Formula Regional: Camara fights hard in Hockenheim

In the final round of the season, Rafael Camara was a front runner, just missing out on the podium in both races. The Brazilian’s Ferrari Driver Academy colleague, Maya Weug finished the year as third best rookie.

Rafael Camara rounded off his year with two fourth places in Hockenheim, the 18 year old a front runner throughout the event. Second and third fastest in the two qualifying sessions, he fought for the win in both races, but his hopes evaporated towards the end. He did however bring his points total to 173 points to claim fifth place in the championship. “Overall, it was a good weekend,” said Camara. “We definitely could have done better in terms of results, but the pace was quick in qualifying and in the races. There was also some bad luck that affected the final result, but when you are fighting for the win in the closing stages, you have to factor in a few more risks. But I’m still happy with the performance, we did a good job right from the start of the season, making progress race by race and I will continue to work on myself to improve for next season.”

Maya. Maya Weug didn’t get the results she deserved, although she did meet her goal of finishing third in the rookie classification and for her too, the experience gained in this her first season in Formula Regional, will be very useful to her next year. Maya’s 27 points put her 17th in the standings.

Race-1. Camara started the first race from second on the grid and went into the lead, but then dropped back to second just before the Safety Car came out because of collisions in the midfield. At the restart, he kept second place, attempting to attack the leader Tim Tramnitz on the penultimate lap. Rafael arrived at turn 8 taking the outside line, which did not work out for him, as he ended up in the run off area. Going through the dirty part of the track cost him two places, so that he finished fourth. Weug lined up 21st and after a good start, she made up four places, taking the flag in 18th place.

Race-2. The final race of the Hockenheim weekend and indeed of the 2023 season saw Camara and Weug line up third and 20th places respectively, with both of them moving up one place after the start. Camara then embarked on a long head-to-head duel with the leader, Martinius Stenshome. After two Safety Car periods, Rafael tried one last time at turn 6, but as was the case in the earlier race, as the two men battled wheel to wheel, he was out of luck, passed by Tramnitz and Kas Haverkirt. Maya finished 21st.