These are exciting days for Davide Rigon. After experiencing the rookie test at Magny-Cours behind the wheel of the Ferrari F2012 and running the 5th race of the Blancpain Endurance Series at the wheel of the Ferrari 458, It’s time for the talented Italian driver to race back behind the wheel of a single-seater car in an official competition.
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The fight of Alonso and Ferrari against McLaren, Red Bull and Lotus is the leitmotiv of this year racing season. One by one, the rivals of Ferrari aim at going off with points. Reliability plays the main role again and today bad luck has been at Hamilton’s side, while in Monza was at Vettel’s side.
It’s so positive to escape unharmed from a race such as the Singapore Gp, which was featured by many accidents . It’s positive especially if you get a third position after spending an uneasy weekend start. Maranello has to seek after some tenth to support Alonso, as the Italian team can’t always rely on miracles. We still have four contenders to the world title and Ferrari is on 29 points over Vettel, so, positioning could be enough, even if they have to improve performances and research.
Talking about feelings, the Singapore Gp didn’t keep up with the racing season we’ve been experiencing, even if we saw some fights concerning tyres changing and accidents, especially the one involving Schumacher. The weekend was in Hamilton ‘ hands, the only driver who was able to tackle the overwhelming power of the Red Bull’s German driver. After tackling Vettel’s supremacy, driving an amazing lap in qualifying, the Englishman was leading the race. If he hadn’t had a hydraulic problem, he surely would have won the race. To keep up with the English driver, Vettel was risking a lot. Massa handled a good race. Unfortunately, if a driver starts from a bottom row, he is likely to run into a car clash. After getting back on track in the last position and changing strategy, he was able to get up to the 8th position, making also good passes. The Brazilian driver is probably getting back to his old self again.
I would have expected something more from Lotus running on soft and super-soft tyres, but maybe the car’ performances are better when on medium. The team saw its two drivers positioning in the top 10. Grosjean was Raikkonen’s second guide. The Finnish driver holds the world standing’s third position although he hasn’t score a win yet. We have many outsiders such as Di Resta and Maldonado who, relying on competitive cars, may act as a balance for points distribution. The Sauber has got us used to its ups and downs. The Swiss team showed to be more competitive on hard and medium tyres. Using that kind of tyres you can even afford to deploy more risky strategies which sometimes can pay off with good performances.
A honest race for Rosberg who leads Mercedes towards the 5th place. This fact should give us pause. If the team had “two Rosberg”, it could strive for the first four places. The reaction of Technicians toward Schumacher’ mistake was meaningful, so I think It’s time to change, even If Hamilton shift to Mercedes will be so difficult. Over the last three years, the McLaren team has been the one who got the greatest number of successes. If the three-pointed star team wants to improve, it will have to support Rosberg with a promising young driver ( i.e. Di Resta) or take a look around.
Gian Carlo Minardi
Almost 2 months after the 24h of Spa-Francorchamps, Davide Rigon is ready to go back behind the wheel of the Ferrari 458 of Kessel Racing Team, to run the 5th race of Blancpain Endurance Series.
At Nurburgring Rigon, together with his two team-mates Zampieri and Gattuso, will try to score the first win of the season. But, given the high-level of competitiveness of the series, that won’t be so easy to get. For the talented Italian driver, it will be a return on a track which gave him so much satisfaction in all racing categories, even if it will be the first time there behind the wheel of a GT racing car.
The German weekend will start on Saturday with a one hour and a half long free practices session and pre-qualifying, before the official round scheduled on Sunday morning at 9.40, and the 3 hours long race which will start at 14.30.
“ I’m really excited and I just can’t wait for getting into the race again. The Nurburgring is a special track for me, as I got some important results there. I’ve been waiting for this race for such a long time and this will be my first time there behind the wheel of a GT car. As usual, there will be very little time to arrange everything and regain the pace, two months after the unlucky 24H of Spa.”, says Davide Rigon.
