Zele-Racing drivers Matteo Beretta and Peter Milavec both had productive free practice sessions earlier today. Beretta, who struggled with the balance of his car yesterday, made a big step in the right direction and ended up 1.19 sec adrift the fastest driver in FP2, Facu Regalia. Milavec, who lost significant tracktime due to a technical glitch on his car in yesterdays testing also made progress, but is still learning both track and car.

Matteo Beretta: „Today i am really happy with the car and also my performance. I could have gone even faster in FP2, so i know there is more to come in Qualifying. We just have to finetune the balance a little bit for Qualifying, but all in all i am very positive about how today went so far.“

 Peter Milavec:“ I knew this is going to be tough, but i like the challenge and i also want to improve my driving, thats why i am here for. The guys out there are really fast, and i am still learning the circuit. Also, i need to adapt my driving style to the AutoGP chassis. If anything this weeend experiance will help me to become a better driver. The car is nice to drive, obviousely not as fast on the straight as my Champcar, but around the corners it´s so much faster. I hope i can close the gap to Michele LaRosa. In any case i will do my best.“

Michael Zele:“ I am really happy with Matteo´s performance in FP2. I am confident he can further improve over the weekend, so after all i believe he can do really well in the two races this weekend. Peter obviousely is still in the hunt to get to grips with track and chassis, which is not an easy task. However we will do our best to help him to improve.“

Young Italian racer Matteo Beretta and Austrian gentleman driver Peter Milavec will race with Zele-Racing at the Circuito Ricardo Tormo for the second round of the AutoGP World Series 2012.

Beretta, graduating from the OpenF3 Championship will race car #8 in the white/black/red livery whilst Milavec will take on the challenge in the black/red car #9.

The cars will start running on the technical layout of „Circuit Ricardo Tormo“ already tomorrow afternoon, taking part in an half-day test session organized by the promoter to give the teams more track time to set-up their cars for the race weekend. The engines will roar from 2PM to 5PM, and the teams will have two sets of Kumho tyres available per each car. On the following day the real race weekend will start with the first Free Practice session at 11.30 in the morning. The second session will be held at 3.15 PM while at 5.45 PM, when track temperatures should guarantee some really fast laps, it will be time for Qualifying. Race 1, broadcasted live on Eurosport as usual, will start on Saturday at 1.10 PM, while on Sunday the start of Race 2 will be given at 1.15 PM, with live broadcast on Eurosport 2.
Thursday 29th March 14.00 – 17.00 Official Test
Friday 30th March 11.30 – 12.00 Free Practice 1 15.15 – 15.45 Free Practice 2 17.45 – 18.15 Qualifying
Saturday 31st March
13.10 Race 1 (21 laps)
Sunday 1st Aprile 13.15 Race 2 (21 laps)

Starting from third spot on the grid for race 2 of the 2012 AutoGP World Series, Giacomo Ricci of Zele-Racing had another excellent start and overtook Spavone on the run to Turn1. After being held up by Snegirev, who defendet very effetively for several laps, Giacomo was running comfortably on P1 and managed to build a 1,5 sec gap. At the end of lap 8 the leading drivers stopped all together for the mandatory pitstop. The Zele-Racing team was abit unlucky as some pitstop equipment of Ombra in the pitlane made it difficult for Giacomo to position his car properly for the pitstop in front of his crew. Because of that he lost two positions and rejoined the race on P3, but got past Spavone again within less than 2 laps only to get T-boned by Sergio Campana who clearly took too much risk in turn 1. Ricci had to retire from a perfect race with a punctured rear left tire and bent suspension.

Michael Zele:“ We came really close to win the race today as Giacomo drove a brilliant race until being taken out by Campana. It´s a shame, as everyone in the team has worked so hard in during the last weeks and days to not get rewarded for all th eeffort with a podium. But we showed that we have a very good package and our car/driver combination today was definitely strong enough to win this race.“

Giacomo Ricci:“ There was nothing i could do to avoid the crash since Campana just shunted into my left rear corner on the exit of the first chicane. We had a fantastic start, but then Snegirev was defending really clever and did not make any big mistakes, so it was difficlut to find a way past him. When i was entering to our pitstop position there was some stuff of another team in the way so i could not place my car accordingly, which probably cost us two positions. Anyway, my car was really good today and without the crash we should have won.“

more pictures to follow…

Giacomo Ricci and Zele-Racing finished Race 1 of the AutoGP World Series on P6 starting from 9th spot on the grid. Ricci had a brilliant start which hauled him up to P5 on the approach to the first corner. Unfortunately there was a clash beside him and to avoid contact with Victor Guerin he had to choose the emergency exit of the chicane which dropped him down to P10 on lap 1. When the Team called him for the mandatory pitstop on lap 5, Giacomo was already running on P8 again. With all the pitstops completed after lap 9 Ricci was closing in on Spavone and Snegirev, overtook them on track and was catching Chris Van Der Drift when crossing the line.

