Sospiri, Auto GP is the best package for youngsters

One of the first teams to commit to the Auto GP championship in its debut season, Euronova Racing made its comeback in the Series in 2012 with a great challenge: getting results from the youngest line up of the grid: when the championship started in March, Sergey Sirotkin was just 16 while his team-mate Antonio Spavone was 17. Relying on Vincenzo Sospiris skills as a talent scout and driver coach, the team was able to overcome the odds and experience a successful season with one win and six other podium finishes. Here is Euronovas 2012 in Sospiris own words.So Vincenzo, how would you rate Euronovas season so far? I think this season has been pretty good for us. Euronova has always been set-up to help young drivers grow and maximize their talent and I think this year in Auto GP has been a good example of this goal. We started the season with two very young and inexperienced drivers; Sergey Sirotkin and Antonio Spavone, but they both did a good job and have learnt a lot from their Auto GP experience.Sergey Sirotkin was the youngest driver to ever race in Auto GP. What were the goals that you set for him at the start of the season? Did he meet them? Sergey this season has done a fantastic job in Auto GP. We worked with him last year and won the European Abarth Championship together so I knew that he is a very talented driver. Bearing this in mind I expected him to be fast straightaway, which he was, and as the season went on to continue learning about race strategy, race craft, tyre performance etc.all things which Auto GP is very good at helping young drivers learn about. Likewise Antonio matured a lot during the races that he did with us and really learnt a lot in a short space of time about things with which he had had no experience in the junior formulae.In the Championship this year there have been a lot of experienced drivers. Was this daunting for your young drivers? I dont think so. The really good thing about having the opportunity to compete against more experienced drivers is that you learn such a lot in such a quick time. I think this year our drivers have been helped a lot by being able to compete against guys like Quaife-Hobbs and Van der Drift and have gained some great experiences by racing with them.What was the best moment of your 2012 Auto GP season so far? This season has been full of great moments for us. Every race has been exciting with good battles all through the field and there have been lots of thrilling moments. We have always been pushing hard, working on race strategy and have been able to be at the front fighting and this has been very satisfying for the whole team. Of course Sergeys win at Valencia was a special moment for everyone in the team.Sonoma is a completely unknown track for all the Auto GP teams: what do you expect from the Californian round? For us and for our drivers most of the circuits on the calendar have been new. So we will do as we have always done and work hard on learning as much as possible in Free Practice in order to be on the pace for Qualifying and the Races, and this way we hope to bring home another good result.Apart from being a successful driver and team manager you are also a proven talent scout and driver coach: tell us why a young driver should chose Auto GP.   Auto GP provides excellent training for young drivers and is good value for money compared to other championships with big cars. The car is really very good to drive and well built with a really good, powerful engine. Besides this, the format of the races means that drivers have an opportunity to learn about pit-stops, strategy, overboost and how to use different tyre compounds. All of which are very important for a professional driver. Considering that for 2013 the car will be updated to be even more competitive I would say that Auto GP is a truly complete package for young drivers.

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