15 days that are so hard to forget for Nicholas Latifi. After a powerfully gained second place in Imola, the young Italo-Canadian driver got up to the highest step of the podium, scoring the first win of the season.
This is a noteworthy result achieved at the end of a sprint race he ran as a leader from the very beginning to the end. He didn’t make any mistake and showed all his great sangfroid in handling the race in a clear-headed way since the depart from the pole. Even during the trickiest moment of the race, he was able to maintain a very good pace, just as it happened when the safety car got off the track and the race restarted.
That was a brand new situation for the JD Motorsport team driver who was able to face it in the best way, keeping the other drivers bottled up behind him.
We don’t have to forget that this is the very first season for Latifi behind the wheel of a Formula car, after beginning his young career in the Canadian karting. It took only five months for him to get up to the highest step of the podium, scoring a win on Sunday afternoon which marked the end of the seventh race, the second last one of the Italian F.3 European Series, valid also for the tricolour series.
Thanks to the win scored at Vallelunga, Nicholas preserves his 4th place inside the rookie standing and the 7th place inside the Tricolour and European Series’ general standings.
NICHOLAS LATIFI: “This weekend in Vallelunga was probably one of the toughest race weekends for me so far. We were struggling throughout all the sessions to get the car dialled in. After qualifying 6th and 9th I was disappointed and knew that the races were not going to be easy. I was pleased to finish 6th in race one, which gave me reverse grid pole for race three, but in race 2, my race ended early after another driver tried to make a pass when there was no room for a pass. I managed to come away with the win in race 3 which felt amazing, as it was my first win, and my teammate Riccardo finished 2nd so it was a great result for the team.”
MICHAEL LATIFI (Nicholas’ father): “ I’m very satisfied with Nicholas’ race. This win is the result of a great job. Over these months Nicholas has demonstrated his continued progression throughout the races. Coming straight out from karting, we knew that It was not going to be easy , even because he has competed with much more experienced drivers. This win must be a starting point to continue to develop and improve. Now we would like to end the season, gaining another important result in Monza.”
DAVID TENNYSON: “Nicholas has continually demonstrated his immense driving and racing skills this entire 2012 racing season. Coming straight out of karts and into F3 was a true challenge and I am more than impressed by his progression this season. We set realistic goals all year and focused on developing his understanding of the car and how to work with his engineer to optimize car setup and performance. The win on Sunday was truly impressive as he maintained his composure all race and never put a wheel wrong. The JD team were also flawless in car preparation and professionalism.
GIOVANNI MINARDI: “ First of all I’d like to congratulate Nicholas who, with this win, has reached the goal he was longing for a long time. I’m sure this is only a starting point and a great boost of confidence to get into the final race in Monza. I’d like also to congratulate the staff who supports and looks after Nicholas.”
In the first day of official test with the team from Maranello, Davide Rigon was unsparing in his efforts to show all his resilience and athletic training in gaining more than 700 km.
Behind the wheel of the F2012 at Magny-Cours, the Vicenza-born driver, who has been at the disposal of the Scuderia for two years, both for sport and business activities, developed an intense schedule, focusing on aerodynamics in the morning and on setup in the afternoon. The aim was to correlate these two areas with the work done at the simulator.
“ I’ve already been at Magny-Cours two times with other categories, but driving a F.1 car here has been so amazing!”- these were the words Davide said at the end of the day test- “ I was so nervous at the beginning, then, ten laps later, I’ve managed to focus all my efforts on the day schedule: making so many laps has given me the opportunity of improving the feeling to the car and better understanding the differences between working with the simulator and driving a real car. Track features also helped us so much as it’s a very complete circuit from a technical point of view.”
