cavaleiro Sports) – 1min37s564
28. 25 T.Rocha/R.Matos (Vogel Motorsport) – 1min37s697
29. 8 R.Suzuki/J.K.Vernay (Hot Car Bardahl) – 1min37s827
30. 43. V.Meira/V.Orige (Scuderia Cólon) – 1min38s067
31. 9 G.Lima/G.Myasava (Squadra G-Force) – 1min38s206
32. 51 A.Abreu/M.Winterbottom (Shell V-Power) – sem tempo
33. 84 T.Marques/F.Croce (Scuderia Cólon) – sem tempo

By Felipe Giacomelli