Press Releases - Tesla Fan Championship - Season 1 Review
Tesla Fan Championship - Season 1 Review
The inaugural season of the Tesla Fan Championship was conquered by Johnny Da Costa III, his first Tesla/WAR fan championship meaning that Johnny currently holds the WAR Super Cup and the Tesla Fan Championship! It was not an easy title though, the 4 wins might indicate it but in reality Johnny and Nádia Portocarrero were neck and neck until the 8th race in Montevideo. In thunderstorm weather Nádia crashed out of the race while Johnny went on to win the race and with it gain a precious 50+ advantage to manage in the final 2 races which he did successfully. It was then a valiant effort by Nádia Portocarrero who finished in 2nd place, her strong point this season being qualifying where she dominated with 5 poles out of 10, she also matched Johnny in podiums and top 5s but that extra retirement ended up making all the difference.
Third place in the championship went to Bartolomeu Jarbas, he started perfectly with a win in the first race but his hopes were severely compromised with 2 retirements in a row on races 4 and 5, he did win 2 more before the end of the season but that was only enough to recover up to 3rd place. It was another strong showing by young Vasco Guerra in Tesla/WAR competitions, not only he won a race for the first time, he also conquered his first pole and finished on the podium for the first time as well! Vasco Guerra finishes in 4th and best of U27 drivers. Manuel Vicente finished next up in 5th place, Manuel won a race and finished on the podium 5 times but 3 non-finishes were decisive to prevent him from finishing higher up. Daniel da Silva Dias finished next up in 6th place with 3 podiums, his first in WAR/Tesla competitions while veteran and previous WAR-FC champion Juca Macieira II finished in 7th place with 2 top 5 finishes. Ricardo Trincão II finished next up in 8th place after a good battle with the 24 year olds who finished right behind, Mefodiy Sobolev on top in 9th place, a retirement on race 4 compromised him but he bounced back stronger and recovered to finish as best Under-23 driver ahead of Maurício Cruz who closed the top 10.
In the Under-23 it was complete domination by Alexandre Campolargo, the 21 year old finished the season with 7 wins and 542 points, with 2 more seasons to go in the U23 category, Alexandre is looking like a great candidate to dominate the category! 19 year old Cameron McPherson did very well to finish in 2nd place even winning the thunderous Montevideo race, his 7 podiums were crucial to this result. Helton Castroneves, who in the meantime has retired, finished the season in 3rd place winning 2 races but he also finished on the podium just 5 times and that ended up making the difference. The best of the rookies was Visvaldis Cels who also finished 4th in the category after a good fight with Keenan Haryanto, also an 18 year old driver, who finished in 5th place and just 12 points behind Cels. 18 year old Tomas Góis Rocha finished right behind in 6th place followed by yet another 18 year old in 7th place, Miguel de Monteiro. Our final 2 drivers are both 21 year olds, Miguel Pedro finished 8th in the category ahead of Amaral Dias in 9th place.
That’s it for the first edition of the Tesla Fan Championship, you can check the full standings along with the WAR-FC Hall of Fame here. Tesla competitions will return in a few weeks with the Tesla Super Cup, all of our fan championship drivers will get an automatic invite and will get a chance to compete against former team drivers and other invited drivers.
Another reminder that Tesla is still running a Voting Points competition, we will offer a shareholding position in the team for any fan that donates 2000 Voting Points until the end of next season!