02/2012

MAGAZINE

TWO LAST LAP BATTLES CROWN CAMPANA AND VAN DER DRIFT AS THE LATEST AUTO GP WINNERS

MOROCCAN THRILLER

STUNNING TV FIGURES FOR AUTO GP VIRTUOSI AND MLR71: SUCCESSFUL NEWCOMERS

 RACE RACEREPORT REPORT- -BRNO MARRAKECH

The start of Race 2

BREATH-TAKERS
Round 5
Sergio Campana was the fourth different winner of the Auto GP 2012 season. The Italian F3 Champion took an amazing success crossing the line with an advantage of just two tenths on championship leader Adrian QuaifeHobbs, after a glowing-hot fight in the last five laps of the Race. The duel for the win was the last act of an action-packed Race 1 that proved to be eventful right from the start: poleman Sergey Sirotkin nearly stalled when the lights went off and dropped to P9, while Pl Varhaug clinched a perfect start and took the lead ahead of Campana, Quaife-Hobbs, Giancarlo Serenelli, Chris Van Der Drift, Facu Regalia and Daniel de Jong. Despite some big pressure from Campana in the first few laps, Varhaug held the lead quite comfortably ahead of the MLR71 driver, while Quaife-Hobbs already seemed to struggle with tyres and had to defend his 3rd place by some well placed attacks by Serenelli. On lap 4 the Briton stopped to change tyres with an early pit-stop strategy, followed by Van der Drift, Victor Guerin and Max Snegirev. Behind the leaders, the very first laps also saw some action: after his bad start Sirotkin gave his best to recover and went past Ricci on the first lap, then doing the same with de Jong one lap later; in the meantime Regalia was putting pressure on Van der Drift for fifth place but on lap 3 the Argentinian driver of Campos Racing spun at the second chicane and went into the wall, luckily with damages for the car alone. At half race Varhaug started stretching his lead on Campana, who stopped for his mandatory tyre change on lap 10. Varhaug did the same at the end of lap 12, and that was a key moment of the race: the Norwegian, who seemed headed for an easy win, stalled his Virtuosi UK car at the restart and lost a lot of time, exiting the pits in third place 10 adrift from Quaife-Hobbs. So the fight for the win became a matter between Campana and the talented Briton of SuperNova: Sergio had just a 1 gap on Adrian after the pit-stop and managed to control the situation until 3 laps to go, when the grip of his rear tyres really started fading. Quaife-Hobbs tried to make the most of his rivals traction struggles, but Campana used the layout of the Moulay El Hassan circuit and the Overboost he had left in the best possible way, boasting a stunning defensive drive. The two went side by side many times but Campana managed to keep the inside line at every chicane and eventually crossed the line first, giving newcomer MLR71 their first win in the Championship. A disappointed Varhaug closed the race in third place followed by Van der Drift, with Ricci 5th ahead of Sirotkin. De Jong was 7th, while Antonio Spavone took P8 and hence took pole on Race 2s reversed grid. It was really hard - said Campana - because in the last few laps my rear tyres were really gone. I had wheelspin everywhere, even on the

TWO LAST LAP BATTLES CROWN CAMPANA AND VAN DER DRIFT IN MOROCCO

straight, and so keeping Adrian at bay was really difficult. He came alongside me more than once, but I was determined not to let him through and thats what I did.

Round 6 Chris Van der Drift was the second king of

the Marrakech Auto GP weekend after winning Race 2 with a stunning performance. In a season that already saw 5 different winners in 6 rounds, the Kiwi driver bagged the first success for him and MP Motorsport thanks to both a masterful drive and a very good job by his pit-wall staff. At the beginning of the race, tough, it was Sergey Sirotkin who took the lead with an amazing start that allowed him to go past de Jong and then pass team-mate Antonio Spavone on the outside of Turn 1. The Russian driver of Euronova started pushing as hard as he could and at the end of lap 2 his gap on the followers was already 4 wide. Behind those two the start was action packed, with de Jong getting off the line slowly and being overtaken by Van der Drift for P3. The Dutchman of MP Motorsport managed to get his position back with a great move at the third chicane, but immediately after he locked-up his front wheels at the hairpin and crashed into Spavones rear, bringing the race of both to an early end. Lap 4 saw the first pit-stops from Varhaug, Quaife-Hobbs and Serenelli, with Campana and Ricci coming in for their tyre change one