“ I’m very satisfied with Davide’s test. He has done an awful lot of work that will be useful for the car development, completing 165 laps, that are over 756 km.”, says the manager Giovanni Minardi, “ The leg injury experienced in 2011 is now a far memory. He has been constant throughout the day and gathered many important data, the team has been so satisfied with his work. I hope this test won’t represent an end point, but a stepping stone towards a bright future in the F.1. Once again Davide has done a great job as expected. Congratulations!”
Rigon finished his day test by completing 165 laps, setting the best time on 1.17.925. The talented Italian driver will race at Nurburgring in the weekend of September the 22nd. He will be behind the wheel of the 458 for the 5th race of Blancpain Endurance Series.
Despite the image of that exciting second place clinched in Imola two weeks ago is still so clear in Nicholas Latifi’s mind, now it’s time to focus on the next challenge and on the Italian F.3 European Series sprint finish.
The first challenge will take place at the Roman circuit called Pietro Taruffi, while the final race will be run in October, the 21st at the “speed temple” of Monza, where the F.1 Champions Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso clinched a place on the podium last week-end.
In a year that marks his debut in the world of open wheels and sees him climbing the starting grid, the aim of the JD Motorsport team’ Italo-Canadian driver at Vallelunga is to continue his development as a driver and giving Championship leaders a hard time.
The Roman weekend will start on Thursday with 4 sessions of free practices, which will be followed by a further half an hour free practice session on Friday, before qualifying which will determine the starting grid of race-1 and 2, scheduled respectively on Saturday at 15.10 ( live on Raisport 2) and on Sunday at 10.00 ( live on Raisport 2). The sprint race ( at 4pm) will be the last race of the seventh event. The three races will be broadcasted via web streaming on www.acisportitalia.it/F3 and www.sporttube.tv (channel 5 ).
NICHOLAS LATIFI: “”I’m really looking forward to the race at Vallelunga this weekend. Last race at Imola was the best results i’ve had, so i’m looking to build on that momentum and finish the races near the front. I know the qualifying is going to be very important here, seeing as it is a track where not a lot of passing is done, so I’m going to be pushing and working with the team to make sure we have a fast car for then.”
DAVID TENNYSON (coach driver): “Nicholas is ready and highly focused for the Vallelunga race weekend. His impressive result in the Imola race is another milestone in his development as a driver. We are confident the Vallelunga race weekend will be another successful event as Nicholas gains valuable race experience in Formula 3.”
GIOVANNI MINARDI (sport advisor): “ The podium achieved in Imola should be an incentive for Nicholas. It’s a starting point to continue to develop, work and improve. We don’t have to forget that this is his first season behind the wheel of a Formula car. I’m very satisfied with his development and I’m sure at Vallelunga he will bother the three drivers striving for the title.”
Magny-Cours, 11 September –Tomorrow will be a special day for Davide Rigon, who has been on the books at Scuderia Ferrari for racing and promotional work for the past two years. The driver who comes from Thiene (Vicenza) will make his debut in an official test for Scuderia Ferrari, here at Magny-Cours, which as from today, is hosting the three days of Formula 1 testing aimed at young drivers. Read more
The week-end in Monza was so “stressful” both for Ferrari and Fernando Alonso. After jinxing, saying that the Italian team had run 23 flawless Gps, we just have to admit that the last seven days have been so hard for Ferrari, starting from the Gp in Spa, going through free practices, qualifying and race in Monza.
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Unfortunately the Gp of Spa has been distorted by the accident caused by Grosjean who, just few metres after the start, has taken away the key players. This is not the first time things like that happen in Spa and it’s not even the first time the Frenchman do that. I think that the penalty imposed on him is so fair, as it’s not possible for a driver to make seven mistakes on twelve starts. I think that judges should have taken measures even before this happened.
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Mission accomplished. At the international circuit of Imola, where the sixth race of the Italian F.3 European Series and the Italian F.3 took place last week-end, Nicholas Latifi got an extraordinary 2nd position in the sprint race, making it onto the podium for the first time in his career and marking his debut in the world of open wheels.
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