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Tesla Fan Championship - Season 5 Review

29.11.2021 - The 5th edition of the Tesla Fan Championship took place during the last 3 weeks.

It was the “usual suspect” winning the championship, Nádia Portocarrero took home her 4th title but this time it wasn’t plain sailing as Manuel Vicente had a perfect start to the season and won the first 2 races which meant that by race 5 he was still in the lead, however Vicente also had a period of less than perfect races and he lost ground in the middle part of the season only really recovering on the final race with a 3rd race win of the season. The other driver to win 3 races was Maurício Cruz, his start was fairly modest but between races 4 and 9 nobody scored more points than him.

Still Nádia Portocarrero was above the rest, she won just 3 races like her main rivals but finished every race in the podium while also making pole position in half of the races. Manuel Vicente recovered up to 2nd place in the last race with 3 wins and 6 podiums, Maurício Cruz dropped to 3rd in the last race scored 3 wins and 5 podiums, the top 3 crucially finished every race in the top 10. Vasco Guerra was one step below in 4th place, he won a race but also retired 3 times while Matvey Sobolev finished in 5th place ahead of veteran Johnny da Costa III who won the battle of the veterans by finishing right ahead of Bartolomeu Jarbas in 7th place. Daniel da Silva Dias had a low key season in 8th place followed by Bruno Dacosta in 9th and Jamie Thom closed the top 10.

With her 4th title Nádia Portocarrero solidifies her place as the most successful driver in the Tesla-FC, she leads with 2169 points, 18 wins, 39 podiums, 44 top 5, 47 top 10, 20 poles, 19 fastest laps and of course, 4 titles! There’s only one record that is shared with another driver, that’s the most top 10 finishes where Nádia is tied with Johnny da Costa III.

It was also a particularly interesting season in Under-23, Felipe Campolargo did dominate with 6 wins but races 5 and 6 were a disaster which meant Campolargo needed to recover 58 points in the final 4 races! It looked like an impossible recovery since Tomas Góis Rocha was also doing a very strong season, never finishing outside the podium until then but the fact is that Campolargo won 3 of the final 4 races, finishing 2nd in the other and Góis Rocha didn’t win another race, he finished twice in 2nd place but also 4th and 5th in the other races and that just gave the title to Felipe Campolargo!

It’s then Felipe Campolargo’s first Under-23 title, he finished 19 points ahead of Tomas Góis Rocha who will still have another opportunity to go for the 3rd TFC title. The other driver to win races was our 3rd place finisher Huguinho Silva who won 2 races and finished 5 of them on the podium. Visvaldis Cels finished in 4th place with 3 podiums ahead of our season 2 champion Cameron McPherson who finished on the podium 4 times. Best rookie was Noé Nogueira who came out on top of a very interesting battle with Yolanda Carrapatelo, both finished ahead of the other on 5 occasions but Noé did better on the more chaotic races that gave him 2 podiums and that made the difference in the end. 8th place went to Miguel de Monteiro ahead of Valdemiro Jarbas in 9th and finally Kilanji Aeon closed the top 10, the 18 year old rookie also managing a surprise podium in the process.

In the all time records table, Tomas Góis Rocha dominates but there’s challenges, he has scored the most points (1998), most top 5 (41), most fastest laps (18) and is the only driver to repeat an Under-23 title. Cameron McPherson is still the driver with the most podiums, 36 in total while Felipe Campolargo is now the driver with he most poles following this dominant season in that regard, he’s got 16 poles vs 15 for Góis Rocha.

Cameron McPherson will now say goodbye to the Under-23 category but the remaining competitors will still be eligible to race in Under-23 next season, could Tomas Góis Rocha get back on top and go for a third title or maybe Felipe Campolargo repeats his title or maybe another rival steps up! In the main class Nádia Portocarrero should be our great favourite once again next season to go for a 5th title as she reaches her peak but her younger rivals will surely try to have a go at the title!