Sergio Campana (IT) took 3rd place in the final race of the 2012 AutoGP World Series at Sonoma, California, USA today. The Zele-Racing driver started from P5 today, made a fantastic start and was all over polesitter Antonio Spavone (Ombra, IT) on the opening laps of the race. To avoid being held up, the team opted for an early pitstop on lap 4, but a problem with removing the rear right wheel droped him back to P5 when rejoining the race. It was clearly visible that Sergio was a lot faster than Spavone, who held up also 2012 runner-up Pal Varhaug.
Meanwhile Antonio Pizzonia, starting from P15 made his way up the order and ran on P8, when he was forced to retire from the race.
Pizzonia:“ In the beginning i thought i will be able to finish the race, but there are so many righthand corners and i simply could not use my right hand properly, because it´s been stitched in the hospital yesterday. So i tried to do all the work with my left arm, but after another 4 or 5 laps i ran out of power and i had to stop….it was just too painful to continue. It´s a shame – we had a very fast car all weekend.“
In the closing stages of the race Campana made a stunning move on Varhaug to outbrake him on the run to turn 11, which meant P4. Just a few corners later he was again all over Spavone. After successfully passing him in turn 8 we was off and away, which showed that his pace was just as good as the leaders.
Sergio Campana:“ I am so happy. I was highly motivated all weekend and i knew we can finish on the podium. The car was perfect all weekend, the team did a great job. Unfortunately we had a bad pitstop, but i went for grabs and hauled us back onto the podium. A great weekend for us!“
Michael Zele:“ Another podium after Giacomo´s P3 in Marrakech. Sergios performance today was outstanding. Unfortunately Antonios injury was worse than it seemd to be, so he was not able to finish the race. But obviousely we are all very very happy with the way we closed the 2012 season. Now we have to work hard to put a good package together for 2013. We hope to be back wit h a very strong lineup next year and show our real potential.“