Michael Zele:“ I am pleased with how the race went today. Giacomo´s experiance and speed have paid off today with bringing the car home on P6. We will be starting from the second row tomorrow, so we´re doing our best to give him a perfect car. Everyone in the team did a good job today.“

Giacomo Ricci:“ The car was good today and i was able to overtake some cars during the race. I had a really good start, but Guerin suddely crossed my racingline, so i lost a lot of positions as i had no other option but going through the emergency exit in turn 1. I am confident that we can achieve a good result tomorrow. Also i would like to thank our guys for the good job today.“

Race 2 will be broadcasted LIVE on EuroSport2 tomorrow at 11:45 a.m.  !!

The Zele-Racing Team and Giacomo Ricci had  promising first and second Free Practice sessions today, finishing both on a comfortable P4. Teams had to handle the push-to-pass function during these two sessions. Zele-Racing tried several small adjustments on the car and the main focus was to understand how to make the best use of the new Kumho tires.

Everything looked set for a good qualifying performance, but things did not  go as expected. Ricci managed to bring the car home on P9 for tomorrow Race 1 despite suffering an engine coolant leak on the second half of his fastest lap.

Giacomo Ricci:“ I tried to push and felt pretty comfortable with the car, when i suddenly got the impression that the tires let go. I was not able to improve the laptime and the car became very difficult to handle. When we pitted to change for another set of tires we found that we have a problem with the engine and we had to stop.“

Michael Zele:“ We were quite confident to achieve a good result in qualifying, when we eventually discovered a leak on the car. At the end i have to say we were lucky to not loose and engine today. One of the hoseclamps broke due to vibration, which caused a leak in the cooling system. The engine coolant spray on the rear tires obvieousely caused some serious oversteer and we ended up down the order. However, our guys have fixed the problem and we´re looking forward to an interesting race tomorrow.“

Teams are getting ready for the first championship race of the 2012 AutoGP World Series at Monza. EuroSport 2 will broadcast both races LIVE on Saturday and Sunday. Sixteen drivers from ten different Countries will line-up on the grid of the 2012 Auto GP World Series in Monza, where the maiden event of the season is taking place this weekend. The teams made the most of the last few days to fill the last available seats, and are now ready to tackle the season start.
Compared to the official test’s entry list there are some interesting news: Manor MP Motorsport completed their line-up fielding the experienced Chris Van der Drift: the kiwi driver was already a race winner in many championships, from A1GP to Superleague and Ws by Renault, so he is a valuable addition to the team’s line-up. Ombra Racing, meanwhile, confirmed that Adderly Fong will drive alongside Giancarlo Serenelli. A 22 years-old, Fong is the first Chinese driver in Auto GP history, coming from two seasons in British F3 where he was a podium finisher. He also raced twice in the Macau GP, and in 2011 he was tenth, the second ever Chinese driver to clinch a top ten finish in the race. Last but not least, Virtuosi UK will have Matteo Beretta at the wheel of the #7 car. A 17 years-old from Italy, Beretta took a podium finish in last year’s European F3 Open, and raced in Italian F3 in 2010.

 1 CAMPOS RACING Facundo Regalia

2 CAMPOS RACING Giuseppe Cipriani

3 CAMPOS RACING Max Snegirev

12 EURONOVA RACING Sergey Sirotkin

14 EURONOVA RACING Antonio Spavone

5 MLR 71 Sergio Campana

71 MLR 71 Michele La Rosa

32 MANOR MP MOTORSPORT Daniel de Jong

33 MANOR MP MOTORSPORT Chris Van der Drift

23 OMBRA RACING Adderly Fong

45 OMBRA RACING Giancarlo Serenelli

10 SUPERNOVA INTERNATIONAL Adrian Quaife-Hobbs

11 SUPERNOVA INTERNATIONAL Victor Guerin

6 VIRTUOSI UK Pål Varhaug

7 VIRTUOSI UK Matteo Beretta

8 ZELE RACING Giacomo Ricci

 Here is the timetable:
Friday 9 March
9.45-10.15 Free Practice 1 13.15-13.45 Free Practice 2 16.00-16.30 Qualifying
Saturday 10 March 11.45-12.25 Race 1 (14 Laps) LIVE on EUROSPORT 2
Sunday 11 March 11.45-12.25 Race 2 (14 Laps) LIVE on EUROSPORT 2

