Durango has confirmed its commitment to Auto GP. The Italian team, who has just beenaccepted by the FIA among the candidates for a place in Formula 1 for 2011, will be on thegrid from the series maiden race in Brno, fielding Giuseppe De Pasquale. It will be an unusualduo because while Durango has a 25 years experience in motorsport with 5 years in GP2, themajor F1 feeder series, De Pasquale has just a few single seater races in his CV, having racedmainly in Sportscars and GT racing. Anyway, the Pasquale has always been a very quickdriver: on a Norma Prototype he was runner up in the Italian Sportscar Championship in 2006,while in GT he was 3rd in the Italian Gt3 championship. In his only outing in Fia GT3, inOschersleben, De Pasquale was immediately on podium, confirming his talent.
His first contact with the Auto GP car was in the Magione winter testing in November, anddespite his lack of experience with such powerful single-seaters, his laptimes were close to theones of Marcos Martinez, a driver with a lot of World Series seasons on his back.“At the beginning the Auto GP test in Magione was a gift for a good 2009 season and a way togive myself a new challenge, I wanted to see if I was up to the game. But then I was veryquick, and the idea of a whole season started to be mouth-watering. I started looking forsome support, and now I’m here”.
De Pasquale knows that, coming from “closed-wheel” series, he will have to change not onlyhis driving style but also his physical training: “In the last seasons I raced mainly in Enduranceevents, so my training was focused on stamina. Now, as the Auto GP races will be muchshorter, I’m focusing on pure strength, because in the chicanes the car is very hard on thedriver’s arms. I’m also training my neck, because under braking and in the fast corners we willhave big loads. In Brno, I will be ready”.
Giuseppe has clear plans for his maiden Auto GP season: “My first aim is to gather experience,and to get quickly to the front pack pace. This means that I’d also like to win some races inthe second part of the season”.
Enzo Coloni: “In Magione, we were really surprised by the immediate feeling that DePasquale had found with the car. So, we were really hoping for his debut on single-seaterswith Auto GP and we are happy of having him on the grid. We also think that he did a verygood team choice. The experience and skills of the Durango team will be very important tohelp him in mastering such a powerful car”.
Enrico Magro (Durango): “We know Giuseppe very well because he raced for us in aF.Renault 2.0 car. He’s always been very fast, in Sportscars as well as in GT racing, so we aresure that he will get used to the Auto GP car very quickly. We look forward to the first racenow, because we strongly believe in Coloni’s project”.