WHOS THE WINNER

ROUND 5 1 Sergio CAMPANA 2 Adrian QUAIFE-HOBBS 3 Pal VARHAUG 4 Chris VAN DER DRIFT 5 Giacomo RICCI 6 Sergey SIROTKIN 7 Daniel DE JONG 8 Antonio SPAVONE 9 Yann CUNHA 10 Francesco DRACONE ROUND 6 1 Chris VAN DER DRIFT 2 Sergey SIROTKIN 3 Giacomo RICCI 4 Adrian QUAIFE-HOBBS 5 Victor GUERIN 6 Yann CUNHA 7 Pal VARHAUG 8 Francesco DRACONE 9 Giuseppe CIPRIANI 10 Facu REGALIA MLR 71 19 laps in 29:34.199 Supernova International +0.186 Virtuosi UK +5.951 Manor MP Motorsport +36.677 Zele Racing +38.902 Euronova Racing +40.169 Manor MP Motorsport +59.207 Euronova Racing +59.324 Ombra Racing +1:07.767 Virtuosi UK +1:08.838 Manor MP Motorsport 19 laps in 29:10.823 Euronova Racing +0.651 Zele Racing +19.943 Supernova International +20.597 Supernova International +27.791 Ombra Racing +39.774 Virtuosi UK +44.552 Virtuosi UK +59.733 Campos Racing +59.932 Campos Racing +1:06.262 CLASSIFICATION
Drivers Standings 1. Quaife-Hobbs 105; 2. Sirotkin 76; Varhaug 75; 4. Van der Drift 69; 5. De Jong 43; 6. Campana 39; 7. Regalia 36; 8. Ricci 30; 9. Snegirev 22; 10. Spavone 18; 11. Guerin 16; 12. Cunha 8; 13. Serenelli 5; 13. Fong e Dracone 4; 15. Cipriani 3; 16. Pentus 2. Under 21 Standings 1. Quaife-Hobbs 120; 2. Sirotkin 98; 3. Varhaug 85; 4. Regalia 51; 5. De Jong 49; 6. Spavone 42; 7. Guerin 36; 8. Cunha 24; 9. Beretta 9.

Campana and Quaife-Hobbs congratulate each other after a stunning battle

Varhaug lost a win at the pit-stop

lap later. Campana exited the pits right ahead of Varhaug and the Norwegian driver of Virtuosi UK outbraked him on the outside of Turn 1 to take fourth, with Quaife-Hobbs also closing the gap on the Race 1 Winner. In a very good moment of his race, Varhaug then started catching Ricci, and passed his rival for third place at the last chicane with a bold outside move on lap 8. On lap 11 the pack catched Michele La Rosa, who still had to pit: Varhaug passed him at the last chicane, followed by Ricci at the hairpin. Campana tried a late braking to enter the same gap but his team-mate didnt understand his intentions and closed the door, ending in a crash that took both MLR71 cars out of the race. In the meantime at the front the fight for the win was hotter than ever: Sirotkin pitted on lap 12 when he had a 48 lead on Van der Drift,

while the kiwi driver made the most of his new tyres to stay out on track as long as he could: in doing so, the MP Motorsport driver pulled a sequence of very fast laps on the 129 pace that allowed him to stretch his lead on Sergey to 27 before lap 16, a gap that was enough to keep the lead when he finally entered the pits for his mandatory tyre change. In the very last lap Sirotkin got really close but wasnt in the condition to try a move, and so the pair crossed the line with no changes in the order. Behind them the duel for third position was a close one as well, with Varhaug, Ricci and Quaife-Hobbs packed in less than 1. The Italian tried to pass Varhaug on lap 18, but he had to back-off and Quaife-Hobbs made the most of it with a good outside move at Turn 3. The Briton of SuperNova started making a lot of pressure on Pl and at the last chicane of the last lap he eventually got on the inside,

trying to get third place. They both braked as late as possible but their manoeuver ended with a chicane cut for Varhaug and a bad exit from the corner for Quaife-Hobbs, who was then passed by Ricci. Varhaug crossed the line in third place ahead of Ricci and QuaifeHobbs, but after the race he was handed a 25 penaly for cutting the chicane, hence being demoted to P7. So Ricci got the last podium spot, ahead of Quaife-Hobbs and Guerin. I was behind when Sirotkin pitted Van der Drift said - so I knew that to make our strategy work I had to push hard. I couldnt see Sergey but I did knew that my laptimes were good and I was consistent, so at some point I felt that coming out of the pits in the lead was a possibility. The only question mark was the pit-stop but the guys were really quick, so it was fine.

