Meet Team Brazil

Meet Team Brazil – Aiming to Promote Brazilian Talent in Motorsport

Around the world, there are a vast number of organisations that aim to introduce and promote talented individuals to the wider motorsport world as well as provide opportunities to those for whom the realm of racing was previously out of reach. Women in Motorsport Canada and Slate Racing do this on the continent of North America. Rally Jameel does this in Saudi Arabia and Rallye Aiche de Gazelles is another brilliant example based in Morocco. Now, there is another that deserves the spotlight to be shone onto it – Team Brazil.

“The Team Brazil Scholarship was founded with a clear vision: to identify and support promising Brazilian racing talent from various motorsport disciplines and help them gain international exposure and opportunities.” – Team Brazil

Born in Brazil, founder Vera Lyra watched Formula 1 growing up and became entrenched in racing. This passion continued to grow over the years, aided by her chance to attend several racing events at the world-famous Interlagos Circuit where Formula 1 competes. Moreover, Vera was able to get closer to the cars at the Heineken Festival Senna Tribute in Brazil and after getting her first taste of driving a racing kart, she definitively fell in love with the sport. There was no going back.

Motorsport is a notoriously difficult industry to break into, but Vera was not going to be perturbed easily. She found an opportunity to help the Swift Cooper team in England and went on to spend a couple of months there learning more about racing from both the mechanical and the team sides.

Then, after seeing the success of the Team USA and Team Canada Scholarships, Vera set about founding Team Brazil – a scholarship designed to help young Brazilian drivers.

“I’ve always loved racing, but it wasn’t until the lead-up to the Scholarship that I truly understood how difficult it is for talented drivers to break through without support. The idea really took shape while I was watching my (then boyfriend, now husband) compete at the Formula Ford Festival. There was a Team USA Scholarship and a Team Canada Scholarship supporting talented young drivers from their countries, and it struck me that it would be great for Brazil to have a similar initiative. At the time, there were no Brazilians in Formula 1, and I wanted to help create opportunities for Brazilian talent to showcase their abilities on an international stage.” – Vera Lyra

The original plan was for Team Brazil to select drivers from diverse racing backgrounds—karting, cars, sim racing—and provide the winner with an opportunity to showcase their talent to the world. The venue for this demonstration that was selected was the Formula Ford Festival in the UK – chosen because of its history, prestige and large global following. Drivers from all over the world come to compete there every year and the costs involved to do so are significantly cheaper than most other options.

To help Vera on this endeavour are two individuals who both have their own long and rich history within motorsport and will act as judges to decide which of the applicants become finalists for the scholarship and which one of them will then go on to receive it.

Djalma Fogaça is the first of them. A vastly experienced racing driver, Fogaça competed in the Brazilian Stock Car Championship, the Formula Opel Lotus Euroseries and the Formula Chevrolet Brazil Championship, beating the likes of Helio Castroneves, Tarso Marques and Tony Kanaan on his way to being crowned champion. He still races when he can today and also runs a team in the Copa Truck Series.

Adriano Medeiros, meanwhile, is a Classic Formula Ford Champion and a winner in the NASCAR Euro Series. He has been a Grade A ARDS instructor since 2004 and has spent his time since then coaching racing drivers. Vera also wanted to work with him because he understands the financial barriers that many young drivers face and how they can best use what is at their disposal in order to progress.

It wasn’t smooth sailing for the start of Team Brazil though. The launch of the Team Brazil scholarship was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Travel restrictions and logistical hurdles forced Team Brazil to pause the scholarship before it had the chance to get off the ground properly.

In 2022, they were able to revive their idea and received over 100 applications for their inaugural scholarship. Finalists included Gustavo Ariel (who proved himself by winning a sim racing event), Rodrigo Viera (who came to their attention through a partnership with a karting championship) and Wallace Martins, an experienced racer honing his skills in a number of categories in Brazil.

After extensive discussion, and with limited funding that ruled out extensive testing, Wallace was selected from the finalists to be the first recipient of the Team Brazil Scholarship. His experience in cars made him the most adaptable for the short preparation window before the Formula Ford Festival.

“It was a very competitive event from the first races. What an experience! It was very competitive, but I managed to make it all the way to the final.” – Wallace Martins

Team Brazil and Wallace Martins travelled to the Formula Ford Festival that year where the Brazilian made it all the way to the final race, performing exceptionally well and finishing P13 overall – out of the seventy-eight drivers taking part. Team Brazil had made its mark.

In 2023, Team Brazil paused the scholarship prize again and looked at alternative ways to offer support after a lack of time and resources meant that they wouldn’t be able to function at the level that they wanted to.

For 2024, Team Brazil returned but pivoted in their approach and looked at the world of rental karting. As part of this, they selected João Castro to join Team Brazil. Based in England with a great foundation in motorsport, they chose the SRK Championship for him to compete in. With a reputation for being an extremely competitive Championship that has a good following, it seemed like the perfect choice. Team Brazil also chose to support Rodrigo Viera as he participated in the World Rental Karting Championship. Rodrigo won the final race of the Championship and finished 3^rd overall. Team Brazil was back on the map and making waves yet again.

In 2025, Team Brazil’s resources unfortunately remain limited. But they are continuing to support João Castro, with the hope of offering media coverage, racing opportunities, and greater exposure to help him further his career.

“We remain passionate about creating real opportunities for young Brazilian racers and hope to fully relaunch the scholarship in 2026, with stronger backing and a broader reach.” – Team Brazil

Team Brazil’s ultimate goal is to build a sustainable program that consistently helps talented Brazilian drivers progress to the higher levels of motorsport. Notably, no Brazilian driver has ever won the top class at Le Mans – and this is something that Team Brazil would love to help change. Through the continued efforts of ventures like this all around the globe, more and more individuals that would never have dreamed of entering motorsport are now getting the opportunity to do just that. Organizations like the FIA should be looking at what these groups are doing and support them accordingly. Team Brazil have estimated that it would cost less than £30,000 for them to bring two drivers over from Brazil to compete in the Formula Ford Festival, for example, and that covers car hire, insurance, travel, etc. In motorsport terms, it’s one of the cheaper options and could make a world of difference for those two drivers. Combine that with the methodical approach that the team is taking to select drivers and the results that they’ve had already, and you’d consider it a bit of a no-brainer. Here’s hoping the FIA – and others – take note of more of these organizations and give them the support that they need moving forwards. Watch this space.

Keep an eye out over the coming days for interviews with Team Brazil Drivers Wallace Martins and João Castro.

Author: Thiemo Albers-Daly