Italian drivers Giuseppe Cipriani and Sergio Campana will take the wheel of the Zele-Racing AutoGP cars during the 2-day wintertest at Barcelona.  A total of 16 drivers have lined up for the test, where also the heavily revised 2013 AutoGP car will make its first public appearance in the hands of 2012 champion Adrian Quaife-Hobbs.

The two days will be covered by a live timing service, available at www.livetiming.alkamelsystems.com/circuitcat


Michael Zele:“ I am happy to welcome Giuseppe to our team. During the 2012 season he showed some good progress and scored some decent points finishes at Budapest. With his experience gained over the past years in AutoGP and with maximum support from our team we should be able to show a good performance. I am also glad to have Sergio with us again. He did an excellent job at Sears Point and i truly believe he will be a title contender for 2013 if we manage to secure the required funding to keep him with the team for next season.“

Auto GP is proud to announce the championship’s 2013 calendar. The series, managed and promoted by Coloni Motorsport, will be running on 8 rounds, one more than in 2012, and will provide Teams and Drivers with an even richer environment in order to enhance the learning and racing experience. The first round will be held on March the 24th at Monza before taking-off for Morocco, as Auto GP will return to the streets of Marrakech on April the 7th. The Hungaroring racetrack in Budapest, a track that made history in Formula 1 competition, is scheduled for the first weekend of May while the Moscow Raceway in Russia will welcome the pack for the first time on the 9th of June.

Auto GP will also debut at the Nürburgring. The historical German venue will be visited for the first time by the championship’s Zytek-powered Lola racers that had previously lined-up at the twisty Oschersleben venue. Donington Park will be hosting the British round of the Series on the 1st of September while a grand finale is set for October the 6th at the spectacular Brno racing course in Czech Republic. One round is still to be announced for the month of July. Talks are in place with major Italian and Spanish venues and a further announcement is expected in the coming weeks. The highly-valuable partnership with TV network Eurosport is also confirmed for 2013 featuring live coverage of all the Races.

The 2013 Auto GP schedule
March 24 Italy (Monza) – WTCC

April 7 Morocco (Marrakech) – WTCC

May 5 Hungary (Budapest) – WTCC

June 9 Russia (Moscow) – WTCC

TBA July TBA

August 18 Germany (Nürburgring) – DTM

September 1 United Kingdom (Donington Park) – Superstars

October 6 Czech Republic (Brno) – ETCC

Enzo Coloni: “I am really happy to announce the 2013 Auto GP schedule. Over these years, our championship continued to grow up and confirmed to be one of the most impressive of the international panorama. By renouncing to the two races in America, we gave Teams and Drivers the chance to add one more round and maintain the same budget. We will be lining-up in Russia, on a new racetrack, and we will also debut at the Nürburgring, a venue that always hosted spectacular races in the past. By doing so, we will provide the drivers with the chance to race on the best European venues of Formula 1. We are also set to return to Morocco, in an effort to help Drivers learn how to tame streetcourses, with their walls and tight chicanes”.

Whilst all the cars and equipment are still on the way from USA to Europe, preparations have already started for the 2013 season of the AutoGP World Series. Already beginning of December (6th/7th) AutoGP organisation has announced a 2-day collective test at Montmelo / Barcelona. Another 2-day test is planned for 10th/11th December at Ricardo Tormo / Valencia.

Michael Zele:“ We would like to use this opportunity to evaluate new drivers for next season. Our intention is to have both seats confirmed before christmas. Drivers will have the possibility to to use 2 sets of new tires per testday. We also expect to see the redesigned new-for 2013 chassis in action for the first time at Barcelona.“

Interested drives are invited to contact Zele-Racing via e-mail  office@zele-racing.com  or Telephone +43 664 34 02 670.

Zele-racing will be able to offer 1/2 day,  1 day or 2 day testing. A half day test will include 1 set of new Kumho tires and 125km, a full day test 2 sets of new tires and 250km.

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.“

Brasilian Zele-Racing driver Antonio Pizzonia will return to race action in race 2 today. Pizzonia who suffered injury on his right hand during yesterday´s lap 1 crash in Turn 2 at the Infineon Raceway at Sonoma, was given green light by the doctors to start the AutoGP race 2 this afternoon.

Antonio Pizzonia: „I am looking forward to race today. I cut my hand on a sharp edge in the cockpit when i crashed into Adrian Quaife-Hobbs car yesterday. It had to be fixed with 8 stitches. It obviousely hurts, but i will do my best to score some points. It´s a very long way to the podium and it will be a tough race. Let´s see how it goes.“

Michael Zele:“ It´s good that Antonio is ok to be back in the car. We did our best to fix his car which was heavily damaged in time.“

Race 1 at Sonoma started with a bang – unfortunately a big bang, which took out Antonio Pizzonia and 2012 AutoGP champion Adrian Quaife-Hobbs.  Zele-Racing driver Pizzonia, starting from P3 had a good start and run up to turn 2, when he lost control of his Lola, surfed across the grass and into the Supernova car of Adrian Quaife-Hobbs. Both drivers had to retire their cars.

