Zele Racing to field Christian Klien
The Auto GP Championship is about to enter its fifth round of the 2013 season at the Mugello Circuit. The Series, organized by Enzo Coloni, is back in Italy to hit its halfpoint mark after the opening round at Monza welcomed the debut of the series' new car generation. From then, the new Auto GP car continued to impress as it constantly lowered its previous records thanks to technical partners like Kumho for the tires and Zytek for the engines.The Mugello race course is very demanding and is set to highlight the drivers' base skills. To prevail, they won't only need the best set-up, but also the courage and the determination to be as late on brakes as possible. Championship leader Kimiya Sato, who scored 126 points for Euronova so far will be driving for the first time on the Tuscan venue and is set to take full advantage of the two, hour-long test sessions scheduled for Friday at 13:30 and 15:20.
The Japanese racer is set to be challenged by a host of quick Italians now sitting behind him in standings and preparing to line-up for another home race. Between them, Sergio Campana (Ibiza Racing Team) and Vittorio Ghirelli (Super Nova International), while Kevin Giovesi, confirmed for the next two races by Ghinzani Motorsport, is set to partner Romanian youngster Robert Visoiu. Virtuosi UK will also retain their line-up: Andrea Roda will definitely aim for the podium at home with this team-mate, Russian Max Snegirev, eager to collect as many points as possible. On their second car, Ibiza Racing Team will field Italian Francesco Dracone, who came back to the series in Budapest.One additional great news for this round will be the arrival of a new former Formula 1 driver in addition to Narain Karthikeyan (who will be racing once again under the Super Nova International banner). Zele Racing found an agreement with Christian Klien for Mugello and the Austrian racer is definitely set to increase the series' overall level of competition. Klien, who was born on the 7th of February 1983 in Hohenems, has been one of the best young prospect of the 2000s in Formula 1 and made his debut in 2004 on the Jaguar. Retained by Red Bull in the following years, he beat the competition of Liuzzi to partner David Coulthard. Christian's career has been linked to F1 in the following seasons as he was named as a test-driver for Honda, Spyker, BMW Sauber and HRT. The Spanish-based constructor also lined him up in the closing rounds of 2010. In the meantime, Klien served as a regular driver for the Peugeot Le Mans program, driving an LMP1 908 prototype. He will be partnered by Hungarian Tamas Pal Kiss, who scored his maiden podium last time around at Silverstone.Auto GP weekend will be featuring a single 45-minute practice session today, While Qualifying will be run on Saturday at 12:55. Race 1 is also scheduled for Saturday at 18:00, with live timing services available at www.autogp.org. The race will be televised by Eurosport on Sunday morning at 8:30, while Race 2 will be broadcasted live at 11:45.
