Mission accomplished. At the international circuit of Imola, where the sixth race of the Italian F.3 European Series and the Italian F.3 took place last week-end, Nicholas Latifi got an extraordinary 2nd position in the sprint race, making it onto the podium for the first time in his career and marking his debut in the world of open wheels.
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One month after the challenge at the Red Bull Ring, the Italian F3 European Series is now ready to come back to Italy for the last three races which will take place at the international circuits of Imola, Vallelunga and Monza.
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FAENZA – With the sixth race of Formula Abarth which will take place at Imola circuit (on programme the week-end of September the 2nd), spotlights will be turned again on the second meeting of the ACI CSAI-FDA project which is fully devoted to those young drivers who came to the fore in the past season of kart championship.
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ZELTWEG – At the Red Bull Ring, the Austrian circuit where the fifth race of the Italian F3 European Series took place, although Nicholas Latifi had a week-end full of ups and downs, he showed his progressions behind the wheel of a hard-driving car such as a F3.
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This week-end the fifth race of the Italian F3 European Series will take place at Red Bull Ring winding circuit and will be the last race abroad.
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The result of the 24h race in Spa wasn’t as good as planned for Davide Rigon. Just two years after scoring an epic win in the FIA GT World Championship driving a car of the “Scuderia”, the talented driver from Veneto had prepared to the smallest detail this challenging event, which was the fourth round of the Blancpain GT Endurance Series.
After the flood of people present at the traditional drivers and cars parade which took place at Spa city centre on Wednesday, the competitive week-end officially started on Thursday with free practices, during which his teammate Zampieri had a terrible accident because of which the Ferrari 458 GT3 71 was irreparably damaged.
Mechanics were able to accomplish a miracle by fixing the car in time for the qualifying round after which the Kessel Racing Team got the middle rows, missing the top 20 to be valid for a superpole. After a night and morning shower, race started in dry. The first driver out on track was Gattuso, who gave way to Davide Rigon one hour after the start.
The driver from Vicenza began to gain positions till he got up to 16th ( the third in category), before giving way to Daniel Zampieri, who had to pit for a couple of laps because of a wiper electrical problem. Despite a frenzied race pace, bad luck prevailed , so only 6 hours before the end of the race, the car was stopped by a serious technical problem which forced it to drop out. When that happened, it was Daniel Zampieri’s turn behind the wheel of the car which is a member of PRO class.
“It was a hard week-end, especially because of the terrible accident during qualifying. Daniel thankfully didn’t hurt himself. Despite the miracle accomplished by mechanics, to whom I offer my congratulations, the car had not been the same any more and we had several problems which drove us to drop out. Anyway I’m pleased with my race pace ‘cause I was one of the fastest on track. In the last turn I re-gained several laps. The atmosphere you live during a 24h race is something amazing, just like seeing a flood of fans……Really beautiful!”
The Italian Formula 3 European Series gets ready to get into the second part of the Championship, so it’s time for Nicholas Latifi to take stock of the racing season.
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Waiting is over. This week-end spotlights will be turned on the most important meeting of the Blancpain GT Endurance season: the 24h of Spa. It’s a hard but charming circuit, nestled in the forest of Ardennes.
For Davide Rigon this will be a return on the ups and downs of the Spa circuit behind the wheel of a Ferrari, just after the 2008 victorious experience in the FIA GT World Championship. The race is worth a whole season, not only for the charme and glory that go with it but also for the standing: scores will be awarded during race three highlights. So being constant and handling a good management of the Ferrari 458 are race most important issues. After getting on the podium at Paul Ricard, the Kessel team driver, together with his team mates Zampieri and Gattuso, is dead set on getting another important result.
“ The 24h of Spa represents my most important race of the season. I trained a lot for this race I’ve already won in 2008 behind the wheel of a Ferrari GT2 of BMS team. I remember each lap was like a qualifying lap. We have to maintain top speed and remain focused throughout the race, ‘cause it’s so stressful. As usual rain will play a dominant role” says Davide Rigon.
“ This year we’re in good shape, even if we’ve been quite unlucky and we’ve got less than deserved. This kind of event can deeply influence the whole race season. It’s three races in one. Scores will be awarded after the 6th, the 12th and the 24th hour. This is the reason why we have to be constant and handle the car with kid gloves, even if till now the Ferrari has been a very reliable car. About 85 cars will take part in the race and also Audi and Porsche official drivers are expected to run the competition. Track will be so crowded, so it will be so hard to find free stretches.”, says again Rigon.
“ I’m confident that we can get a good result. During a 24h race difficulties are so many, but the crew is one of the most powerful and the team has enough experience to do a good job. I wish good luck to everybody!”, comments the manager form Faenza Giovanni Minardi.
Qualifying will start on Thursday, while the green light will turn on only on Saturday afternoon at 4pm.
Last weekend meeting at the “ Marco Simoncelli” Misano World Circuit was not only a turning point for the the Italian Formula ACI CSAI Abarth and Formula 3 European Series Championships, but also a great hall for the new project planned by ACI CSAI and the Ferrari Driver Academy in order to support young drivers.
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The race week-end at the Misano circuit named after Marco Simoncelli has given to Nicholas Latifi the awareness of working in the right direction, even if the final spoil hasn’t fully reflected all the expressed abilities.
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Just one week after getting on the podium at the Speed Euroseries Davide Rigon, together with his team mates Zampieri and Gattuso, got another amazing result in the third round of Blancpain GT Endurance. On the French track of Paul Ricard, the talented driver from Italy obtained a third place, after having been so close to it in the first round at Monza circuit. The podium is a right result of a race always run in top positions. After taking measurements of the track during free practices, in pre-qualifying session the driver of Kessel Racing team steeply climbed standing, getting up to the fourth place, the first in category, and completed the work with a pole position in qualifying session. The threesome Rigon, Zampieri, Gattuso called the shots in all qualifying sessions.
In race, Davide took a good start and maintained top positions throughout it, imposing his racing speed. His speed became faster and faster until he led by 20 seconds over his rival, before the arrival of the safety car. The Swiss team decided that the Italian driver’s pit stop would have been in conjunction with driver change. Once safety car got off the track, Davide imposed himself again and marked important racing times, leading by 15 seconds before pitting.
“ It was really a great weekend. Right from the beginning we imposed our speed and even in qualifying we marked the three best racing times. In race-1 I took the first stint and stepped on the accelerator from the beginning, trying to be careful with tyres consumption as I had to drive for an hour. We were among the fastest on track and, before the safety car got on , I was leading by more than 20 seconds. We decided to remain on track and maybe this is the reason why we missed the victory. I was able to lead by 15 more seconds before passing the car to Daniel. Anyway the podium is a good result for the Championship. Now we have to work on the most important race, the 24h of Spa” says Davide Rigon.
This week end the Marco Simoncelli Misano World Circuit will host the fourth round of two important Italian Championships such as the ACI CSAI Formula Abarth and the Italian F3 European Series. Just one month after the Series has come to Italy, the very young drivers will fight again behind the wheel of the Tatuus FA, Dallara and Mygale for F3.
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The summer has begun, so even the Italian F3 European Series is entering the hot side of the season. Just one month after the Championship has come to Italy, the 17-year-old Nicholas Latifi gets ready to go back behind the wheel of the Mygale for the Championship’ fourth race at the Misano World Circuit named after Marco Simoncelli.
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