Season 2011: Constantino and Sylvio, champions
The year 2011 was known for the first championship title to Constatino Jr., the record holder for most pole positions and wins in the Cup division. In the Challenge division, the crowning of Sylvio de Barros as champion. Outside the racetrack, the solid growth of a company branded by excellence.
A hard to digest fact has haunted Constantino Jr. for five years. Since his start in Porsche Cup in 2006, he has proven himself one of the fastest drivers, became the driver with the most wins and pole-positions. The only thing left was a Championship title, lost by an inch in 2008. In 2011 the wait was over: with eight victories through the year, the ex Formula 3 and Formula 3000 driver was crowned champion for the frist time. The Challenge class also had a new champion Sylvio de Barros with his “Mach 5”, the nickname of his Porsche, decorated with Speed Racer’s livery.
Starting for the first time in Portugal, more precisely in Estoril and finishing its international rounds in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the season had another surprise: the arrival of the new Cup cars – the new name for the former “997” division in 2010. The new generation Porsche 911 GT3, with 3,8 liters engines and 450hp were delivered straight to the boxes of the portuguese circuit. There, each car was decorated with the graphics required by each driver.The Light division and the “996” Porsches were replaced by the new Challenge class with “997” cars and 3,6 liters and 420hp.
To reach the championship title, Constatino had to defeat three strong adversaries. The first one, Ricardo Rosset, was out of action after the first half of the season: winner of three from eight races up to that point (in the other five races, Constantino was victorious), Rosset broke his collarbone in a bicycle accident and could not race until the end of the year. In the lack of one adversary, Constantino got two: Clemente Lunardi and Ricardo baptista, who took the battle all the way to the next-to-last stage of the year. Marcel Visconde and Roberto Posses finished fourth and fifth. Rosset, even out of the second half of the year, still finished sixth overall.
In the Challenge class, Sylvio reached the title with three victories and finishing ten out of eleven races among the top 5. This consistency was paramount so that he could open a good advantage over the group, consisted of Fernando Barci, Gilberto Farah, Carlos Ambrósio, Rodolfo Ometto and Eduardo Azevedo.They finished the season in that order and among the second and the sixth there were only 11 points difference. Gui Affonso, Cristiano Piquet and the rookie Ipe Ferraiolo completed the list of winners of a season containing 37 drivers racing at least one race.
