as Italian-Swiss Solaris Motorsport joins for next season
The Chevrolet brand will be back in full glory for the 2012 SUPERSTARS SERIES. After suffering from a tougher season than expected, the highly-revamped Lumina CR8 racecars will be welcomed by the other 10 manufacturers lined-up in the championship. Bringing the powerful American racers back on-track will be newly-founded team Solaris Motorsport. Previously well-known in the prototype racing arena, the Italian-Swiss team will be aiming at the top spots of the FGGROUP series' charts in 2012.
The team, headquartered in Giubiasco (a municipality of Canton Ticino), already confirmed a driver, Francesco Sini, who will enter his third season in the championship after a significant 2-year stint. The Italian entered with Mercedes in 2010 (capturing a second place at Vallelunga and a third place at Paul Ricard) and cruised to second place at Monza with Jagaur this season. He is also an old acquaintance for the team, which propelled his to his wins in the European Prototype Championship, World Cup Radical and Italian Prototype Series and will be assisted by longtime friend Cristian Grasso, who will be covering the Team Manager's duties.
Sini, who is also involved as a partner in the team's operation, confirmed the ambitious goals set for 2012. «The cars will be heavily upgraded and revamped, and we hope to field three of them. I will be driving one, a second will be surely raced by a young driver because the Rookie Of The Year trophy is really interesting for us. Solaris have always believed in the development of young drivers like they did with me when I captured three titles in two years. »
«This venture is something really new for me and I will try to take the best out of it. This will be my third year in SUPERSTARS, a championship which now I decided to support in a "total" way by being back with the men whom helped me to achieve my best wins in prototypes. We really work well together and no discussion the aim will be to be on top straight out of the box. I have already given the Lumina a shakedown at Vallelunga at the start of the month and I appreciated how it drives especially in the most technical part. I think it can only improve from that…»
«After years spent in other championships, the idea of joining SUPERSTARS has been exciting for us all - told Ticino-based Christian Sgarbi, co-owner of Solaris Motorsport - the championship is really high-quality and we can't wait to be on-track as we are fully-committed. I am persuaded that we will be able to take full advantage of the car's potential by relying on a talented racer like Francesco. At the same time we will try to have a youngster in the team for the future as we always did in the other championship we entered. »
Chevrolet scored two SUPERSTARS wins so far, with Johnny Herbert cruising to victory at Kyalami at the end of 2010 and Matteo Malucelli taking Vallelunga honours earlier the same year.
