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MUGELLO JOINS THE AUTO GP 2011 CALENDAR

MAGAZINE03/2011

SUCCESS BY FILIPPI

AND BUTTARELLI IN BRNO

MAKES 6 DIFFERENT

WINNERS IN 6 RACES

FOR AUTO GP

LANCASTER

THEBATTLE

OFBRITAIN

WHOS

NEXT?

VSCARROLL:

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RACE REPORT - BRNO

Round 05

Luca Filippi has a very special feeling withthe Brno circuit. The Italian driver, who lastyear won the Auto GP debut race on theCzech track, did the same in Race 1clinching an amazing win after a reallyeventful first lap.At the start Rio Haryanto got off well andFilippi followed him, but in the back of thefield Giovanni Venturini and Marco Barba

made contact, involving also FrancescoDracone. The rest of the field thunderedtowards Turn 2, but there something elsehappened: Bruno Mendez got on the dirtside of the track and lost the car, climbingupon Fabio Onidi collecting also AdrienTambay.The Safety-Car was called in to allow thetrack to be cleared, and on Lap 4 thedrivers started to pit. Everybody made themost of the Safety-Car period changingtyres, apart from Sergei Afanasiev,

Samuele Buttarelli and Rio Haryanto: thiscosted the Indonesian driver the win, as

changing tyres after the restart meantdropping to P6 for him. It was a pitybecause Rio was perfect at the start andthen managed the re-start phase flawlessly,controlling the gap on Filippi.Haryantos pit-stop cleared the way for theItalian driver of SuperNova, who just had towatch in his mirrors to keep FabrizioCrestani at bay. The Lazarus driver passedKevin Ceccon with a good start and then

tried to put pressure on Filippi, but Lucaanswered that with some laps on the 143pace that were enough to build a safetygap. Third was Ceccon: the 17 years-oldItalian didnt have the best possible startbut he made amends for that with a daringpass in turn 2, overtaking both JonLancaster and Onidi. From then on his racewas half trying to get closer to Crestaniand half keeping an eye on Lancaster: thebrit lost a lot of time avoiding the carsinvolved in the first lap carnage, but did his

mandatory tyre change as soon as the pit-lane was open and then boasted a

staggering pace, passing Pasquale DiSabatino and Giuseppe Cipriani on lap 5and needing just a few laps to get onCeccons tail. Doing this, he also postedthe fastest lap of the race with 143511.Its worth noticing that Giuseppe Ciprianigot the first two points of the season,finishing P9 behind Di Sabatino, Buttarelliand Afanasiev.Im lucky that Auto GP races in Brno

said Filippi - because I really have a specialfeeling with this track. I dont know wht butIve always been quick around here, andtoday was no exception. When Haryantowas in front I didnt push because I knewhe had to pit, while I had to push later inorder to build a gap on Crestani. WinningRace 1 always feels great.

Round 06

The wild rookies keep shining in AutoGP: Samuele Buttarelli, who already took

a podium finish in Monza, confirmed itsgreat potential in Brno, clinching a great

FILIPPI AND

BUTTARELLIMAKE A DIFFERENCE

Buttarelli leadsHaryanto in Race 2

RACE REPORT - BRNO

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WHOS THE LEADERROUND 011 Luca FILIPPI Supernova Racing 17 laps in 33:48.7412 Fabrizio CRESTANI Lazarus +3.350

3 Kevin CECCON Ombra Racing +3.9954 Jon LANCASTER Supernova Racing +4.9635 Pasquale DI SABATINO TP Formula +30.2796 Rio HARYANTO Dams +34.9557 Samuele BUTTARELLI TP Formula +36.4228 Sergei AFANASIEV Dams +37.3589 Giuseppe CIPRIANI Griffitz Durango +54.192

ROUND 021 Samuele BUTTARELLI TP Formula 13 laps in 22578652 Rio HARYANTO Dams +2.3183 Luca FILIPPI Supernova Racing +2.6924 Fabrizio CRESTANI Lazarus +11.4215 Fabio ONIDI Lazarus +12.6766 Jon LANCASTER Supernova Racing +12.996

7 Kevin CECCON Ombra Racing +15.4048 Adrien TAMBAY Gravity - Charouz Dams +19.274

Crestani celebrates Race 1

win in Race 2. The Italian driver, who wasstarting from 2nd place, didnt have thebest possible start but immediately madeamends for that overtaking Rio Haryantoand Sergei Afanasiev in Turn 2, and thenpulling away boasting a pace that nobodycould match. Buttarellis win was never indoubt, as he quickly stretched his lead to2 and then controlled his rivals for therest of the race. Behind the TP Formuladriver was Rio Haryanto: the Indonesiandriver showed again his greatcompetitiveness on this track, and got alittle revenge on misfortune after whathappened in the morning race: Riorevealed that the reason why he couldntget into the pits at the right moment inRace 1 was a radio malfunction thatdidnt allow the team to call him in. InRace 2 there was no bad luck andHaryanto had a staggering start thatimmediately gave him the chance to

challenge Afanasiev for the lead in Turn2, a fight that the Indonesian driver won.

