Season 2007 – Territorial expansion
Four drivers drivers arriving at the next-to-last stage in position to fight for the title and up to six cars fighting for a win. In the calendar, two more tracks are included: Jacarepaguá in Rio de Janeiro and Santa Cruz do Sul in Rio Grande do Sul.
Four drivers drivers arriving at the next-to-last stage in position to fight for the title and up to six cars fighting for a win. In its third year of activity, Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge has proven itself as one of the most competitive racing series in brazilian motorsport. With seven wins through 16 races, Ricardo Baptista became the third champion.
In the Porsche 996s’ last year of duty (at least that’s what it was believed then: no one could foresee the creation of the Light division, two years later), the series had the inclusion of two more tracks: Jacarepaguá in Rio de Janeiro and Santa Cruz do Sul in Rio Grande do Sul. The later came into the series because of a sudden closure in Interlagos due to some refurbishing. It was considered the best among the available alternatives because it not only has a very selective track layout, the venue could receive the race in the same date as before.
Five different drivers won in the first five races: Constantino Júnior, Luiz Otávio Paternostro, Roberto Posses, Ricardo Baptista and Tom Valle. On the sixth, a new winner was added: Clemente Lunardi. After, Baptista lined up four wins in a row and became the best title candidate.
In october, during the support event for the Formula 1 GP, Porsche Cup first adopted the “Flying Lap” model, making the saturday qualifying round account for points. Beside Baptista, other drivers with title chance were: Clemente Lunardi, Marcel Visconde and Otávio Mesquita. Yet, Olivier Maxim (french driver from Porsche Supercup, a guest driver) which was second place in the practice sessions behind pole-position, gave him the title early. The sunday race, a few hours before the Formula 1 race, was one of the best in the series’ history. Baptista, Maximin and Valle fought bravely for victory with the crowd in the grandstands cheering for the brazilians in their battle with the frenchmen. Baptista won after Valle and Maximin crashed in the Senna’s S.
The final stage had a first: it was the first time Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge had a wet race. The first race happened normally, despite the wet asphalt. When the cars aligned for the second race the rain was much stronger and the track was very wet. Race started with the safety car expecting that the rain would subside. Since that didn’t happen, race was ended after 16 minutes, enough time to validate it with full points. In the fight for the second place overall, Lunardi won over Mesquita, Posses and Marcel.