The Zele-Racing Team with Giacomo Ricci (IT) driving car number 8 had a productive shakedown and first test at the legenadary Autodromo di Monza. Despite laptimes were not the main focus for the official test, Ricci ended up 6th fastest overall. The Lola – Zytek ran absolutely reliable and troublefree during the test. Biggest challenge for the Teams was to get to grips with the all new Kumho slick tires, which were available in MEDIUM and SOFT compounds.

Michael Zele:“ The morning session was used to complete our system checks and shake down of the fully rebuilt car. It was little surprising that the Lola chassis gave zero issues in terms of reliabiliy. Also the Zytek 3.4 V8 engine proved to be  the best possible choice for a one-make formula. We have received excellent support from all the suppliers, which we have worked with already 8 years ago in the Euro3000 championship. In the afternoon we have focussed on development work with the new Kumho tires and we found some interesting data which we have to analyse during the next couple of days. I would also like to thank Giacomo, he did a great job and we are really happy with his feedback.“

During the coming days the team will complete the preparations for the upcoming first racemeeting which will start with Free Practice and Qualifying on Friday 9th March 2012 at Monza.

Both races will be broadcasted LIVE on EuroSport and EuroSport2!

(pictures courtesy of AutoGP organisation – press and media service)

The official AutoGP collective testing will be held on Friday 2nd March at the legendary Autodromo di Monza. The Zele-Racing Team is already on the way to Italy.

Italian driver Giacomo Ricci will take the wheel  of car No.8. The target for the Team will be to shake down the car and work on the setup to get the best possible performance out of the new Kumho tires. Two different compounds will be available to the teams and both (medium and soft) have to be used during the racemeetings.

With just 6 days remaining before the 2012 edition of the AutoGP World Series kicks off with a collective test at the famous Monza high-speed track in Italy, the Zele-Racing team is in the final stages of preparations for the new challenge. The car is getting the final tweaks and mechanics and engineers are working on the setup.

Michael Zele:“We had very busy days and weeks to get things ready since i wanted to check every component on the car before we take it to the track. Now we just have to finalise your driver lineup and do the seatfitting.“

The first racemeeting will be in 2 weeks at Monza with AutoGP World Series supportig the WTCC. All races of the 2012 championship will be broadcasted LIVE on EuroSport and EuroSport2!

Zele-Racing would like to thank Andi Stranig (Lackiererei Stranig/Feldkirchen) for the kind support on the new livery of the wheels. Zele-Racing möchte sich ganz besonders bei Andi Stranig von der Lackiererei Stranig / Feldkirchen für die freundliche Unterstützung bedanken. Dank Stranig glänzen 16 Stück Felgen im neuen weiß-roten Design.

French driver Christopher Brenier and his father Gilles Brenier have committed to race in BossGP with Zele-Racing. Both will pilot a couple of identical Dallara World Series by Nissan chassis with 3.0 V6 AER engine and LifeRacing paddleshift gearbox. The initial programme is, to compete at the RedBull Ring in May, at the French High-Speed track Dijon-Prenois in June and at the famous Nürburgring in August.

Michael Zele:“ We are glad to welcome Gilles and Christopher in our Team. I believe Christopher is a serious podium contender in the BossGP Masters class and also Gilles should be quick to adapt to the Dallara singleseater. We expect to shakedown both cars in March. A two day test is scheduled for end of April as well.“

Gilles Brenier:“ Zele-Racing did a great job with preparing our cars during the winter period. We can´t wait for spring and warmer weather to see the cars running for the first time. I think BossGP will be a great challenge for us.“

Christopher Brenier:“ I am really happy with everything i´ve seen so far. Of course it will be difficult for me to race against faster cars with more power, but i will simply push a bit harder to compensate the difference in topspeed. The car looks amazing and the new paddleshift system seems to be the thing to have.“