AutoGP Issue 1 2012

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    MAGAZINE01/2012

    KUMHO: THREE COMPOUNDS, ONE CHALLENGE

    THREE WINNERS

    IN FOUR RACES

    MEANS THAT

    THE BATTLE FOR

    THE TITLE IS

    ALREADY HOT!

    BRIATORE: AUTO GP IS A WINNING CONCEPT

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    RACE REPORT - BRNO

    Round 1

    After taking pole he was the favourite forRace 1, and Adrian Quaife-Hobbs didntdisappoint his fans winning the first race ofthe 2012 Auto GP Championship leadingthe pack from flag to flag.The SuperNova driver had a good start,while on the other side of the front rowSergey Sirotkin stalled his car and, luckily,was avoided by the whole group with nocontacts.Into the first corner Quaife-Hobbs wasfollowed by Sergio Campana: the Italiandidnt have the best possible start but thenmanaged to overtake Pl Varhaug andChris Van der Drift at the Prima Variantebraking zone. The lead pack kept runningin this order until lap 4, when Van der Drift

    lost his car in the Parabolica corner andwent through the gravel trap, rejoining inP8. After that the fight for the podium wasa matter between three drivers, withQuaife-Hobbs leading with a 15 gap onCampana and Varhaug following veryclosely in third place with the Virtuosi UKcar.The mandatory pit-stop didnt change theorder, even if Quaife-Hobbs had to fight abit to overtake Sirotkin, who was one lapdown and had just exited the pits for his

    tyre change. The SuperNova driver lostsome time, but once he passed Sergey he

    quickly extended his gap on Campanaagain, crossing the line in first place withno worries. The Italian of MLR71 wassecond on the track, but after the race hewas given a 1 penalty together with histeam mate Michele La Rosa. Thathappened because while the teams were

    instructed to make a compulsory rear tyrechange during the mandatory pitstop, MLR71 changed just the front tyres of bothdrivers.As a consequence Campana dropped toP10, and Varhaug was promoted to 2ndplace, making the most of a veryconsistent race for him and newcomersVirtuosi UK. Daniel de Jong, meanwhile,inherited third place, a deserved prize for avery aggressive race that saw him recoverfrom P10. In the first part of the raceDaniel was involved in a great fight withFacu Regalia for fifth place, passing hisrival through the Parabolica; Regalia got hisplace back with a great move at the firstchicane, but then at the pit-stop de Jongfinally got the upper hand. The Argentinianof Campos Racing clinched a good 4thplace, with a 10 advantage on Van derDrift, who recovered to P5 after hismistake earlier in the race.Starting from pole surely is an advantage

    said winner Quaife-Hobbs - but it doesntmean that you get an easy race. It was my

    first start on such an heavy and powerfulcar so the first braking with cold tyres wasa bit tricky. Anyway I wanted to push veryhard right from the start to immediatelybreak the tow, as I know that this is a keyto success in Monza, and thats what I did.It did work, but then I again had the same

    gearbox glitch as yesterday and part of mylead was gone. I was able to control therace anyway, and even the pit-stop, whichwas the first of my career, was reallysmooth, so I couldnt ask for more.

    Round 2

    The second winner of the Auto GP 2012season was Pl Varhaug: the Norwegiandriver brought newcomers Virtuosi UK to astunning victory after a thriller race that saw

    him recover from P7 on the grid, thanks toa great pace and a lightning quick pit-stopby the team.The early part of the race was led by MaxSnegirev, taking a good start from P2 andso preceeding Giacomo Ricci, Chris Van derDrift, Facu Regalia, reverse poleman AntonioSpavone and Varhaug into first corner.The first laps immediately saw theNorwegian pass Spavone for fifth and startchasing the front-runners, while in thegroup there were some good fights: at the

    front Ricci tried to put pressure onSnegirev with no effect, while behind

    A THRONE FOR TWO

    RACE REPORT - MONZAQuaife-Hobbs crosses the line in Race 1

    QUAIFE-HOBBS AND VARHAUG SHARED WINSAND THE SERIES LEAD IN MONZA

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    WHOS THE WINNERROUND 11 Adrian QUAIFE-HOBBS SuperNova International 14 laps in 23367822 Pal VARHAUG Virtuosi UK +4.880

