Free Practice Sessions 1 and 2 were held on Friday 21st September at the Infineoan Raceway in California. Both Zele-Racing drivers concentrated on learning the Californian track and working to optimise the setup of their cars. Sergio Campana finished FP1 on P6, just 0.06 sec ahead of his teammate Antonio Pizzonia. In FP2 both drivers opted to use a different tirecompound to FP1 and Sergio managed to improve his laptimes to finish on a solid P4. Antonio Pizzonia had to retire his car mid session on P8 beacuse of a broken battery, which went up in smoke.
Antoio Pizzonia: “ The track is really difficult and it takes time to work out what the best line is. It´s also quite physical to drive the AutoGP car on this track. The car feels pretty good and i think we will be able to push in qualifying. I was on a quick lap, when suddenly a lot of smoke filled the cockpit, so i had to stop the car.“
Sergio Campana:“ I like this track, but it´s hard work to go fast. In some places you really need balls – this divides boys from men. The car feels good and for Qualifing we are confident to do well.“
Qualifying at the Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, was a real thriller. Both Zele-Racing drivers showed a very strong performance, Sergio Campana setting 4th fastest laptime on his first set of tires and Antonio Pizzonia topping the field on his first stint. It looked as if Pizzonia will keep poleposition for race 1, but AutoGP champion Adrian Quaife-Hobbs and young Russian driver Sergej Sirotkin slipped past in the final seconds of the session. Pizzonia on P3 will start behind Adrian Qauife-Hobbs on the second row, whilst Sergio Campana will start behind Antonio Pizzonia from P5 for the Saturday race.
Antonio Pizzonia:“ The car was very good on the new tires today and i think with another one or two laps we could have fought back. We have some problems with our car radio and it influenced our strategy obviousely. Anyway, P3 is not bad at all. Anything is possible today.“
Sergio Campana:“ We suffered with not being able to communicate during the qualifying. I am sure we could have improved a bit. I´m very happy with the car, the team did a great job so far. I hope we can do a good race this afternoon.“
Michael Zele:“ P3 and P5 is not bad, that´s true, but i know both cars and both drivers can do better than that. We have major problems with our radio system. Lots of interference and it was impossible to talk to each other during the session. Also, we have no signalling boards on this track, because of the very low pitwall on this track. I hope we can fix the radio in time for the race.“
