The Auto GP teams are getting set for the 2011 edition of the Series, making the most out of the 1000 kilometres of free testing allowed by the Organization in order to gather data before the first official act of the season, the Barcelona collective testing set for March 23-24.
On Tuesday, on the French circuit of Magny-Cours, it was time to get on track for RP Motorsport, with Luca Filippi and Kevin Ceccon behind the wheel. Rain drizzles during the whole morning meant that the track was wet for half of the day, but despite this the RP guys carried out a great amount of work and the day’s mileage was just shy of 350 kilometres. Luca Filippi posted the quickest time with 1’28”5, whilst Ceccon stopped the clock on 1’29”3. Comparing this performances with the 2010 Free Practice laptimes (the track was wet in Qualifying), Filippi beated the quickest lap by 0.2, an impressive achievement that confirms both the good job done by the team and Filippi’s quickness, something that he already made clear winning both the opening and the closing rounds of the Championship in 2010.
At the age of 17, Ceccon is another Italian youngster who is looking to Auto GP for 2011, after two good seasons in the European F.3 Open and some staggering performances in the GP2 winter testing in Abu Dhabi. In Magny-Cours Kevin opted for a cautious approach, especially on the wet, but his laptimes dropped quickly as soon as the tarmac dried-up, and his progression amazed the technical staff at RP Motorsport, with a final laptime that was as good as the full time 2010 drivers’ after just one day of testing. Fabio Pampado (RP Motorsport): “This test for us was a good opportunity to make good use of the information we gathered in 2010, that basically was a learning year for us. In France we worked both with wet and dry conditions, and it was the best test we ever had with the Auto GP cars. I was happy to see that the hard work we did is starting to pay dividends, and I also want to say thanks to the drivers: Luca Filippi’s experience was a priceless help as he gave us a lot of useful feedback on the car’s behaviour, and Ceccon was very professional in his approach, following all our advices and improving steadily and quickly, confirming that he has a very good potential”. Kevin Ceccon: “Before the test I was very curious, and I have to say that I was really impressed by the Auto GP car. Debuting on such a beast with a wet track is not easy, and I was very cautious at the beginning. Then, as the tarmac was drying-up, I got more and more confidence and I was able to push harder. The car is incredible both under acceleration and braking, and it’s very close to the GP2 I tried in Abu Dhabi, frankly much more than I expected. Having Luca as a team mate today was great, he showed me that there was more to come from the car and he also gave me some good advices, I really appreciated that. I also discovered that the winter training I did with Formula Medicine was perfect, and now I look forward to the next testing opportunity and the races”. Luca Filippi: “We had a really good test, and the laptime we achieved was pretty impressive, especially if you consider that the track wasn’t clean and that the rain erased any trace of rubber. The team did a good job, and I was happy to see that I was immediately on the pace; the feeling was great from the very first laps, and even if I know that my ‘relationship’ with this car is special yesterday I realized that even if the championship was starting tomorrow, I would be ready. That’s undoubtedly good news”.
