Lamborghini Super Trofeo Middle East | Positive debut for Karol Basz in Abu Dhabi

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Karol Basz won his personal challenge on the Abu Dhabi circuit. After having been called by the FFF Racing Team a few days before the second round of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Middle East together with Andrea Amici, the Polish driver put himself on show at the wheel of the Lambo Huracan ST Evo by marking his debut on the demanding Yas Marina circuit without making any mistakes and inaugurating the season with a podium finish.

In the three races Karol Basz took a third and two second places after having finished qualifying with the second fastest time.

“It was a great experience on a circuit I did not know and with a new team mate. Our speed was good, even though we had some problems but it was a positive weekend in the light of the new season,” commented Karol Basz.

“As always Karol behaved very well for all the weekend, considering that it was his first appearance in Abu Dhabi. Unfortunately we had some technical problem with the car and we could not do more than this. Now we will continue working on defining the 2019 programme,” said Giovanni Minardi, Karol’s Manager, as well as Sporting Director and Team Manager of the FFF Racing Team.

F1 Testing | MINARDI “Performance has come closer”

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“We are only in the first week of testing and the times recorded have not yet given us a realistic ranking, as we saw with the best times by Renault on the SuperSoft tyres (1’17″393 with Hulkenberg) and Toro Rosso (Albon 1’17″637) against the1’17″8 of Mercedes and Ferrari’s 1’18″0 with the medium mix.”

These were the first comments by Gian Carlo Minardi after the first four days of collective testing on Barcelona’s Montmelò circuit that inaugurated the F1 World Championship season have been filed away.

“Those under special observation were surely the current world champion, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, and Ferrari. Toto Wolff’s men retraced last season’s programme with a number of different trials aimed at development, just as the team with the prancing horse has not yet looked for performance”.

The new racing cars ran the first kilometres and they have already shown important reliability as shown by the laps run. Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas took the titles of the workaholics with 610 laps on their account, in front of the Ferrari duo Vettel-Leclerc that completed 598 laps.”

“An important signal comes from the very many kilometres covered by all the teams, with the exception of Williams over which we should draw a veil. It is inconceivable that such a successful team threw away two days of tests. I hope that they can make up the time lost next week.”

Third place for Alfa Romeo Racing thanks to the work by Raikonnen and Giovinazzi who completed 507 laps against the 482 by Toro Rosso’s pair Kvyat-Albon and the 475 by Verstappen-Gasly, both with Honda engines.

“The other fact that came out was how the forces on the field have come closer together. It will be a great battle between Mercedes-Ferrari-Red Bull and a tight battle between Renault-Toto Rosso-Alfa Romeo and Haas. The times are already very close to the best in 2018. This means that in a short time the engineers have already managed to recover part of the aerodynamic load lost with the new regulations.

“Each team knows exactly its potential and especially its position depending on the fuel on board. Next week we will have more significant results in the light of the weekend in Melbourne,” concluded the manager from Faenza.

The drivers and cars will be back on the Montmelò track next week from February 26 to March 1 before flying to Australia for the season’s first grand prix.

Lamborghini Super Trofeo Middle East | Karol Basz in Abu Dhabi with the FFF Racing Team

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Karol Basz’s new season begins this weekend in Abu Dhabi. The Polish driver arrived at the spectacular Yas Marina circuit where he will find a Lamborghini Huracán ST Evo of the FFF Racing Team and team mate Andrea Amici for his debut in the Trofeo Middle East that for the third season opens the single make championship of the cars from Sant’Agata Bolognese that has reached its eleventh edition.

The weekend will be structured on a programme of three races and it will be Karol’s first experience on the track designed by the architect Hermann Tilke that since 2009 has been part of the Formula 1 calendar.

After his positive results last season in the Super Trofeo Europa and the Italian GT Championship aboard the Lamborghini GT3 Karol is getting ready to confront a new year with the house from Sant’Agata Bolognese.

“I am very happy to have Karol here with me. It is an important opportunity to get to know a new international circuit like Yas Marina in an important setting such as the Middle East as we wait to define the 2019 that will certainly see him at the wheel of a Lambo. After the excellent debut in two rounds of GT3 at Monza and Mugello last season I am working with Karol in this direction,” commented manager and Sporting Director and Manager of FFF Racing Giovanni Minardi.

Historic Minardi Day | Is waiting for you at Imola on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 April

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The Historic Minardi Day, the festival created by Gian Caro Minardi and brought on track together with Formula Imola that knew how to rewrite the rules for sporting events by putting fans in the spotlight is coming back.

On Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 April at Imola’s Enzo and Dino Ferrari Circuit the Formula 1 cars that wrote the most important pages of the World Championship will come back onto the track for a journey into the history of International Motorsport together with racing cars from preparatory championships that shaped world champions and with a lot of space for prototypes, Gran Turismo cars and Supercars. In the 2018 edition six Pagani cars warmed the hearts of enthusiasts with a unique parade on the track led by its founder Horacio Pagani, as well as the debut of the Dallara Stradale with a number of hot laps together with the Lamborghinis, Maseratis and Alfa Romeos.

After the success of the previous editions the formula did not change with a single ticket (that can be bought at the circuit’s ticket office or via Ticketone) that will give access to the paddock, the terrace and the pits to see up close the racing cars, the drivers, engineers and the technicians at work on the vehicles as they make them ready to warm up the motors to take to the track. In addition, the ticket will let participants become an essential part of the festival by taking to the track in their own vehicles through Driving Experience (4 sessions on the Saturday and 4 sessions on the Sunday by filling in the form available on the official website), or to take to the track for a lap on board a sports car beside a professional driver and the test themselves on the simulators in the gaming area.

“Last year we managed to cover nearly half a century of sporting competitions through 299 fantastic vehicles from collections around the world, of which 26 from F1, one of which was Pier Luigi Martini’s Tyrrell P34 on its debut together with many Minardis, Ferraris Tecnos, Fondmetals, Dallaras, Fittipaldis, Theodores, Marches and the Cooper T51 only to name a few. There were 110 racing cars from F2 and F3, 2012 GT and GTS cars, 42 vintage cars from the Wheels of history rally and 19 from the Savio Trophy. This year we expect 30 Formula 1 cars with a priceless tribute to Ayrton Senna 25 years after his death and the arrival of some LMP3s,” commented Gian Carlo Minardi who highlighted the strength of the Historic Minardi Day,

“I wanted to bring back to Imola the atmosphere of my first years in F1 with the paddock and the pits open to the fans. All this was lost with the arrival of the computerized passes and today we have an F1 locked up behind the motor homes. We found a polite and passionate public and those who worked on the cars were excited by this formula because they too are overwhelmed by the festive atmosphere,” continued the manager from Faenza.

This year’s edition of the Historic Minardi Day will again be enhanced by the Gara di Regolarità Classica “Savio Trophy” that is valid for the National “ACI Storico” Regolarità National Trophy and the Criterion of the Apennines of the Scuderia Nettuno group. The route will start from Imola’s Enzo and Dino Ferrari Circuit and will wind its way through the province of Ravenna and follow part of the Savio Circuit that saw Enzo Ferrari win the 1923 edition as a driver. The route will pass through the hills of the Romagna and their wonderful towns, with the race concluding inside the Imola circuit.

F1 | MINARDI “The GPs generates unparalled business, but it is not enough”

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2019 will be a crucial year for many grands prix in the F1 calendar in which Liberty Media’s contract is due to expire and the renewal promises to be long and hard. On the one hand the promoters say they are disappointed and worried about the future caused by the very high costs for hosting a grand prix.

Recently 16 of the 21 organizers met in London to discuss the current situation and to form the Formula One Promoter’s Association that expressly shut the door on Liberty Media to revising the contracts downwards.

On the other side of the barricade F1 boss Chase Carey waved a heavy fist by giving the impression of not wanting to step back. “We will change what we are doing”.

As we know from the Monza contract that will expire at the end of 2019 and despite last season’s record attendance with 185,000 spectators over the three days, the circuit reported a deficit of 12 million Euros. Other circuits are also in the same conditions, like Silverstone what in 2018 brought in more than 300,000 fans and finished in the red anyway. The news of recent days that from next year the organizers of the Mexico Grand Prix will not have public financing puts its presence in the next seasons at serious risk.

There is general disquiet that involves nearly 70% of the circuits,” commented Gian Carlo Minardi who we interviewed, “Many contracts are about to expire both on the circuit and the TV fronts, just like the Concord Agreement. This is a serious time because the teams will struggle to revise downwards the requests in consideration of the continual increases of management costs but Liberty Media is in difficulty with the circuits and the TV with the sponsors asking that the races return to free to air,” continued the manager from Faenza.

“In the ten days of the grand prix F1 manages to generate a volume of about 100 million and losing the race would mean causing major damage to the spin offs that cannot be recovered with another event. I saw it personally when Imola lost its grand prix. However this volume of business does not interest the circuit that with the current contract has only the tickets sales as the sole source of income. This is decidedly too little to cover the enormous expenses for hosting the race. Let’s not forget that the circuits are constantly called upon to make huge investments on the structures”,

“Losing a grand prix means causing great economic damage but it is also true that we cannot continue in these conditions. I have faith in the work by President Angelo Sticchi Damiani who in recent years managed to save the Italian Grand Prix but something must change. We cannot keep organizing an event that is constantly losing money,” concluded Gian Carlo Minardi.