    3 Daniel DE JONG Manor MP Motorsport +11.4804 Facundo REGALIA Campos Racing + 13.4445 Chris VAN DER DRIFT Manor MP Motorsport +22.8966 Giacomo RICCI Zele Racing +27.1377 Max SNEGIREV Campos Racing +28.2458 Antonio SPAVONE Euronova Racing +32.0739 Giancarlo SERENELLI Ombra Racing +40.86210 Sergio CAMPANA MLR 71 +1.01.499

    ROUND 21 Pal VARHAUG Virtuosi UK 14 laps in 23'48"7442 Chris VAN DER DRIFT Manor MP +35193 Adrian QUAIFE-HOBBS SuperNova International +44454 Sergey SIROTKIN Euronova Racing +45205 Antonio SPAVONE Euronova Racing +9839

    6 Max SNEGIREV Campos Racing +123327 Adderly FONG Ombra Racing +200608 Giancarlo SERENELLI Ombra Racing +238409 Facu REGALIA Campos Racing +2613510 Giuseppe CIPRIANI Campos Racing +27"103

    Sergio Campana and Sergey Sirotkinexchanged places twice betweenParabolica and Prima Variante.Anyway, the pit-stop had a big effect on

    the running order: Snegirev was among thefirst to pit but then struggled on cold tyres,while Ricci lost time in the tyre change. Inthe meantime both Virtuosi UK and ManorMP Motorsport executed two perfect pit-stops launching Varhaug and Van der Driftto first and second place respectively.From then on Varhaugs leadership wasnever in doubt as the Virtuosi UK driverpulled away boasting a pace that nobodycould match. With Van der Drift keepingP2 with a safe margin, the attention

    switched to the pack behind them. AsSpavone emerged third from the pit-stop

    Ricci passed him at the first chicanebraking on lap 10, but when Campana triedto do the same the MLR71 driveroutbraked himself and jumped the chicane,

    then hitting the back of Riccis car andputting an end to the race of both.Spectators had just to wait for another twolaps to witness another first chicane fight:this time it was a five car pack coming inattack mood at the braking zone, but VictorGuerin missed the braking point and hitSpavone, luckily with little damage for theItalian. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs and SergeySirotkin made the most of that to clinchthird and fourth place, and started fightingfor the last podium spot until the last lap:

    eventually it was the brit who got it, but thegap between the two on the finish line was

    just 0.07! So Quaife-Hobbs finished thirdfrom a P8 start, while Sirotkin closed in 4thplace after starting from seventh row, againposting the fastest lap of the race.

    Spavone was 5th after an eventful butconsistent race, ahead of Max Snegirev,Yesterdays second place was a bigachievement already said Varhaug - butwinning gives you a completely differentfeeling. Today I had less troubles in gettingheat in the tyres, but the first braking afterthe pit-stop was again a very difficult one, Inearly lost it! After that it was just a matterof pushing as hard as I could, and thatswhat I did. I have to say thanks to the teambecause today the pit-stop was really

    quick, and it was a key point to thissuccess.

    Race 2 winner Varhaug

    Race 2 podium with,Van der Drift, Varhaugand Quaife-Hobbs

    CLASSIFICATION

    Drivers Standings1. Varhaug and Quaife-Hobbs 38;3 .Van der Drift 25; 4. De Jong 15;5. Regalia 14; 6. Snegirev, Spavoneand Sirotkin 12; 9. Ricci 8;10. Serenelli 5; 11. Fong 4; 12.Cipriani and Campana 1.

    Under 21 Standings1. Quaife-Hobbs 41; 2. Varhaug 38;3. Sirotkin 22; 4. Regalia andSpavone 20; 6. De Jong 15;7. Guerin 12; 8. Beretta 4.

