From Sao Paulo to Nurburgring passing through Spa. Many new challenges for Rigon

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Exciting end of the season for Davide Rigon. The 27-year-old driver from Vicenza, who is at the Scuderia Ferrari’s disposal for sport and technical development activities, will take part in three different races belonging to different championships.

Davide will make his debut in the FIA WEC World Championship (World Endurance Championship) by competing in the 6 hours of Sao Paulo, the Championship’s fourth round which is scheduled for this week end. Once again the talented driver will be behind the wheel of a Ferrari 458 GT2 alongside the 8Star Motorsport Team, a team who is managed by the AF Corse. The Italian racer will share the wheel with Ruy Aguas and Vincente Potolicchio.

After leaving Brazil he will head to Belgium, to the Spa-Francorchamps circuit where he will take part in the International GT Open Championship’s sixth round at the wheel of the Villorba Corse Team’s 458 GT2. The Team is second in the teams’ standing. Rigon will replace Luca Filippi and race alongside Andrea Montermini.

“It will be an honor for me to race alongside the Villorba Corse Team”, says Rigon, “I’ve been to the team’s headquarter and our cooperation has started in a good way. I immediately liked the 458 and it’s a car I’ve already known. It’s a great responsibility to replace Luca at Spa and race alongside Montermini, it’ll be a very interesting experience and I will do my best.”

“It was important to go on pursuing the same logic that has always characterized our racing season”, analyses Mr. Raimondo Amadio, the team principal “so we’ve tried to replace Filippi with another high skilled racer. Davide is the right choice, for sure. He’s a very high skilled and talented guy, so I think that he’ll deliver great performances alongside our team. He visited our company at the beginning of August to set some details about the car’s seat and he was really happy and motivated. Furthermore, we’re very glad and proud to have the opportunity to cooperate with a Ferrari’s driver.”

From Spa to Nurburgring. The week end of September 21/22 Davide will be behind the wheel of the Kessel Racing Team’s 458 GT3 #44 again to contest the Blancpain Endurance Series Championship’s final race. After taking an exciting win at Monza, along with his team mates Zampieri and Ramos, he has steadfastly been the PRO standing’s leader. Left the 24 hours of Spa behind, the 1000 km of the Nurburgring will be the final race to try to win the 2013 title “Everything will be decided at the Nurburgring. We’re still the Championship’s leaders ad we want to end the season in the best way”, ends up Davide.

Belgian GP – The Report Card

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After the Belgian GP, which was won by Sebastian Vettel, followed by a great Fernando Alonso and by the poleman Lewis Hamilton, let’s grade the main protagonists along with Gian Carlo Minardi.

Sebastian Vettel 9.5 – It’s not a 10 because he didn’t get the pole which was taken by Hamilton. Apart from that, he ran a flawless race. His car can’t be easily defeated, however he delivered good performances by himself. The difference between him and Webber is remarkable. He made the difference once again.

Fernando Alonso 9 – His race was flawless, however, the mistake he made in qualifying and, above all, his behavior, which makes the team feel more and more nervous, is disadvantaging him. In this moment we don’t need a sulky Alonso, especially after a good race such as the Spa GP was. That kind of behavior doesn’t suit my idea of racing. He doesn’t have to demonstrate anything to anyone, for sure, however I prefer on-track results rather than words.

Lewis Hamilton 8.5 – He did an excellent job in qualifying, going from zero to hero. He played his trump card in Q3. He did a great job along with Vettel, as they both managed to run one more lap. He suffered his car’s issues during the race.

Nico Rosberg 8 – He did what he had to do, that is scoring important points for the team. Thanks to the points he scored the team has secured the second place in the Championship. He was behind Hamilton at the beginning and set excellent laptimes. He suffered his car’s issues, too.

Mark Webber 5 – His mind is already on holiday. He’s now less aggressive and determined than he was in the past or at the beginning of his career in F.1. He’s about to end his career in F.1. Personally I don’t like that kind of statement at the beginning of the season. Perhaps he’s unconsciously less focused on racing.

