With just 40 days left until the first racemeeting of the 2012 AutoGP World Series, work is progressing, as the first chassis is being rebuild from scratch at Zele-Racing headquarters. In oder to meet the high standards, every single part of the car is being inspected and rebuild. Critical parts are being crack tested and the bodywork is about to receive the new livery within the next few days.

Michael Zele:“ We want to be perfectly prepared for this new challenge. This means for us we want to get on top of the car before it will turn a wheel. Of course this requires a lot of attention to detail and massive amount of labour time, but for us it´s absolutely essential if you want to have a competitive and reliable car straight out of the box.“

Zele-Racing will take on the challenge to race in AutoGP for the 2012 season and beyond. The decision to join the championship directed by Enzo Coloni was taken recently. AutoGP is utilising the ex A1GP Lola B05/52 chassis which underwent some significant changes in terms of downforce / drag and performance. The 3.4 litre Zytek V8 engine, producing 550 BHP is amongst the best race engine available on the market.

Another significant change for the 2012 season is the switch from Michelin to Kumho tires, which means a new challenge for all the teams as data collected over the past years will become obsolete.

AutoGP is supporting the WTCC championship and will be broadcastet live on EuroSport and EuroSport2 all over Europe. Further it will be the first time for AutoGP to jump overseas for the races in Curitiba (Brasil) and Sonoma (USA). Another highlight, round 3 will be held at Marrakech (Marocco) on the African continent.

Enzo Coloni:

“It’s amazing to see the amount of interest that we are receiving for next season, and Mr. Zele’s commitment is a further proof of that. We had already spoken about a possible commitment in the previous seasons, and his decision to finally step in now means that he has perceived the steady growth of our championship. I’m happy to welcome him in the Series, with such a wide-range experience on high-powered cars I’m sure that it won’t take long for them to be able to challenge for wins and podiums”.

Michael Zele:

“We had been tempted to enter AutoGP already 2 years ago. Nowadays it looks like AutoGP is the only logical stepping stone for ambitious young drivers to gain experience in big single-seaters without spending the horrendous budgets required in other categories. Furthermore, running with the WTCC and having Eurosport coverage is a fantastic media-tool, and the updates introduced to the Lola chassis and Zytek engine made the AutoGP car the best value for money. We are happy to finally have the possibility to work with Enzo Coloni. We know each other for many years and obviousely we have big respect for what he has achieved in the past 30 years in racing. Our aim is to create a winning package with a strong driver line-up. From a technical point of view the Lola chassis is not new to us at all. Our engineering staff with GP2, AutoGP and WSbR experience is top class, so I am confident that we can provide a winning package”.

We have finished work on Christopher Brenier´s World Series by Nissan chassis recently. The car, which originally ran as a Michelin testcar for tiredevelopment, received the 2007 spec. T05 bodywork and a state of the art LifeRacing paddleshift system. Also the livery has changed from its standard white colour to a flashy yellow /black Renault design. Brenier  is targeting to race the car in some BossGP events this year.

Another identical car is being build at the moment and will be ready for delivery very shortly.

Zele-Racing would like to wish Merry Christmas and a successful New Year to all our customers, suppliers and fans!

Thank you to everyone for the excellent working relationship during the 2011 season!

Das Zele-Racing Team möchte sich bei allen Kunden, Lieferanten und Fans für die ausgezeichnete Zusammenarbeit während der abgelaufenen Saison 2011 bedanken und wünscht allen ein Frohes Weihnachtsfest, schöne Feiertage und eine erfolgreiches Neues Jahr!

Following a season with some ups and downs we are proud to report that following Zele-Racing customers turned out 2011 Champions in their racing categories:

Hermann Waldy (Austria) – 2011 Austrian Hillclimb Champion, driving a Lola B06/51 – Judd F1 V8

Karl Heinz Becker (Germany) – 2011 BossGP Masters Champion, driving a Dallara T05 – Nissan 3.4 V6

Peter Randlshofer (Germany) – 2011 Interderie Div.1 Champion., driving a Dallara T02 – Nissan 3.0 V6

Furthermore, our customer and friend Peter Milavec (Austria) finished runner-up in both Interserie Div.1 and Div.4, driving his own GP-Racing Panoz DP01 Champcar – AER 4.0 V8 Turbo and the Zele-Racing Pilbeam Virage – Honda 2.0CN car.

Following the successful Lausitzring weekend two weeks ago, Zele-Racing and Peter Milavec continued to dominate at the Interseries Season Final at Hockenheim. Milavec, driving the Pilbeam Honda 2.0CN sportscar, showed already good performance in Qualifying (Pole Div.4 and 3rd on the grid).

Although he struggled with the new, harder Avon compound in race 1, he managed to pull away from Thomas Conrad and Norbert Groer. After switching back to the proved A11 compound for race 2, Milavec continued to impress and set a fastest laptime, over 4 seconds faster than Conrad.