Third place went to Luca Filippi, againvery quick at the start: the Italian driver ofSuperNova made the most of the chaoscaused by a slow start of his team-mateJon Lancaster: while everybody elsewent wide to avoid the brit, Luca chose amuch straighter line to pass him and gotto P3 starting 8th. Crestani was 4th,completing a very good weekend thatallowed him to close the gap on his rivalsin the standings:Crestani finished ahead of team mateFabio Onidi, who boasted a greatrecovery from 10th place on the grid, andJon Lancaster, again in the points.The Monza podium was a big emotionalready said Buttarelli - so I cant reallyexplain how this win feels. The race hasbeen tough at the start, when I wasntgood off the line. Then I managed topass Rio and I just focused on stretchingthe gap lap after lap. I want to say thanks

to the TP Formula guys, they gave me agreat car.

WHOSTHERICHEST?Prize Money is one of the featuresof Auto GP that the driversappreciate the most. Until now,

already eight drivers managed towin money thanks to their resultson track: being the championshipleader, Filippi leads also thisspecial classification with 85.000euros already won, but othersfollow him closely. Here they are:

1. Filippi 85.000

2. Afanasiev and Venturini 60.000

3. Crestani and Tambay 25.000

4. Buttarelli, Ceccon and

Onidi 15.000

CLASSIFICATIONDrivers Standings: 1. Filippi 74; 2.Ceccon 63; 3. Venturini 49; 4.Afanasiev e Onidi 44; 6. Tambay eButtarelli 40; 8. Crestani 32; 9.Haryanto 29; 10. Di Sabatino 21.

Under 21 Standings: 1. Ceccon 95;2. Buttarelli 69; 3. Venturini 65; 4.Haryanto 58; 5. Tambay 57; 6.Mendez 46; Bizzarri 10.

PRIZE MONEY

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ROAD TO DONINGTONSUPERNOVAON THE CHARGE

6 different winners in 6 racesmean a great balance also in theTeams classification. Anyway,thanks to the brilliant results byboth Filippi and Lancaster in Brno,SuperNova made a huge leap inthe standings, passing from 5thto second place and reducingtheir gap from DAMS from 37 tojust 12 points! An amazing job bythe brits, but surely the Frenchteam will try to react in

Donington, trying to sweep therivals home race. Podium byCrestani and a good performanceby Onidi allowed Lazarus to take3rd place at the expenses ofOmbra, while Griffitz Durangolost a place also to TP Formula:the team led by Gianluca Pomozzimade the most of Buttarellisamazing shape, and without somebad luck for Di Sabatino theycould have done even better.

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Dams 106 points2. SuperNova 94

3. Lazarus 76

4. Ombra 69

5. TP Formula 55

6. Griffitz Durango 51

7. Campos Racing 36

8. Emmebi Motorsport 1

Auto GP will stage the final event of the2011 Championship at Mugello on 1and 2 October. The Italian raceweekend will be the replacement for theBucharest event that was scheduled forAugust but had to be cancelled after thelocal promoter wasnt able to secure thetrack homologation and other essentialconditions for the correct developmentof the races.For Auto GP it will be the first time onthe 5245 metres of the Italian circuit, atrack that just one week ago hosted theItalian Grand Prix of the Moto GPChampionship.

If undoubtedly its Motorbike racing that

gave the track its international allure, itmust be highlighted that also car racingat the highest level has an history inMugello: until private testing wasallowed in Formula 1, the track was themain testing venue for the ScuderiaFerrari team, and also other F1 teamscame to Tuscany to make the most of avery challenging circuit: thanks to a veryvaried and natural layout, with uphill anddownhill sections and blind corners,Mugello has always been deemed as anhard test bench for both cars anddrivers. So it will be a great challengefor the Auto GP drivers, and the right

set to give the spectators a great show,

both from the grandstands and on TVthanks to Eurosports Coverage.Im really satisfied with this agreement,said Enzo Coloni, as Mugello Circuit iswidely known worldwide, and driversdeem it as one of the most challengingtracks in the world. Looking at thepeculiarities of the circuit our drivers willreally have the chance to use all thepotential of the car: the long mainstraight will allow them to unleash all thepower but they will have to workcarefully on the aero balance of the carbecause Mugello has many corners thatrequire a good amount of downforce.