 MIXED NEWS

Quaife-Hobbs thunders through the streets of Marrakech

As it does from 2010, its maiden year, Auto GP puts a prize money up for grabs at each and every event. After the Sunday race the points of Race 1 and Race 2 get summed up (together with the extra points for pole position and the fastest laps of both races) and an overall weekend classification is drew. Then, prize money is awarded to the top three drivers of the classification: for 2012, 35.000 euros are up for grabs at each event, allocated as follows: 1st: 20.000 euros 2nd: 10.000 euros 3rd: 5.000 euros

QUAIFE-HOBBS IS THE CHIP LEADER

Three events into the championship six drivers already had their share of prize money, for a total of 105.000 euros awarded up to now. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs is the chip leader, with 40.000 euros already in his pocket: twice a winner in 2012 so far, the briton got a second and a fourth place in Marrakech and this allowed him to take second place in the weekend classification, so bagging another 10.000 euros. Quaife-Hobbs' weekend was a good one, but Chris Van der Drift had an even better one: with his win in Race 2 and the 4th place in Race 1 the kiwi driver of MP Motorsport got more points than anyone else in Morocco,

P R IZ E M O N E Y

hence getting 20.000 euros that add to the 5.000 he already won in Monza. Sergio Campana is the latest new entry of this standings: his amazing win in Race 1 was worth 25 points that were enough to secure 3rd place in the weekend classification, even if his Race 2 was a DNF because of a contact with team-mate La Rosa. Campana got 5.000 euros, and lies now behing Varhaug and Sirotkin in the prize money order.

1. Quaife-Hobbs 40.000 euros 2. Van der Drift 25.000 euro 3. Varhaug and Sirotkin 15.000 euros 5. Campana and de Jong 5.000 euros

GROWING TV AUDIENCE FOR AUTO GP

Auto GP keeps going from strength to strength even when it comes to TV figures. The Series, which averaged an audience of nearly 3 million viewers per race in 2011 in Europe alone, managed to do even better in the first rounds of the 2012 campaign. Both the Valencia and Marrakech events were followed on Eurosport and Eurosport 2 by more than 3.500.000 viewers, a 25% improvement compared to the 2007 average. Its a remarkable achievement, especially considering that this data is again referred to European territory alone, not including all the Countries reached by Eurosport in the Asia/Pacific area and the ones reached by individual agreements with national and pannational broadcasters in the North and South American area. Besides reaching huge crowds on TV, Auto GP is ready to do the same on track: next weekend the Championship will race in Hungaroring, a track that last year did set an attendance record with 75.000 people gathering on the grandstands throughout the weekend.

Crowded autograph session in Morocco

T E A M S T A N D IN G S
SUPERNO VA L E AD S, MANO R MP O N T H E H UNT
After the first three rounds of the Series, the battle for the teams' title is hotter than ever. SuperNova International leads the way with 121 points, but Manor MP Motorsport is just 9 points adrift. The dutch team is holding 2nd place thanks to some very consistent perfomances by both his drivers: with two 4th places and 1 podium finish for de Jong and one win, one podium finish and one 4th place with Van der Drift, the team has been bagging good points at each round. At SuperNova International, anyway, the team is confident that in the next rounds they will be able to stretch the gap: up to now the british team has relied mainly on Championship leader Adrian Quaife-Hobbs to increase their points tally, while Victor Guerin still has to turn his great potential into steady points finishes. The Brazilian talent has showed a very good pace in all the meetings, but a mix of bad luck and mistakes prevented him from making the most of it. SuperNova International knows that when Guerin's great performances will be turned into points, they will have a good resource to take a clear edge in the battle for the title. They will have to be careful anyway, because other teams may have something to say: Euronova Racing is third in the standings only 17 points far, while Virtuosi UK is in fourth place with 80 points: they both have what it takes to fight back, so prepare for a very exciting second half of the season!