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    Greetings

    fromMonzaFront downforceissues for Guerin

    Autograph time

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    Hard brakingat the startof Race 2

    5

    GiacomoRicci

    MLR71 team matesCampana and La Rosa

    Max Snegirev

    Adderly Fong

    Daniel De Jong

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    RACE REPORT - VALENCIA

    Round 3

    At just 16 Sergey Sirotkin became theyoungest race winner of the Auto GPhistory taking a stunning success inValencias Race 1.The only driver of the whole grid to starton a set of new medium tyres (all theothers were on used softs), Sirotkin madethe most of the extra grip he had availableto make a great start that allowed him tojump ahead of poleman Adrian Quaife-Hobbs. The brit pushed as much as hecould to stay close to his rival, butSirotkins pace in the first laps wasimpossible to match, and by lap 7 he hadalready built a gap of more than 4seconds.Still focused on giving his opponent the

    hardest possible time, Quaife-Hobbsmanaged to close the gap from 45 to15 with two very good in and out lapsand a great pit-stop by SuperNova whenboth drivers stopped to change tyres onlap 13. To make things a bit harder, an oilleak from Victor Guerins car brought theSafety-Car out with 4 laps to go, erasingSergeys advantage again: the race wasrestarted with just one lap to go but againSirotkin pulled away easily and clinched awell deserved win ahead of Quaife-Hobbs.

    Quite disappointed after the race as hestarted from pole, Adrian anyway bags a

    result that is good for the Championshipas he improved his points advantage onPl Varhaug. The Norwegian driver ofVirtuosi UK clinched a third place finish,earning his podium with a good start andthen with bold outside pass on FacuRegalia on lap 13: making his pit-stop onelap earlier than the Argentinian driver ofCampos Racing, Varhaug had hotter tyresand made the most of the advantage,closing the gap in the last corner and thenusing both the slipstream and theOverboost button to get wheel to wheelwith Regalia, then outbraking him andkeeping his P3 until the checkered flag.Regalia, that had consistently run in 3rdplace until that moment, was then set for agood 4th place finish, but the engine failure

    on Guerins car had a bad effect on hisrace too, as he slipped on the Brazliliansengine oil and lost precious time, endingthe race in P7. The same happened a fewseconds later to his team-mate MaxSnegirev, meaning that home teamCampos Racing had a very unlucky race.It was Daniel de Jong who inherited 4thplace, clinching a great result after startingfrom P10 on the grid. Being the first to pit,on lap 5, Daniel made the most of theclear track to post a sequence of good

    laps that brought him this great result.Italian F3 reigning champion Sergio

    Campana had also a good race, finishingfifth ahead of Van der Drift.I really managed to be quick off the grid said Sirotkin - and thats what I wantedbecause with a clear track ahead of me Icould really make the most of my racepace and of my tyres. I pulled away easilyand I have to say thanks to the team fordeciding to send me out on the new set ofmediums: the soft tyre is quicker for just afew laps, but the medium compound is themost consistent one and even towards theend of the race the car was still easy todrive.

    Round 4

    Adrian Quaife-Hobbs won the SundayRace of the Valencia Auto GP weekend

    after storming through the pack from P7on the grid. The championship leader builthis success on a great start that allowedhim to jump to third place already beforethe first corner, and on the early pit-stopstrategy chosen by SuperNova, thatmeant he could make the most of hisstunning pace on a traffic-free track: with a36 gap from the lead when he emergedfrom the pit-lane on lap 5, Quaife-Hobbsstarted gaining more than one second perlap, and when everybody had made his

    mandatory tyre change he found himself inthe lead by an amazing 7, clinching an

    SIROTKINGMAIDEN WIN FOR SERGEY,QUAIFE-HOBBS MAKES IT TWOIN RACE 2Sirotkin'sgreat startin Race 1