Antonio Pizzonia:“ I am very sorry for Adrian and also for my Team. I made a mistake and lost the car. Real shame, because the car was quick.“

Sergio Campana meanwhile, starting from P5 dropped some positions back due to a poor getaway, but made up quite a lot of positions in the early stages of the race and lined up in fifth position behind the safetycar, which was deployed after the crash, who eliminated Pizzonia and Quaife-Hobbs. The complete field pulled into the pitlane on lap 4 when the safetycar came in. The Zele-Racing crew did a very good pitstop which allowed Sergio to rejoin the race on P4. He kept pushing until the end and his laptimes were just a fraction off race winner Pal Varhaug.

Sergio Campana:“ My start wasn´t good, that´s something i have to improve for tomorrow, but the car was very fast. I was trying to push until the end, but it was not really possible to attack Sirotkin for P3. As soon as you close in the driver in front of you, you loose downforce in the fast corners and you have to back off again. The team did a very good pitstop and normally we should be on the podium. I will do my best tomorrow.“

Michael Zele:“ I am really disappointed with what happened at the start, but now we have to concentrate on race 2 tomorrow. I hope Antonio will be ok to race tomorrow, because he hurt himself on the hand when he crashed into Adrian. The crew is fixing the car now, which sustained quite a bit of damage. On the other hand Sergio had a very good pace during the race, which shows that we are definitely able to finish on the podium, if things go right.“

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.“

Curitiba’s double race-winner Antonio Pizzonia and Italian F3 champion Sergio Campana will both be on the grid of the Sonoma Auto GP round. The former F1 driver and the Italian young talent will be team-mates at Zele Racing, meaning that the Austrian team will boast a top-notch line up for the season grand finale. The 31 year-old former F1 star (he drove for Jaguar and Williams from 2003 to 2005) made an astonishing comeback to single-seaters last July in Curitiba: Antonio was competitive straight out of box and clinched two wins that delighted his home crowd. Now he will try to do the same in Sonoma, a track that will be new to him and to most of the drivers on the grid, including Campana.
Sergio, whose experience of the Californian track is limited to some simulator sessions, will try to return to the amazing form that allowed him to win the Marrakech Saturday race: the race-long duel with Adrian Quaife-Hobbs was the highlight of the season so far and undoubtedly one of the best fights in Auto GP History. Action in Sonoma will start on Friday at 11 AM local time with the first Free Practice session, followed by the second session at 3.30 PM. Qualifying will take place on Saturday at 9.45 AM, while Race 1 will start at 1.20 PM. On Sunday the Auto GP cars will go on track for Race 2 at 2.35 PM.

Polish Porsche Supercup racer Kuba Giermaziak took the wheel of the Zele-Racing GP2 car last weekend at Polish capital Warsaw to demonstrate the 630 BHP machine to over 100.000 enthusiastic spectators. The 2012 Verva Street Racing event flielded over 200 supercars, racecars, oldtimers and motobikes from all over Europe. Also RedBull Racing was presend with a RB7 F1 which was demoed by Jean Eric Vergne.

In one month time Auto GP will start the engines in Sonoma for the first North American race in its history. The event will take place on the recently renewed 12 turns layout, the same that IndyCar will put to the test the coming weekend holding their Grand Prix. Modifications were carried out in three spots, in each case aiming to improve the show giving the drivers more room for overtaking: the entrance into Turn 11 has been extended by 60 meters before drivers encounter the hairpin, giving them more space to out-brake each other and set-up a passing opportunity before the right-hander into Turn 12. The exit of Turn 9 has been widened by 3 metres on drivers’ left, giving competitors additional width in what was already a passing zone. At Turn 7, instead of the looping right-hander, drivers will now encounter a u-turn. The new turn will force drivers to out-brake each other, similar to Turn 11, and create an overtaking zone. As IndyCar will race on the updated track just one month before Auto GP, the American round will be a good chance to understand where Auto GP stands in terms of performance when compared to the top level of USA single-seater racing. Besides this, the Sonoma round will mark another very interesting milestone: Auto GP will indeed be the only high-power single-seater series to have ever raced at the Infineon Raceway apart from IndyCar. If you’re interested in more Sonoma facts, here are some:
• The track was built in 1968. The first official event at Sears Point Raceway was an SCCA Enduro held on Dec. 1, 1968.

• The first single-seater race held on the circuit was a 150-mile USAC IndyCar road race, won by Dan Gurney and with a field that included Mario Andretti, Mark Donahue and Al Unser.

• After that event, no major open-wheel race was held in Sonoma for 35 years. The long stop was broken by the IRL Grand Prix in 2005.

• The road course features 50 meters of elevation change from its highest to lowest points. The highest point at Turn 3 reaches 54 meters, while the lowest point at Turn 10 is just 4 meters high.
• In 2011 the raceway completed a solar installation of nearly 1,700 solar panels, which offsets approximately 41% of its energy usage.