The schedule reminds us that the season was opened on May 2nd in Goiânia, but in practice the championship will begin to count for Prati-Donaduzzi Team this weekend at Velopark, which receives the second stage of 2017 in its circuit. In the capital of Goiás, Antonio Pizzonia from Amazonas and Júlio Campos from Paraná were involved in an accident on the first lap that took away any chance of an expressive finish on Sunday after the free practice and qualifying sessions - Campos dropped 8th and Pizzonia 11th in race 1.
The restart could not come on a more appropriate track. Not only the team led by technical director Rodolpho Mattheis has a story dominated by great results in the diminutive 2.2 km track as Campos became the first driver to climb onto the podium in both races in 2015 since the current double round was implemented. "Our cars have an excellent record at Velopark, last year we did an eighth and a third in the first heat and in 2015 we dropped and finished second, and our sister team, A. Mattheis, did double qualifying and race 1 in 2016”, explained Rodolpho.
The crashes in Goiânia not only frustrated the expectations of the team, but also forced engineers and mechanics to carry out a thorough review work in Petrópolis to give the cars the best conditions. Prati-Donaduzzi gave a show of speed and efficiency to put Pizzonia and Campos back on track in Goiânia, but not all of the damages could be identified in the pits. "We found that the rear bar of Júlio's suspension was badly damaged, in addition to the left triangles. At the front there was also a front triangle and the convergence bar quite affected, which left the steering wheel bent in race 2. Pizzonia´s car was also with a bent rear triangle that was not changed for the second race. The brakes were affected because a rear triangle ripped the hose and damaged the cooling. Julio also had no speed in the second race because of the damages in the bearing that caused the loss of oil pressure, which was only verified in the engine review. As it was changed, it's okay”, said the team boss.
This Thursday, the teams are expected to reach the municipality of Nova Santa Rita, 25 kilometers from Porto Alegre, to install the structure and final adjustments to the cars. Track activities begin on Friday, with the following schedule:

Friday
12:30 – 01:30p.m - 1st free practice - Group 1
01:40 – 02:40p.m - First free practice - Group 2

Saturday
09:00-09:40 a.m - 2nd free practice - Group 1
09:45-10:25 a.m - 2nd free practice - Group 2
01:00-02:00 p.m - Qualifying training (Q1, Q2 and Q3)

Sunday
01:00-01:45 - Race 1
02:10-02:55 - Race 2