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    WHOS THE LEADERROUND 31 Sergey SIROTKIN Euronova Racing 21 laps in 32497212 Adrian QUAIFE-HOBBS Super Nova International +0.969

    3 Pal VARHAUG Virtuosi UK +3.3744 Daniel DE JONG Manor MP Motorsport +4.8315 Sergio CAMPANA MLR 71 +5.7316 Chris VAN DER DRIFT Manor MP Motorsport +6.3257 Facu REGALIA Campos Racing +7.3018 Max SNEGIREV Campos Racing +7.9679 Antonio SPAVONE Euronova Racing +8.30010 Sten PENTUS Virtuosi UK +9.077

    ROUND 41 Adrian QUAIFE-HOBBS SuperNova International 21 laps in 30:55.8742 Facu REGALIA Campos Racing +5.4963 Sergey SIROTKIN Euronova Racing +5.6524 Daniel DE JONG Manor MP Motorsport +7.6055 Victor GUERIN Super Nova International +8.894

    6 Max SNEGIREV Campos Racing +17.2927 Chris VAN DER DRIFT Manor MP Motorsport +17.7768 Pal VARHAUG Virtuosi UK +19.0399 Sergio CAMPANA MLR 71 +20.28810 Sten PENTUS Virtuosi UK +26.112

    impressive win.The early part of the race was led bySergio Campana after the Italian made astaggering start from second row, but

    opposite to SuperNova his team MLR71opted for a late pit-stop tactic that left theItalian F3 Champion to face tyre strugglesfor too long. Then Sergio also overshot hispit-box, and ended the race in ninth place.In a race where an early tyre changeseemed the key to a good result, FacuRegalia and home team Campos Racingbagged a great second place with a greatrecovery: the Argentinian had a bad startfrom first row and consequently droppedto P6, but Adrian Campos and his men

    got the strategy right, calling him in for thepit-stop on lap 6. After the tyre change

    Facus pace was steadily in the high 125or low 126, allowing him to jump aheadof his rivals when they pitted.Yesterdays winner Sergey Sirotkin took

    the last step of the podium after aneventful race: in the first laps he wasfighting with Quaife-Hobbs and when theBriton decided to pit, on lap 5, Sergeyfollowed him into the pit-lane with actuallyno gap between the two. Anyway theEuronova staff had a problem with one ofthe guns and Sirotkin lost as much as 6,then exiting the pits in the middle ofslower cars and losing other precioustime. His chance for a win was lost, butSergey managed anyway to recover up to

    third place, posting also the fastest lap ofthe race. Sirotkin earned his podium finish

    with an inside pass on Daniel de Jong with4 laps to go, meaning that the Dutchmanof MP Motorsport took a good 4th place,especially considering that he was the only

    one that got a good result from a late pit-stop strategy.Another notable performance came fromVictor Guerin, who ended the race in fifthplace after starting from P16 on the grid!I didnt expect to be up in third at the firstcorner said Quaife-Hobbs - but I made agreat start, and that was the case. Wehad committed to starting on old tyres, soeven if my position was better thanexpected I stuck to my pre-race strategyand came in as planned. After that I had a

    clear track and pushed like it wasqualifying.

    CLASSIFICATION

    Drivers Standings1. Quaife-Hobbs 77; 2. Varhaug 56;3. Sirotkin 51; 4. Van der Driftand De Jong 37; 6. Regalia 35;7. Snegirev 22; 8. Spavone 14; 9.Campana 13; 10. Guerin e Ricci 8.

    Under 21 Standings1. Quaife-Hobbs 80; 2. Sirotkin 61;3. Varhaug 59; 4. Regalia 45;5. De Jong 37; 6. Spavone 32;7. Guerin 24; 8. Beretta 9;10. Cunha 6.