Im sure that it will be a great show.

AUTO GP TO HITMUGELLO

Jon Lancaster

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WELCOME BACK ADRIAN

AND WELCOME MP MOTORSPORT

He got back to full steam training inone month and a week, against thethree months that the doctors

where expecting: Adrian Campos jr. madea really quick recovery, and he will be backin Auto GP already from the Doningtonround. The Spaniard showed an impressivestrength of will, working hard day after dayto fully recover from the two fracturedvertebrae he suffered in the Monza crash.Now he is looking forward togetting back into the fight, as heexplains:

Im really satisfied with myselfand the job I did. Immediatelyafter the accident I said that myaim was to halve the recoveringtime set by the doctors, but I dideven a bit better than that. As myconditions started improving Iwanted to be back in the car

already in Brno, but it would have been tooearly, so I had to wait for Donington.

Your rivals already have three full

events under their belts, while your

Auto GP experience will be limited

to the Monza Free Practice. Do you

think it will be a big handicap?

Surely having covered much less mileagethan the others is an handicap, but Im not

worried. Already before the season I knewthat my primary aim for 2011 was gettingsome experience on this kind of car, all themore so I know that there is no pressureon me to get a win or a podium finish nowthat Im coming from such a crash.Obviously this doesnt mean that I wontdo anything I can to make the most of anychance.

Do you know Donington?

Yes I do, and I really like it. Iraced there in F3 but it was on a

wet weekend, so I dont thinkthat such experience will proveuseful. The Auto GP performanceis in another league, so all mymarks will need to changeaccordingly. I think that the FirstPractice will be enough to do thatanyway.

Donington Park will see the debutof MP Motorsport in the Serieswith the young Daniel de Jong

at the wheel. This all Dutch driver-teampairing is a really tight-knit one, as theirrelationship dates back to 2008: MPMotorsport has followed de Jongscareer since his first single-seaterexperience, and together they clinchedwins and podiums in both the F.RenaultNEC and the Eurocup. Now the team is

ready for a new challenge, and teammanager Sander Dorsman had a chatwith us to explain how the teamworked to get set for such animportant moment:

First of all Id like to say thatwe are really happy that thetime has finally come. For usits a completely newchallenge and we are lookingforward to it. Auto GP has a

really great visibility soobviously we want to perform

well, but on the other hand its a newexperience, so we knew it wont beeasy and we did our best to getourselves ready.

What do you expect from this

Auto GP experience?

We race to get good results, aseverybody does, but this half season inAuto GP for us is a sort of toe in thewater looking to 2012. Next year wed

like to contest the whole championship,possibly with two cars, and we think thatnothing can prepare us for that as realracing. So we hope to have some goodraces and make a lot of experience.

Whats the feeling with the car,from the teams standpoint?

We have a lot of people who alreadyworked with F3000 and A1 GP.Obviously Auto GP is a different beastfrom a performance point of view, itsquicker and more extreme, but its Lolaand Zytek material anyway, so havingwith us some people who knows howthey work is surely helping a lot, itmakes our job quicker and easier.

You followed the Series from

outside until now, what do you

think about it?

Its impressive how balanced theSeries is. Seeing rookiesfighting on a par with muchmore experienced drivers isamazing, as well as the factthat in 6 races there were 6different winners. Its goodbecause it shows that

everybody is playing with thesame cards.

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Greetings

fromBrno

Autograph time

Tambay leadsAfanasiev

Di Sabatino

Fight at Campos

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Ceccon is stillthe Under 21 leader

Pit-stopfor Haryanto

Lazarus duo

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ROAD TO DONINGTON

JON LANCASTER had an amazingdebut weekend in Auto GP. He arrived inBrno with just two days of testing in thecar, an experience dating back to sixmonths ago in Barcelona, but despite thishe was immediately on the pace: Jonwas fifth in Qualifying, just 2 tenths adriftfrom pole position, and in Race 1 heemerged as the quickest of the pack:after losing a lot of time to avoid the carsinvolved in the Turn 2 crash, Jon closeda huge gap on his rivals, posted thefastest lap of the race and finished in P4,just inches from the podium. Here are hisfeelings looking to Donington:

I have high expectations, which isnormal if you consider what I did in Brno:

prior to that race I had just 5 days in aracing car from October, and just two of

those were in the Auto GP car. I hadsome rust to remove, but despite this Imanaged to find an immediate feelingwith the Lola and with the SuperNovastaff: in Qualifying I could have been onpole or at least on the 1st row but I did alittle mistake, and in Race 1 I was quickerthan Filippi. Luca is a good benchmarkbecause he is fast and has a greatknowledge of this car, so being alreadyquicker than him gives me confidence.Besides this, its also worth noticing thatwith some more luck my results couldhave been even better.

