The series was created in 1979 as the Campeonato Brasileiro de Stock Cars by General Motors, conceived as an alternative to the Division 1 series in which Chevrolet's dominance over Ford was causing a loss of public interest and sponsorship. The first race ran on 22 April 1979 at the Autódromo Internacional de Tarumã, Rio Grande do Sul, with 19 cars, all 6-cylinder Chevrolet Opalas. José Carlos Palhares took pole position; Affonso Giaffone won the race. Paulo Gomes won the inaugural season championship.
The decade saw the emergence of driver rivalries. In 1987, with General Motors support, a fairing designed and built by coachbuilder Caio was adopted, adapted to the Opala's chassis, improving aerodynamics and performance. Safety equipment also became more sophisticated during this period.
In 1990 General Motors renewed its interest and built a prototype intended to replace the Caio/Hidroplas model. From 1991 races were run in double rounds with two drivers per car, though the series continued to lose ground to multi-manufacturer championships such as the Campeonato Brasileiro de Marcas e Pilotos. In 1994 the championship returned to its earlier rules and the Chevrolet Omega was introduced as the standard model; tickets were made free and races were held in double rounds sponsored by Brazilian Formula Chevrolet under the name Chevrolet Challenger. Ingo Hoffmann dominated the decade with eight titles, three of them in partnership with Ângelo Giombell; his only serious challenges came from Paulo Gomes in 1995 and Chico Serra in 1999.
From 2000 the series management passed from General Motors to Vicar Promoções Desportivas, owned by former racing driver Carlos Col. This ushered in a period of modernisation and improved safety, with the adoption of a tubular chassis designated JL G-09, engineered by Edgardo Fernandez and built by Zeca Giaffone's JL Racing. The design drew inspiration from both NASCAR and the DTM. In 2003 the original Chevrolet 6-cylinder engine was replaced with a Chevrolet V8 imported from the United States by JL Racing, similar to engines used in the NASCAR Busch Series.
In 2005 Mitsubishi entered the series with the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, ending Chevrolet's status as sole manufacturer. That same year, on 30 October, the first race in Argentina was held at Autódromo Juan y Oscar Gálvez alongside the TC 2000 category, drawing 70,000 spectators; Giuliano Losacco won, with Mateus Greipel second and Luciano Burti third.
In 2006 Volkswagen entered with the Bora and the championship adopted a points system similar to NASCAR, together with a new structure of 16 teams and 32 drivers. A Super Final for the ten best drivers was introduced, analogous to the Chase for the Sprint Cup. The 2007 season was the largest in terms of manufacturer participation, with Peugeot joining with the 307 Sedan alongside Chevrolet, Mitsubishi and Volkswagen. Volkswagen announced its withdrawal for 2008; Mitsubishi followed for 2009. In 2008 the championship switched from Pirelli to Goodyear tires.
From 2005 to 2009 the series held the title Copa Nextel Stock Car following a sponsorship deal with Nextel.
In 2010 the category switched to ethanol fuel and electronic injection engines; Caixa Econômica Federal signed a title sponsorship deal lasting until 2012, during which the series was called Copa Caixa Stock Car. In 2011 Peugeot re-entered with its 408 sedan, replacing the 307. In 2012 Chevrolet introduced the Chevrolet Sonic as its competing model, replacing the Vectra; that year also saw Goodyear's final season as tire supplier, with Pirelli returning as sole supplier from 2013. The Super Final system was dropped for 2012, and a revised points format awarded points to the top twenty finishers.
For 2016 General Motors announced the Chevrolet Cruze as replacement for the Sonic. In 2017 Peugeot withdrew, leaving Chevrolet as the sole manufacturer — a one-make championship.
In 2020 Toyota Gazoo Racing entered alongside Chevrolet, fielding the Toyota Corolla; the car received a facelift in 2021. That season also saw a return to a monocoque chassis, replacing the tubular chassis used since 2000. On 12 December 2022 Vicar and Pirelli announced they would not renew their contract; from 2023 the series and its support categories would use Hankook tires exclusively.
For 2025 the series switched to a Crossover SUV-based formula driven by Brazilian passenger vehicle sales trends, with the Chevrolet Tracker and Toyota Corolla Cross replacing the existing cars; Mitsubishi returned with the Eclipse Cross.
In 1982 the Stock Car held two non-points races at Autodromo do Estoril in Portugal. The Corrida do Milhão (Million Race), carrying a prize pool of R$1 million, was held in 2008 and from 2010 to 2020. The Corrida de Duplas (Dual Race), a two-driver event, ran from 2014 to 2016 and later in 2018 and 2022; guest drivers included Jacques Villeneuve, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Jaime Alguersuari, Mark Winterbottom, Oliver Jarvis, António Félix da Costa, Álvaro Parente, Filipe Albuquerque, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Maxime Martin, Laurens Vanthoor and Néstor Girolami.
Ingo Hoffmann competed from 1979 to 2008 and is the series' most decorated driver, with 12 championships (1980, 1985, 1989–1994, 1996–1998, 2002) and 77 race wins. Paulo Gomes won the inaugural season in 1979 and claimed four championships. Chico Serra won three titles (1999, 2000, 2001). Cacá Bueno is a five-time champion (2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012) and is the son of sports commentator Galvão Bueno. Daniel Serra, a three-time champion (2017, 2018, 2019), also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans GTE Pro class in 2017 and 2019, and is the son of Chico Serra.
Several drivers with Formula One experience have competed in the series. Those currently or formerly in the series include Rubens Barrichello, Felipe Massa, Nelson Piquet Jr., Ricardo Zonta, Bruno Senna, Lucas di Grassi, Pietro Fittipaldi, Gabriel Bortoleto, Timo Glock, Raul Boesel, Chico Serra, Tarso Marques, Roberto Moreno, Jacques Villeneuve, Christian Fittipaldi, Luciano Burti, Antônio Pizzonia, Enrique Bernoldi and others.
Five fatal accidents have occurred in the series. In 1985 Zeca Greguricinski died at Interlagos from burns suffered in a crash. In June 2001 Laércio Justino died at the Nelson Piquet Circuit in Brasília after losing control at the pit lane entrance. In September 2003 photographer Raphael Lima Pereira, aged 19, was struck by Gualter Salles at Campo Grande circuit and died. On 9 December 2007 Rafael Sperafico died during the final race of the Stock Car Light 2007 season at Interlagos — the first fatality in that series. On 3 April 2011 Gustavo Sondermann was killed at Interlagos in a Copa Chevrolet Montana race, in an accident closely resembling Sperafico's four years earlier.
The first official video game was Game Stock Car in 2011, followed by Stock Car Extreme in 2013; both were developed by Reiza Studios. Automobilista, released in 2016 and built on the rFactor engine by Reiza Studios, featured the full 2015 and 2017 car grids and circuits. Automobilista 2, released in 2020 on the Project CARS engine, added the 2019 and 2020 cars and circuits. iRacing has included Stock Car Pro Series cars since 2022.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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