Daniel de Jong

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

SuperNova International 121 Manor MP Motorsport 112 Euronova Racing 94 V irtuosi UK 80 Campos Racing 60 ML R71 39 Z ele Racing 30 O mbra Racing 17

s g n i t e Gre from ech

Marrak

Yann Cunha

Bumpy shortcut for Dracone

Sergio Campana

Facu Regalia

MLR71 team mates Campana and La Rosa

Sergey Sirotkin

The start of Race 2

 INTERVIEW

VAN A MUC
ith his Race 2 success in Marrakech, Chris van der Drift ended a 21-month-long streak without a win. A widely recognized talent, the kiwi driver had to face tough times since his huge Brands Hatch crash in 2010 and this also explains why his win in Marrakech was hailed by big smiles throughout the whole Auto GP paddock, with everybody seeing it as a deserved reward after a very unlucky period.

It feels the same for me - Chris said - it was really a much awaited moment. I knew that I always had the speed to do it, but when youre not racing regularly you dont have many chances to show that and even when it happens youre a bit rusty, so you dont get results that in a normal situation would have been easily within your reach. This is why getting this chance to compete in Auto GP with Manor MP Motorsport was so important for me, I cant thank them enough for that. The Brands Hatch crash in 2010 forced you to a lengthy stop in order to recover from the injuries. How much of a setback has it been for your career? A big one. The broken bones, bumps and bruises were just one bad side of it. The other one is that it took away momentum from my career, as the timing was also really bad. I had just decided to go ahead without a manager when the crash came. So I had to restart everything on my own, and it was an hard task. Finding a drive for the whole 2011 season wasnt possible, and racing when you dont know if you will still have a seat the following weekend is never easy.
Pure Joy on the podium

Lets focus on the present: your fight with Sirotkin in Race 2 was amazing, you couldnt see each other but both

DER DRIFT: H AWAITED WIN

THE KIWI COMMENTS HIS FIRST SUCCESS AFTER THE 2010 BRANDS-HATCH CRASH

Some aggressive driving...

had to push as hard as possible to make the strategy work. How does winning such a race feels? Winning after such a close fight always feels great. It wasnt an easy race, especially the first part: I had a late-pitstop strategy and so I knew that I had to watch after my tyres. Thats why in the first few laps I was conservative, maybe even a bit too much. Anyway at some point I realized that if I wanted to win the race I couldnt wait anymore, and that the soft compound seemed very consistent. So I started pushing as hard as I could, and the laptimes got better and better. I think that the key moments were my laps when Sirotkin pitted and then my own in and out laps. Theres where I made the gap. From the start of the season you already won 25.000 euros of

Prize Money, thats also a good way of saying thanks to your team Manor MP Motorsport are putting a lot of trust in me, so having the chance to give them something in return is really welcome. They have a very young driver on one car, so they are relying on my experience to get a feedback on setup and development work, and Im doing my best so that we can improve together. I have to say that working with them is a real pleasure, theres always a good mood inside the team, everybody is very positive. Also with Daniel, my team-mate, we get along really well with each other. Im doing a bit of coaching with him and I have to say that he has a huge potential for such a young age. Compared to 2011 he already improved a lot, hes a completely different driver

and theres much more to come. Next race will be in Hungaroring, a track you know very well. What do you expect? I expect a very good weekend. In Marrakech we managed a big step forward with the base setup of the car, something that we should be able to carry to Budapest even if the circuits are very different. I like the track, there is a bit of everything, slow and quick corners, its a very technical layout. Basically you are going from corner to corner, so you will go nowhere if the car isnt in good shape. At the same time, the driver must also be very focused because losing a couple of tenths here and there is very easy. Its a track where everything must be perfect or nearly so to get a podium result, and Im confident that we can achieve that.