In less than three days Auto GP

will race in Donington: whats

your feeling looking to your home

race?Racing on home soil is always special,

and I have to say that I love Donington.Last time I raced there it was in 2007with F.Renault 2.0 and I got pole and arace win. Obviously Auto GP is acompletely different beast but Iunderstood the car, I know how to makethe most of it so Im confident that I willbe a challenger for the win out there.

You will have a fellow

countryman among your rivals,

how does it feel?

First of all, its very good for the public. Ireally hope that having two british driversfighting at home will bring a lot of peopleon the grandstands. I will give my best togive them a great show and Im prettysure that Adam, who is a very quick

driver, will do the same so we can expecta good race and maybe some sparks!.

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ADAM CARROLL is the latestaddition to the Auto GP grid, drivingthe #33 car of Campos Racing. The28 years-old british driver was lookingwith great interest at Auto GP, andtook the chance to join the Series assoon as he was given one. Deemedas one of the quickest drivers inEurope, he already has 40 wins in hisroster, all clinched in the main nationaland international series, from F3 toGP2 and A1 GP. He has what it takesto be a fierce competitors for theother drivers, and he expects to bequick from scratch as he explained us:

The Lola B05/52-Zytek pairing is theone that gave me more wins than any

other throughout my career when Iwas racing in A1 GP so, even if I know

that with the Michelin tyres and theaero changes made by Coloni the caris much quicker and balanced, I think Iwill feel at home. Furthermore, I thinkthat my recent podium in the WorldSeries showed that mycompetitiveness is still high even if lastyear I didnt have many chances torace. So I have high expectations, butI also have to bear in mind that theSeries is very hard fought and that itwill be the first time with the team, sowe will need some time to know eachother.

What do you expect from

Campos Racing?

They are one of the most skilled and

experienced teams around, they wereracing in GP2 when I was there and

they were the benchmark, so when westarted talking about doing Auto GPtogether I was thrilled. I expect a top-notch job from them, its what theyalways did.

You will have a fellow

countryman among your rivals,

how does it feel?

It feels good, as long as I finishahead (laughs). Really I think thatpeople will love that, and if usuallya WTCC weekend is always attractivefor british fans, I think that havingtwo brits battling in Auto GP will meanthat even more people will come tothe track to see some action.From my side I hope that I will meet

their expectations, which will surelybe very high.

WHATS BETTER THAN TWO BRITONS

BATTLING FOR THE WIN IN

DONINGTON? NEWCOMER

ADAM CARROLAND

JON LANCASTERARE PREPARINGFOR A GREAT FIGHT

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ROAD TO DONINGTON

They won the debut race of the2011 season, with a dominating

performance by Giovanni Venturiniin Monza, and then they confirmed theircompetitiveness thanks to the Italianyoungster clinching another podium finishin Budapest: in Brno, then, GiuseppeCipriani grabbed the first points of hisseason, crowning an impressiveprogression. Griffitz Durango had a reallypositive season start, and the team nowwants to add another success to theirroster in Donington, as team principalIvone Pinton explains:

Were really happy about this first halfof the season, because it confirms thatwe made some good choices in our2011 planning. When it was time todefine our line-up some people werepushing for an experienced driver, one tothe likes of Filippi just to make anexample; one of the reasons for that, agood one to be honest, was that withsuch a choice winning a good amount ofprize money would have been very likely.Anyway I chose a different way, decidingfor a youngster as Giovanni Venturini. Idid that because I deeply believe in histalent, and I see a great future for him. Iwas right, and I also think that hiscommitment with us in Auto GP, as itwas announced very early, was a factorin the choice by other young drivers tojoin the Championship. The outcome wasthat three rookies, Giovanni, Ceccon andButtarelli, already managed to win a race,

something that makes Auto GP the bestSeries for a young gun nowadays.

Venturini made a strong debut in

Monza but in Brno he had a

strange weekend, a double zerothat allowed Filippi and Ceccon

to build a gap. Are you worried in

any way?