Jenson Button 7 – He had a very good hard tyres management once again. The team’s strategy was very good. He’s a world champion and maximized the team’s resources in the best way.

Felipe Massa 6 – This mark is to encourage him. It would be necessary to know how technical issues affected his race. He was very good at overtaking Grosjean, but there’s a huge difference between him and his team mate in terms of performances.

Romain Grosjean 6.5 – Perhaps he felt the influence of the past season. He managed to score points although the week end was not so happy for Lotus.

Adrian Sutil 7 – He managed to score points thanks to a good performance just when finishing in the top 10 is getting more and more difficult.

Daniel Ricciardo 8 – He ran an excellent race and was supported by a very competitive Toro Rosso car. He didn’t make any mistake. He managed to make an excellent overtaking over Perez, even if the Mexican was not always correct. He’s showing great things, so he deserves to be a Red Bull driver.

Kimi Raikkonen 7 – He had troubles with the left front brake. He sorted out that problem in an excellent way, that’s why he’s a world champion. He gave up only at last, so he deserves to be rewarded.

Belgian GP – THE POINT

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The Belgian GP was very strained. Three world champions scored a podium finish and Fernando Alonso delivered excellent performances. That is the Alonso everyone is willing to see, the one who speaks with actions and gets results instead of speaking with a microphone. He has to demonstrate all his talent through results, even if his main rival, Red Bull, is an unbeatable team. The Spaniard was excellent in the first laps, as he was able to exploit all his car’s potential and got a good result, which was unexpected until Saturday night. He managed to make it up for the mistakes made by him and the technicians during qualifying.

Even if the slue round hadn’t happened on Saturday, his final result would not have changed, but that episode made us have more fun. His second place was a very good result, since he is now ahead of Hamilton. Unfortunately the gap with Vettel is still so far to be reduced, but 8 GP are yet to be raced, so anything can happen. Vettel outdistanced the Spaniard by 17 sec., while Massa was outdistanced by the German by 50 sec. That is a clear proof of how a driver can really make a difference on technical tracks like Spa. He really pushed hard to get a podium finish between the German and Hamilton. This result has to bring back a little peace of mind to the Maranello’s team. I’d like to see Fernando to be less gloomy, especially after achieving such a great result. He doesn’t have to fuel anxiety.

Mercedes set off on a bare foot, but managed to get the pole thanks to Hamilton who was expected to deliver better performances on Sunday. Anyway, the English team is still a title contender and it’s second in the constructors’ championship. It will be an exciting run-up to Vettel and Red Bull till the end, what’s important is not to waste points as much as possible. It will be a hard fight against aliens such as Vettel and Red Bull.

For what concerning Lotus, Grosjean was overtaken by Massa in the last laps. Unfortunately Raikkonen had a front brake issue because of which he was forced to abandon the race after achieving 27 good results. He could have scored important points for the Championship. The room left vacant by the Finn was achieved by a very performing Ricciardo who got the better of Perez, scoring one point for Toro Rosso.

Thanks to Button’s 6th place, McLaren got the better of Force India in the constructors’ championship (the Indian team is now 9th with Sutil), jumping up to 5th. The McLaren’s Englishman hasn’t signed any contract for the next season yet; he had previously stated that he was thinking about taking a sabbatical year. Ferrari will hold the balance of power of the drivers’ market. As soon as the Italian team puts the driver “matter” right, we’ll have some news about the drivers’ market. Next season McLaren will experience a phase of transition before switching to the new Honda engine. The two world champions Raikkonen and Button will have the possibility to continue to race alongside two competitive teams such as Lotus and McLaren, however they will wait for Ferrari’s decision, too.

Next GP will be raced at Monza; the good results achieved by Ferrari in the Belgian GP could be an incentive for Ferrari’s fans to go to the circuit and support the Italian team. Ferrari’s goal at Monza is to score a win, given the fact the Italian track doesn’t suit Red Bull very much.