Series Valencia test day 1 report

Campos, Durango e Lazarus opened 2011 in Valencia

2011 is just two weeks old, but the Auto GP engines have been started already. Thanks to a steadily raising interest for the series, interest that led many drivers to ask for a test in the Auto GP car even in deep winter time, three teams gathered in Valencia for a two-day testing session that got underway yesterday. New entry Campos Racing and two teams that were on the maiden year's grid, Durango and Lazarus, opened the season unleashing the scream of the Zytek engine for the first time in 2011.

The teams brought on track a really varied group of drivers in terms of both age and experience. 19 years-old Giovanni Venturini was the youngest, driving for Durango together with Giuseppe Cipriani, already with the team in the last event of the 2010 Series in Monza.

Campos Racing opted for the European F3 Open champion Marco Barba flanked by Adrian Campos Jr., coming from a good season in the Indy Lights series. At Lazarus, Fabio Onidi rejoined the team after racing with them in the 2010 Auto GP campaign.

Running in very low air and track temperatures the teams managed to complete their different programs and the cars ran flawlessly: Campos Racing, debuting on track with the Auto GP Lola-Zytek, focused on getting acquainted with the cars and gathering valuable datas, boasting also some excellent laptimes. After 50 laps for each car, the best time from Marco Barba was 1'23"2, with Campos Jr. very close with 1'23"5.

It was Giovanni Venturini who took honours as the quickest driver of Day 1 with Durango: the Italian is coming from two very good seasons, with wins in the F.Renault Eurocup and in the Italian and Swiss series, and in Valencia he confirmed his talent with a 1'23"1 posted in the afternoon. In the morning the same car was driven by Giuseppe Cipriani who continued the learning process he had started in Monza, closing the test with 1'25"2.

Being the only unchanged pair from 2010, Onidi and Lazarus where the only ones able to focus on a development program: the Italian outfit tried some different set-up solutions and started an aerodynamic study of the car thanks to sensors placed in key zones of the bodywork. At the end of the day the best time was 1'23"8 that left team and driver very happy considering that they never used new tyres.

On track work will go on today until 5 PM with only one change: Lazarus will field Fabrizio Crestani, who boasted some very good performances both in Auto GP and GP2 in 2010.

-source: autogp