    Race 2 podium

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    Greetings

    fromValencia

    Big supportfor home team

    hero Regalia

    Third placein Race 1for Varhaug

    Spavonewasagain

    inthetop10

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    High speed action forVan der Drift

    Pentus (above) and Cunhawere the Series newcomersin Valencia

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    MIXED NEWS

    Auto GP had a very special guestfor the opening round of the2012 season: former F1 top

    manager Flavio Briatore showed up inthe paddock on Sunday to visit his

    longtime friend Giuseppe Cipriani andSeries boss Enzo Coloni, the twobeing friends since the years ofColonis F1 commitment.Briatore, who was in Monza with hiswife Elisabetta and his 2 years-old sonNathan Falco, watched Race 2 from aprivate lounge on the main straight,and enjoyed the show provided by thedrivers on the Italian track.After the race he was happy toshare his thoughts on the

    Championship and on the feederseries scenario.

    I fully support the concept of an AutoGP Intercontinental Series withaffordable costs for teams and drivers,its something motorsport really needs.If you look at the feeder series

    situation right now, you see that insome championships the budgets arerocketing to very high figures. Thatway, promising drivers that are lackingthe right economical support couldnever get the chance to provethemselves on proper machinery, andwe could lose some future championswithout even knowing that. Auto GPcan fill that gap well, furthermoreproviding an international stage. Ialready saw some interesting names in

    this race, I hope that more will joinduring the season.

    Briatore also shared some advices onthe future of the Series: I think one ofthe key points Coloni has to keep aneye on is to keep updating his cars ashes done until now. And Im not just

    talking about the technical side, thatcan be important for drivers but its notall you have to look for. Theres peopleat home watching the races on TV, andrace organizers should never forgetthat. People wants to see a big showand beautiful, modern cars. I think thatkeeping this in mind and remaining upto date with what fans want, Auto GPWorld Series can aim very high notonly as a feeder series, but also as achampionship with his own identity,

    where the best drivers could race formore than one season.

    BRIATORE: AUTO GPIS A WINNING CONCEPT

    N T E R V IE W

    Flavio Briatorewith Enzo Coloni andAdrian Campos

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    Despite his young age, Sergey Sirotkinhas already left his mark on thechampionship history. In the Valenciaweekend the Russian talent, who issupported by the Lukoil young driverprogramme, sealed at least three Seriesrecords:

    1. Youngest winner in Series history: at16 years, 7 months and 6 days old,Sergey was the youngest driver to everwin an Auto GP race. The previous

    record holder was Kevin Ceccon, whowon Race 1 in Budapest in 2011. At thattime he was 17 years, 8 months and 10days old, meaning that Sirotkin hasbeaten the record by more than one onefull year.2. Driver with the most consecutivefastest laps: Sirotkin posted the fastestlap of both races in the Monza openingevent, and then did the same inValencia. This makes four consecutivefastest laps, a new record for Auto GP.The previous record holder was 2010champion and now Lotus-Renault F1driver Romain Grosjean, who clinchedtree consecutive FLs between Spa andMagny-Cours.

    3. First driver to contest multiplechampionships in one weekend: inValencia Sirotkin took part also in theItalian F3 European Series. This meantfacing an incredible amount of tracktime: Sergey took part in one 3 hour

    testing session on Thursday (Auto GP),7 Practice sessions (3 Auto GP, 4 F3)and 5 races (2 Auto GP, 3 F3), for atotal of 13 sessions in 4 days. He will dothe same in one month time inBudapest.

