Felipe Fraga is in a crucial phase of the 2026 Stock Car championship as the sole leader. The driver from Eurofarma RC won the main race in Santa Cruz do Sul on August 9th, increasing his lead to 164 points over Felipe Massa and Sergio Sette Câmara. Five stages remain until the Super Final in Interlagos, scheduled for December 13th, and the regulations provide for two mechanisms that could significantly alter the standings.
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The season is not limited to the standings. Two teams dropped out of the grid before mid-year, the naturally aspirated V8 engine returned after five seasons, and the category changed its master sponsor during the championship. Stock Car's funding in 2026 differs from what happened in 2025.
Before the seventh stage, Fraga had accumulated 619 points, while Massa and Sette Câmara each had 455 points, tied for second place and separated only by the tie-breaker criterion. Gabriel Casagrande was in fourth with 439 points, followed by Rafael Suzuki in fifth with 420 and Gaetano di Mauro in sixth with 410.
The current champion demonstrated dominance in the weekend held in Rio Grande do Sul. He secured pole position with a time of 1min18s220 in Q3, surpassing Arthur Leist by only 0s085, and won the main race with 1s813 ahead of Thiago Camilo, from Mercado Livre Racing. Di Mauro completed the podium with the second Eurofarma Mitsubishi vehicle. Felipe Baptista, who won the Saturday sprint, did not participate in Sunday's race. Although the updated official table was not available at the end of this text, the result consolidated the difference built throughout the year.
Among the teams, Eurofarma RC leads comfortably with 1,029 points, compared to 730 for Team RC and 723 for Lubrax TMG. In terms of manufacturers, Mitsubishi totals 1,393 points, ahead of Chevrolet with 1,288 and Toyota with 1,115.
Two factors prevent Fraga's lead from being considered definitive. The first is the rule for discarding the two worst results of the season, which compresses the table in the final count and benefits drivers who perform better in the second half of the year. Felipe Baptista, who is in seventh with 398 points at 23 years old, is the name that benefits most from this rule, after winning two races in Cuiabá and Velocitta.
The second factor lies in the distribution of victories. In the first twelve races of the year, seven different drivers were winners. Di Mauro, Fraga, Guilherme Salas, Nelson Piquet Jr., and Baptista achieved two victories each; Enzo Elias and Léo Reis won once. Fraga does not hold the most wins of the season; he leads through consistency, and regularity can be broken by a three-hour endurance race or a single-spec race.
Despite this, one piece of data favors Fraga: in six stages contested, only one driver occupied the championship lead.
The second-half calendar was adjusted on July 31st due to works at two racetracks, with the dates maintained only with a change of location. The eighth stage will take place in Curvelo (MG) on September 5th and 6th. Initially scheduled for the International Circuit of Chapecó, the event was transferred to the Circuito dos Cristais due to heavy rainfall in Santa Catarina which delayed the completion of the circuit works. Curvelo will host two stages in the same year for the first time.
On September 27th, Brasília will host the category's first endurance race in history, lasting three hours and contested in pairs. This format was planned for Goiânia, but the Ayrton Senna Circuit required resurfacing and was excluded from the second half. The tenth stage was relocated to Cascavel on October 18th.
The Million Race will be held on November 15th at Velopark, in Nova Santa Rita (RS), and no longer in Brasília as per the initial schedule. This race has not taken place since 2020 and offers the largest individual prize money in South American motorsports, amounting to R$ 1 million for the winner. Interlagos will conclude the year with the Super Final on December 13th.
For competitors aiming for the title, this implies two races with unusual formats in the remaining five stages. Neither of these two awards only administration of points.
Stock Car started 2026 with 34 cars and a focus on renewal, but lost two structures along the way.
Departure of SG28 Racing
The first team to leave was SG28 Racing, which had announced the category's first 100% female duo, consisting of Tatiana Calderón and Bruna Tomaselli. Both drivers had never competed. At the opening race in Curvelo, the cars arrived without essential components, and the Colombian's car electronic control unit was only released after qualifying. In Cascavel, none of the team's drivers were on the track, and in April, before Interlagos, the category withdrew the team's spot. Albatroz Racing, managed by engineer Sérgio Troy, took over the spot and hired Felipe Barrichello Bartz. Calderón and Tomaselli migrated to NASCAR Brasil.
Departure of Scuderia Bandeiras
The second departure was more controversial. On July 1st, Scuderia Bandeiras left the grid with immediate effect, one day after the Automobilismo STJD unanimously upheld the disqualifications of Rubens Barrichello and Nelson Piquet Jr. at the Interlagos stage, due to irregularities in the brake calipers. Átila Abreu's team, with Christian Fittipaldi as boss, alleged legal insecurity and breach of contract by Vicar and Audace Tech, mentioning charges of about R$ 800 thousand related to adaptations of the new engine and R$ 157 thousand for the Interlagos Truck Lounge. The category argued that the process respected the right to defense and that the penalties were linked to safety.
The sporting impact was immediate. Bandeiras had three drivers in the top 10. Barrichello, Piquet Jr., and Átila Abreu lost their spots, and the category began listing them in the official standings under the designation
