It's been a positive week for many 2012 Auto GP racers, as they went on-track in the collective GP2 Series test held at Barcelona on the 30th and 31st of October. Five drivers in the test's roster were coming from the Auto GP championship, started and promoted by Enzo Coloni. Daniel De Jong was probably the most surprising man in the pack. The Dutchman, who raced for the MP team and scored 5th place this season, drove for Scuderia Coloni. The team welcomed him warmly and was eager to provide him with a chance to express his full potential. He clocked the second fastest lap of the first day before rounding out the top-5 in Day 2 at his first time driving a GP2 Dallara with wet weather tires.Another driver showing great pace was Facu Regalia. The Argentinean lined-up for the Racing Engineering squad and turned out to be the best man on-track in rainy weather. Regalia, who ended up the 2012 Auto GP championship in 7th place with 68 points, lined-up in the first day with the iSport team. At the end of a positive run, he underlined the similarities between the demanding GP2 car and the Auto GP one he drove during this season.The 2012 Auto GP Champion, Adrian Quaife-Hobbs, was scheduled with a different type of work. In his two days of running for Addax, he kept his name into the top-10, showing great consistency as he carried on several long runs. His best result was a second place in the fourth and final session. The Brit, who won both the overall and the Under 21 Auto GP titles, logged 93 laps.Many drivers opted for a cautious approach, including Pal Varhaug. The Norwegian, who finished behind Quaife-Hobbs in standings, run in both days for the iSport stable. Although he faced some unexpected difficulties in the dry, he performed great in the wet. In the third session, when the driver's skills could make the difference, he ended up in 7th.
Sergey Sirotkin went on-track as he lined up in just one of the two days. The Russian, who ended up the 2012 Auto GP championship in third, was fielded by DAMS, the reigning champions, although the tough weather conditions experienced at the Spanish venue were particularly tough to tame for a rookie. After the wet AM segment, the track got dry and getting the right reference points became pretty difficult. Sergey was really impressed by the many similar aspects between Auto GP and GP2.Two drivers coming from the 2011 Auto GP roster were also part of the field. Runner-up Luca Filippi clocked the fastest lap overall in 1'29"775 while last year's champion Kevin Ceccon entered with Ocean. Unfortunately, he was prevented from expressing his potential due to mechanical woes. Filippi also served as a mentor for two of the top youngster of the Italian open-wheel panorama: Riccardo Agostini and Eddie Cheever.Enzo Coloni: The drivers coming from Auto GP left a strong impression in a competitive context like the GP2 Series. Our car prepares them for the World's most demanding categories and the results achieved so far proved that the path we've been following in the last few years has been the best one. I want to congratulate De Jong because his performance proved stunning but also Quaife-Hobbs, Varhaug, Regalia and Sirotkin did a great job. Auto GP is now preparing to announce several news in order to keep providing the drivers with a modern product at a reasonable budget.