    A U T O G P G U IN N E S S

    SUPERNOVA L EAD S, MP MANOR FO LL OWS

    T E A M S T A N D IN G S

    1. SuperNova International 85

    2. Manor MP Motorsport 74

    3. Euronova Racing 65

    4. Virtuosi UK 58

    5. Campos Racing 57

    6. MLR71 13

    7. Ombra Racing 98. Zele Racing 8

    SIROTKINTHE RECORD BREAKER

    After 4 rounds, the teams classification is really tight packed: Supernova isleading the field with 85 points, boosted by the performances of Series leaderQuaife-Hobbs and by the competitiveness of Victor Guerin: the young Brazilianwas in really good shape in Valencia, and only an engine failure in Race 1robbed him of a great result. Despite that, he managed to show what hescapable of in Race 2, fighting back from P16 on the grid to an amazing fifthplace on the finish line. No early pit-stop for him, just a staggering pace fromflag to flag that puts him among the favourites for the upcoming Marrakechevent. Manor MP Motorsport is second, an impressive achievement for a teamthat comes from just three Auto GP events in 2011. For this season the Dutchoutfit doubled their commitment fielding two cars and was rewarded by somevery competitive performances by the drivers. Chris Van der Drift and Danielde Jong took podium finishes in Monza, and the Dutchman was again fourth inbot Valencia races, showing that now hes really at ease with the car.Still close to the top are Euronova Racing, Virtuosi UK and Campos Racing:

    with a good race in Marrakech, each one of these teams could jump at the topof the standings, so stay tuned and get ready for the show!

    Great car controlfor Sirotkin

    Great recoveryin Round 4for Guerin

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    With 2012 Auto GP welcomedKumho Tyres as its Official TyreSupplier. The Korean

    manufacturer was eager to support thechampionship in his decision to providedrivers and teams two differentcompounds for each race weekend, andeven decided to go for a purposedesigned supersoft tyre for Marrakech,to help the Auto GP competitors incoping with the low level of grip typical of

    street tracks. It was a huge undertakingfor Kumho, especially considering thatAuto GP is the biggest and morepowerful single-seater they ever suppliedtyres for. Steve Thompson, KumhosEuropean Motorsport Manager, washappy to explain us how the tyre

    manufacturer faced the Challenge:

    Designing tyres for a new car is always achallenge, and with Auto GP we knewthat we were raising the bar. Not only wehad to build new tyres for the mostpowerful car we have ever worked with,but we also had to provide two differentcompounds that eventually became threewith the introduction of the supersofttyre for Marrakech. Anyway challenges

    are a welcome part of our job, and theygive us a lot of experience that then canbe used on our production tyres, so wewere happy to go for it.

    Kumho was coming from a long

    experience in F3, how much of

    that has been carried into the

    design of the Auto GP tyres?

    Not much. Obviously the know-how wegot with F3 in terms of behavior of aracing tyre in many situations was useful,and some materials are the samebecause they are specific to competitionrubber, but apart from that we werestarting from a blank sheet. Compared toF3, Auto GP has more of everything:more power, more downforce, more

    speed, more weight, and each one of thisaspects has a big influence on tyredesign. Theres a lot of thinking andtesting before finalizing a design: we bothwanted performance, Auto GP and us,but at the same time we wanted a safeand durable tyre. Now that the third race

    KUMHOS EUROPEAN MOTORSPORT

    MANAGER STEVE THOMPSON

    EXPLAINS HOW THE KOREAN MANUFACTURER IS

    FACING HIS AUTO GP COMMITMENT

    THREE COMPOU

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    is approaching I can say that weresatisfied with the outcome.

    Lets come to the two standard

    compounds: whats the

    difference between the two?

    The construction is exactly the same:once you find one build that works finewith the car, theres no point inchanging that, partly because twodifferent constructions would requirevery different set-ups and so make life

    more difficult for the teams.So we just focused on the compound.We did create a range, and then wepicked-up the two that emerged as thebest suited to the car. The feedbackwere having from the teams is good,and surely we met our main aim: thesoft tyre is consistently quicker than thehard one, as required by Auto GP. Onthe durability side, probably the soft isntwearing as quickly as the championshiporganizer would like, but we still havent

    faced the high temperatures that weexpect in Brazil and USA. When we

    design a tyre we always have to bear inmind the temperature range it will face,as well as make it suitable to thehighest possible number of set-upchoices made by the team. All in all, weare really happy of where we are.

    Marrakech will see the debut of

    the supersoft tyre, can you

    explain why such a compound is

    needed in Morocco?