No, were not. A bad weekend issomething that usually hits every driverduring the season, so when we will cometo the final showdown thing should getbalanced. Furthermore, if we look at ourspeed we have nothing to be worriedabout. Giovanni is the same amazingracer that won in Monza with a

staggering performance, were sureabout that. In Budapest he was comingfrom a bad flu, so he was in poor shapefrom a physical point of view: despite thishe got on the podium, and even if at theend of Race 1 he was really tired, this

wasnt enough to stop him. Brno was adifferent story: Giovanni is facing his final

High School exams, and we believe thatthis took away some focus from him.From our side we werent as good asusual in giving him the car he likes, andthis was the reason for a performancebelow our expectations. AnywayDonington will be a different story: wereready and his exams are over, so driverand team will be in top shape.

Giuseppe Cipriani is the other

face of your team. A gentleman

driver is a bit unusual in single-seater racing, but his

improvements from the start of

the season were really

impressive

Our program with Giuseppe started in

GRIFFITZ DURANGO

AIMS FORDONINGTON WIN

Cipriani andVenturini share fans'attention

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2010, when he did with us the last race ofthe Auto GP season. He liked the car alot and immediately decided to be backfor a full 2011 campaign, so we had thetime to prepare the best possible plan forit. For us its a way of bringing ourfriendship on track, but theres a lot morethan that.We worked well, with some goog pre-season testing, and Giuseppe from his

side is really committed. He is fightingwith very young drivers, people who aredoing this as their main profession andhave F1 as their final aim, but despite thishe never looks for excuses: he isunforgiving with himself if he isnt as quickas he would like to, and then he startsworking even harder to get a better result.The outcome is an impressiveimprovement that led him to his first pointfinish at just the third event of the season,and he also got very close to the Race 2

pole on some occasions, something thathe will surely get before the end of the

year. This is even more impressive if youbear in mind that often during our raceweekends Cipriani keeps managing hiscompanies. Once he gets out of the carand he completes the technical briefing hethen has to switch his mind to businessmode to prepare contracts and speakwith people from all around the world.Thats why I think that theres much moreto come from him. My dream would be

having him with us also in 2012, becausewith a full season under his belt Im surehe will be able to challenge for some racewins.

Donington is coming, whats your

aim?

We have some sweet memories fromDonington: in 1994 we made a one-twofinish in F3000 with Pescatori and Peter,so we like the track. We have what ittakes to hit the big target with Venturini,

while we expect Cipriani to keepimproving as he did until now.

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NEXT STOP:DONINGTONOpened in 1931, the Doningtontrack hosted its first auto race in

1933, and immediately became one

of the drivers favourites. In the Pre-

WWII era it hosted various Grand

Prix, with the highlights being the

1937 and 1938 editions won by

Caracciola and Nuvolari, both with

Auto Union. Now the track is very

different from what it used to be in

the 30s, but the circuit is still among

the most challenging a driver can

find, especially the first part, with

the quick downill bends of Redgate

and Craner. Some say that the trackis particularly difficult also because

the tarmac can get slippery due to

the emissions from the jet planes

departing from the nearby East

Midlands airport, but theres no

proof of that and many consider this

possibility very unlikely.

Fans attending the event should also

visit the Grand Prix Museum

Exhibition, an extraordinary

collection of race cars (McLaren,

Lotus, Vanwall, Ferrari and many

others) and memorabilia.

DONINGTON PARKDonington Park

Lap distance: 4.023 mt

Right turns: 7

Left turns: 5

Location: 40 kms north east

of Birmingham

Official website:

http://www.donington-park.co.uk/

Donington is a pleasure to drive, but also a very difficulttrack: you have to sort the right set-up first, and thats not

easy because you need a stable car in the first quick part,

especially in the downhill Craner section, and a nimble car

in the second part, which is much slower. You also need alot of traction to get out quickly from the hairpin, and all of

this requires a good compromise.

From a drivers point of view, the quick section is very fun,but the slower one is more important. I wouldnt say that its

where you make the laptime, but its where you can lose a lot, as

overdriving and making mistakes is pretty easy. Anyway I reallylove it, and Im ready to give everybody a hard time!

FOLLOW US ON THE WEB

Join the AutoGP community on the web. To keep you posted with all the news from the

championship we daily update our website www.autogp.org, but we also give you thechance to take a sneak peek in the backstage of the championship thanks to out facebookpage www.facebook.com/AutoGP and our Twitter account www.twitter.com/Auto_GP.Our facebook page has already more than 2.200 fans! Want to discuss with them aboutthe championship? You just have to join!

CALENDAR 2011

01&02 13-15 May Monza, Italy

03&04 3-5 June Budapest, Hungary

05&06 17-19 June Brno, Czech Republic

07&08 15-17 July Donington, Great Britain

09&10 29-31 July Oschersleben, Germany

11&12 2-4 September Valencia, Spain

13&14 1-2 October Mugello, Italy