 INTERVIEW

uto GP this year welcomed two new teams: Virtuosi UK and MLR71 are brand new outfits, created with the sole purpose of racing in the Series. Despite being involved in an hard scenario both teams were competitive straight out of the box and already clinched a win. Here is how they did that in the words of the team principals, Andy Roche and Michele La Rosa:

WINNING NEWCOM
MLR: When in 2011 I decided to take part in the Auto GP finale in Mugello, I did it because it was the only Series that allowed me to race on stunning machinery with an affordable budget. Well, its more or less the same as a team manager: for 2012 my first idea was to drive in the Series, I was speaking with Ombra about that, but then a business partner of mine came with the idea of setting up a team and I realized that the timing was right, so I went for it. seasons, to have somebody with a good experience on the car, and that was it. People know me, so they know they can trust me when I speak about a top-notch project. What does it take to build a team that can win from scratch? AR: You need a strong and motivated group of people around you. Im coming from a long GP2 experience, so I already had a clear idea of the people I wanted in the team. Then I added a couple of engineers that won races and championships in the past Auto GP MLR: You need to understand that the first year will be very hard, and that all your time, even the spare one, will go into that project. You need to forget friends, family, everything else for one year, because setting up a new team is incredibly time consuming. Apart from this, you obviously need to work with the right people. Most of my team members come from very long F3000 and Le Mans experiences, but from Marrakech I added a couple of guys with F1 and GP2 experience. And I see that the team is evolving in the right direction. What are your aims for 2013? AR: Winning the drivers and teams championship, nothing less. We are

BOTH VIRTUOSI UK AND MLR71 ARE NEWBORN THAT ALREADY CLINCHED A WIN: HERE IS HOW THEY DID IT

Why did you choose Auto GP? AR: Because the lease formula proposed by Auto GP makes it the best choice to start a new team. Its very cost effective, and thats what you want nowadays. Furthermore, the championship is going from strength to strength, so being involved seemed the right thing to do. Last but not least, I know Enzo Coloni from a very long time and our relationship is really good, that also helped in the decision.

10

Francesco Dracone

competitive now, we will be even better with one year of Auto GP activity behind our back. We are very serious about our aims, and we are already planning the first steps of our next seasons. We have already been approached by drivers who want to test the car, and we are scheduling the first private sessions for November, when the cars will be back from USA. MLR: We want to grow as a team, becoming one of the well established outfits of the Series. Then I would like to field a third car. You know, I like to race, I enjoy myself but I know that Im not competitive, at least for now. So, if I want my team to race with two quick drivers I have to line-up a third car. Im already in talks for next seasons, so I hope it wont be too difficult. You both chose young drivers that still had to prove their talent on powerful machinery and it worked well. Do you feel that a bet is won? AR: I was sure about Varhaugs talent. Hes been a winner on each car he has ever driven apart from GP2, and thats only because he went there maybe a bit too early. With Auto GP he was immediately quick, he knows how to give the engineers a good feedback about what the car is doing, so the package is really competitive. You know, after winning in Auto GP Grosjean went back to GP2 and won the championship, I hope that Pl can do the same. MLR: It was no bet at all: In the preseason test in Magione we tried many drivers, and Sergio was quickest by a couple of tenths, a lot on such a short track. He was even quicker than drivers with GP2 experience, and he had never seen the car before. So I was impressed, and I decided to get him as the quick driver in the team. Its also good for my driving, you learn quicker if your teacher is one of the best around.

Late braking for Varhaug

ERS

Michele La Rosa

Campana was quick from scratch in Monza

11

NEXT STOP: BUDAPEST

Few people know that Hungaroring had a very important role in the history of Formula One. The Hungarian GP was indeed the first Grand Prix to be held behind the Iron Curtain, in 1986. To make this possible, the organizers had to face a huge task, building the track and its premises in just a few months: the building works started in October, with the race to be held in March. Despite this, they met all the requirements and managed to create a very varied layout, that is still considered one of the most technical in the whole F1

calendar. Besides this, it's also physically very challenging, both for the drivers' neck, with high G forces in long corners, and for the huge work on the steering wheel it requires. So, Auto GP drivers will have to focus a lot on training in order to be ready to make the most of their cars. Lap distance: 3.975 km Right turns: 10 Left turns: 6 Location: 20 kms north-east of Budapest city centre Official website: http://www.hungaroring.hu/

CALENDAR 2012
01&02 03&04 05&06 07&08 09&10 11&12 13&14 13-15 March 1-4 April 14-15 April 5-6 May 2-3 June 21-22 July 22-23September Monza, Italy Valencia, Spain Marrakech, Morocco Budapest, Hungary Portimao, Portugal Curitiba, Brazil Sonoma, United States

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