    Street tracks are made of normal

    tarmac that gets used day by day by thenormal commuter traffic, including heavyveichles. Generally that means that thegrip level is very low, the surface isoften uneven, and thats made worse bythe dirt and the dust. So we thoughtthat teams and drivers would have beenhappy if some extra grip was available,and we went for the supersoft. With therace weekend being held in April wedidnt expect too high tracktemperatures and so we could really go

    for a very soft compound. With astickier tyre the drivers life will be

    easier, no doubt about that.

    Any advice on how to use those

    tyres in Marrakech?

    Nothing special. Obviously with thesupersoft getting heat into the tyre iseasier, drivers will immediately noticethat. Apart from that, we expect thetrack to change a lot throughout theweekend. In the first practice there willbe dust and dirt everywhere, butsession after session the racing line will

    become clean and rubbered, improvingthe performance and asking the teamsto make some set-up changes if theywant to make the most of the improvedgrip. The track has some very hardbraking zones, drivers will have to takecare of their tyres there, the last thingyou need is flat-spotting them and thencope with the vibration until the end ofthe race. We also expect overtaking tobe tricky because there will be a lot ofdust out of the racing line, so drivers will

    have to bear that in mind when trying amove.

    DS, ONE CHALLENGE

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    With two very long straights where

    speeds in excess of 270 kph are

    expected, Marrakech is the fastest

    city track in the world.

    The track is surrounded by walls,

    asking the drivers an incredible

    precision throughout the whole

    weekend. Things will be made even

    more difficult by the low grip of the

    tarmac, that is worn due to the

    normal everyday traffic.

    Length: 4550 mt.

    Width: 8-14 mt.

    Left Turns: 7

    Right Turns: 4

    FOLLOW US ON THE WEB

    Join the AutoGP community on the web. To keep you posted with all the news from thechampionship we daily update our website www.autogp.org, but we also give you thechance to take a sneak peek in the backstage of the championship thanks to out facebookpage www.facebook.com/AutoGP and our Twitter account https://twitter.com/#!/Auto_GPOur facebook page has already more than 3.000 fans! Want to discuss with them aboutthe championship? You just have to join!

    CALENDAR 201201&02 13-15 March Monza, Italy

    03&04 1-4 April Valencia, Spain

    05&06 14-15 April Marrakech, Morocco

    07&08 5-6 May Budapest, Hungary

    09&10 2-3 June Portimao, Portugal

    11&12 21-22 July Curitiba, Brazil

    13&14 22-23September Sonoma, United States

    NEXT STOP:MARRAKECH

    As it does from 2010, its maiden year,Auto GP puts a prize money up for grabsat each and every event. After theSunday race the points of Race 1 andRace 2 get summed up (together with theextra points for pole position and thefastest laps of both races) and an overallweekend classification is drew.Then, prize money is awarded to the top

    three drivers of the classification: for2012, 35.000 euros are up for grabs ateach event, allocated as follows:

    1st: 20.000 euros2nd: 10.000 euros3rd: 5.000 euros

    Two events into the championship it'salready time to make a recap of the prizemoney awarded until now, as fivedifferent drivers already bagged a total of70.000 euros.In Monza, Pal Varhaug and Adrian Quaife-Hobbs ended tied up on points at the topof the weekend standings, and so theydid share the prize money for the first two

    places, taking home 15.000 Euros each.Chris Van der Drift's second place onSunday rocketed him to third in the eventclassification, awarding him 5.000 euros.

    Valencia saw another tie at the top, withAdrian Quaife-Hobbs again up there, this

    time paired with Sergey Sirotkin, whomanaged to close the slight event gapposting the fastest lap in both races. Thismeans that again they got 15.000 euroseach, with Mp Motorsport again takingthe 5.000 euros for third place, this timewith Daniel de Jong.

    After two events,

    here is the prize moneyclassification:1. Quaife-Hobbs 30.000 euros2. Pal Varhaug and Sergey Sirotkin15.000 euros3. Chris Van der Drift andDaniel de Jong 5.000 euros

    Auto GP already awarded 70.000 euros!