Superleague Formula pre-season test at Vallelunga
The Superleague Formula pre-season testing programme continues at the Vallelunga circuit near the Italian city of Rome today with local heroes AS Roma and Fisichella Motor Sport hitting the track for the fist time.
The Roma car will be driven by ex-F1 test driver Enrico Toccacelo (pictured above) – a local Roman and, like his team boss Giancarlo Fisichella, a life-long AS Roma fan.
Other drivers ready to hit the track tomorrow (August 6 ) to Friday (August 8 ) include Robert Doornbos (AS Milan), Borja Garcia (Sevilla), Andi Zuber (Al Ain), Max Wissel (FC Basel), Yelmer Buurman (PSV Eindhoven) Jason Tahinci and Alessandro Pier Guidi (Galatasaray) and Davide Rigon (Beijing Guoan).
Superleague Formula teams conducted their initial shakedown last week at Barcelona and the teams will conduct further test sessions at Donington Park on August 21 and 28.
Teams scheduled to run this week include Scuderia Playteam (AC Milan and Galatasaray); Azerti (PSV and Al Ain); GU Racing (Olympiacos and FC Basel); Zakspeed (Borussia Dortmund and Beijing Guoan); Fisichella Motor Sports (AS Roma); Team Westec (Rangers and FC Porto); Eurointernational (Corinthians) and Astromega (RSC Anderlecht and Flamengo)
UAE club Al Ain will actually have a hometown hero returning to the cockpit of its Superleague Formula car at Vallelunga.
Although born in Austria, Andi Zuber lives in the Dubai and races under a UAE licence.
“In a normal position when Al Ain FC plays against AC Milan they will probably lose but I think on the race weekends we have a chance to beat them and I’m quite sure we can do it in some races,” Zuber said.
“The V12 engine is just mega. You look to the engine and you think – I want to drive this car…”
Ex-F1 driver and Champ Car World Series race winner Robert Doornbos is also looking forward to returning the AC Milan cockpit this week – this time on Italian soil for his club.
“You know that the cars are all equal, there is no difference, everybody has the same gearbox, same engine, same tyres - it is really hard work to go quicker than somebody else in this type of cars so I think it will be a really spectacular series,” Doornbos said.
“The practice went well last week, the car felt good. We had some minor problems but afterwards we got in some decent running. The sound is amazing, the fans will love it.”
A number of potential drivers are also expected to visit the Vallelunga test. Last week’s initial running included guest performances including Spanish GP2 star Andy Soucek taking the opportunity to test the Superleague Formula development prototype car.
“The first time I saw the car it looked huge, but now I’ve driven it, it is really nice to drive,” Soucek said.
“It feels quite similar to GP2 or World Series but I think the car is very quick and quite secure at the moment”
Superleague Formula will return to Vallelunga from November 1-2 where the circuit will host the fifth round of the inaugural championship.
The complete Superleague Formula calendar includes Donington Park (August 31-31); Nurburgring (September 20-21); Zolder (October 4-5); Estoril (October 18-19); Vallelunga (November 1-2) and Jerez (November 22-23).
