Alongside its internationally-renowned teams, the Auto GP championship has always enjoyed welcoming new players in motor racing. One of them, Team MLR71, is about to enter their second season: the Italian-based squad, owned by Michele La Rosa, made their Auto GP debut in 2012 with the goal of turning a personal passion into a fully professional effort. After having left a brilliant impression in the series, La Rosa decided to strengthen his squad for 2013 and is looking forward to sign Italian Giacomo Ricci to a full-time ride. La Rosa will also be on-track himself in an effort to take advantage from Ricci's experience to improve his skills, and aim for a place in the midpack. Enzo Coloni: It's not easy in Italy to find a team like MLR71. Michele La Rosa deserves full credit for his  commitment in bringing back on-track a talented driver like Giacomo Ricci. It also does justice to our series as a whole. I'm happy tho see Michele return and to know how hard he's pushing to line-up Giacomo. The team worked hard since their very first test with drivers like Sergio Campana, Raffaele Marciello, Simone Iaquinta and Ricci, always keeping a fast pace and proving their potential.

Michele La Rosa: My Auto GP career started with a test at Magione, where I decided to invest in this championship. Enzo Coloni created a perfectly-organized series that requires similar budgets to the international Formula 3 championships and much lower than in GP2.  The car is tough and highlights the driver's skills. We're working to secure the funding needed to field Giacomo Ricci full-time in 2013. I'm sure he would be able to fight for title and my team will try to support him in the best possible way. We invested a lot this winter, technically and financially, and we want to finalize the job on-track.