Michael Zele:“ This was our last race with the Pilbeam and i am happy that we have underlined once again, that it is a very competitive car. The car had been sold last week and i hope the new owner will bring it back on track to race it next year in either Interseries or SCC.“

Peter Milavec:“ We had another great weekend. My target for the second race was to be faster than the best CN car in the SCC field. We were almost half a second faster – so i´m fully satisfyied with my performance. The car was great, thanks to my crew and Zele-Racing!“

With the two victories at Hockenheim, Milavec also sealed P2 in the final point standings in Division 4 despite only competing in 3 out of 7 Interseries racemeetings and scoring a total of 4 wins, 1 second place and 1 dnf .

It was a tough one again in the Sportscar race. Starting from P2, Peter Milavec (Pilbeam Virage Honda 2.0 CN) dived ahead of Benny Hotz (Ligier Honda 2.0 CN) into Turn 1 and pulled away to build a 3 second lead. After 6 laps Hotz started to close the gap and finally overtook Milavec to take the lead. Thomas Conrad (Conrad Renault 2.0) was not able to follow the leaders and dropped behind.

Foto:Schindler

Peter Milavec: „After about 7 or 8 laps i struggled with the grip of the tires. What i did not realise is, that we had an oil-leak. We only discovered this when i stopped the car in the pitlane. This explains why i was not able to follow Benny towards the end of the race. All in all i have to say that this was the best raceweekend i had in the past years. Everything worked well and the Zele-Racing Team did a great job.“

Foto: Rolf Schindler

Foto: Rolf Schindler

Peter Milavec has finished both Saturday races of the Interseries „Preis der Lausitz“ on the top podium spot.  It is a massive programm for the Austrian driver this weekend, as he decided to enter both the Formula and Sportscar events this weekend. Two free practice sessions, a couple of qualifyings and two races were a huge program for the Zele-Racing Team.

Foto: Rolf Schindler

Michael Zele:“ I am glad both cars ran without problems and Peter was able to pull away from the field to cruise home to victories in both races. I did expect him to finish on P1 in the Formula race with our GP2. But i was surprised to see him control the opposition in the Sportscar field too. Benny Hotz was on P1 in Qualifying with quite a big margin, but during the race, Peter was the pacesetter.“

Foto: Rolf Schindler

Peter Milavec:“ I had so much fun today. To race the GP2 car for the first time was a great experiance but also quite physical in the end. Nonetheless it was fairly easy to win the first race. In the Sportscar race i had to fight a lot harder, but it was really cool to win and beat Benny and Thomas Conrad. The Pilbeam Honda was running awesome today.“

 Zele Racing customers Karl-Heinz Becker and Peter Randlshofer completed the Formula rcae podium, which rounded up a perfect day for the Zele-Racing Team today!

Foto: Rolf Schindler

It was a thriller race and finally Hermann Waldy sen. pulled a 0.2 sec advantage over his strongest competitors Alexander and Patrick Zajelsnik (SLO). The 3 runs were overshadowed by several crashes and incidents which caused the race to be red flaged again and again. Hot and sunny weather (30°C) and a massive spectator crowd followed the extremely close battle between the top 5 drivers. in heat 1 Alexander Zajelsnik was fastest in his Osella PA20S BMW closely followed by Hermann Waldy sen. and his younger brother Patrick Zajelsnik driving a Norma Mugen V8. Also Marjan smrdelj and Nic Brebsom weren´t far off the best times although both could not pull close enough to be a realistic podium contender.

In race 2 Waldy managed to pull a gap big enough to remain on top after the third heat. On his last attempt to better the time misfortune struck for Alexander Zajelsnik, who went off at turn11 and crashed his Osella heavily. Luckily the driver escaped unhurt.

Marjan Smrdelj had a perfect third run to finish 5th over all and second in class. Nic Brebsom finished 13th over all and 4th in class.

Misfortune for Antoine Lombardo, who had an electric gremlin in his car all weekend. He retired his car after warmup on sunday.

Just 3 days left before the powerful Judd, Zytek and Cosworth engines will roar up the hill at local hillclimb track St.Urban / Simonhöhe. No less than 6 Zele-Racing customers have entered their cars for the 2011 edition of the fastest (170 kph average speed)  hillclimb event of the Austrian Championship. Zele-Racing will be present all weekend to provide technical support to following cars and drivers:

Harmann Waldy sen.(AUT) – Lola B06/51 Formula Nippon Judd V8 Formula 1 engine

Nicolas Brebsom (LUX) – Lola T96/50 F3000 with Zytek 3.0 V8 engine

Marjan Smrdelj (SLO) – Lola B02/50 F3000 with Zytek 3.0 V8 engine

Antoine Lombardo (ITA/FRA) – Lola B99/50 F3000 with Cosworth 3.0 V8 engine

Further Zele-Racing will give technical support to rookie sportscar driver Christian Knaflitsch (AUT) and his Shrike P16 Ford 2000 as well as touringcar driver Christian Tschemer (AUT) who is pedaling an Opel Kadett E GSi 16V.

Free Practice will start on Saturday 3rd September 2011 from 1:00 p.m.

The Warmup and Races will start Sunday 4th September from 9:00 a.m.