In the first race, Rossi took advantage of a confusion between the leaders, Fraga and César Ramos, to score victory. In a chaotic race, the Argentinian sat back as the two almost collided as they left the pits.
However, this near-miss turned into contact on the very next lap. Fraga touched Ramos, who spun, and resulted in the 2016 champion being penalized with a drive-through penalty. Rossi inherited the lead and won his second race of the 2022 season.
“The meaning of this victory for my career is impressive, because I always had the dream of competing here, of fighting for victories and today was the day, it happened,” he said.
“Today, I thought we were fine to fight for a podium, the situation between Cesar Ramos and Felipe Fraga, without a doubt, benefited me, but these are racing situations, when you have to race, you don't know what's going to happen. I am very happy.”
In the second race Fraga, who was replacing Daniel Serra (who was racing at the Spa 24 Hours), put in a stirring recovery race. With a lot of confusion on the first lap, and a safety car on the track, Fraga rose from P21 and got into the lead by opting for a different stopping strategy from the race leaders.
His quick pitstop meant he went side by side with Thiago Camilo, who was in first place at that time, at the exit of the pits. Once in front, Fraga managed to defend himself from Camilo's attack and beat his opponent to the finish.
Fraga said: “It was incredible, I want to thank Eurofarma Team for the invitation, for me, it is a honor to be invited to race in a great team. When a team like that calls you to replace the leader of the championship, it's a very big responsibility.
“I'm still very sad about what happened in the first race, I think it could have been different. He's my best friend here, I'm really sad the way it was, I think the two of us could have calmed down there from that incident.”
Gabriel Casagrande holds the championship lead with 205 points, against absent Serra's 184. Rossi is third with 170 and Rubens Barrichello is fourth with 159.
The next round of the Stock Car Pro Series will be at Velocitta on September 4th.
