A new Aston Martin era begins in Monza for the Solaris Motorsport in the Italian GT Championship
After four winning years with Chevrolet, highlighted by the 2014 EuroV8 Series, the Italian team will debut in the Italian GT Championship season opener as Aston Martin Racing Team Partner with a Vantage GT3 driven by Francesco Sini and Max Mugelli
Pescara (PE), Italy - A new era will begin this weekend in Monza for Solaris Motorsport. After four winning years with Chevrolet, highlighted by the 2014 EuroV8 Series title for Francesco Sini and his Camaro, the Italian team will debut in the Italian GT Championship season opener as Aston Martin Racing Team Partner with a Vantage GT3. The English coupè will be driven by Francesco Sini and Max Mugelli.
The close partnership between Solaris Motorsport and Aston Martin Racing is proven by the words of David Richards, Aston Martin Racing chairman, who wanted to offer his personal salute to the italian team: "I will be following the first round of the Italian GT Championship at Monza with great interest this weekend. - said Richards - I wish Solaris Motorsport good fortune as they make the Aston Martin Vantage’s debut in this important GT racing series. The V12 Vantage GT3 has already proven its competitiveness in other European championships and I am sure it will also be successful in Italy."
After the first tests of the season, Francesco Sini is strongly convinced of the strong potential of the Vantage GT3: “It is an amazing emotion to have the chance to represent Aston Martin Racing in Italy! It is a huge honour but also a huge responsibility. After many wins with Chevrolet in Superstars, EuroV8 Series and in GT races, this is a unique occasion for my career and I am ready to seize it. It will not be easy and we will have to discover the behaviour of the car on the track as we couldn't lap there yet. Furthermore, having such a high level of cars and drivers in the Italian GT Championship will make everything trickier. In the last test sessions we made some setup changes that could make us more competitive, I can't wait to unearth it" commented Sini. About the upcoming season he said: "This year we have a new car and a new team-mate, I know how fast Max can be, once we will find the right feeling between us and with the car setup, I am confident we will be able fight for the top positions!"
This is the second experience with an Aston Martin car for Max Mugelli, after a winning one in 2006 when he took the Aston Martin Racing Cup - in the context of the FIA GT3 European Championship - and a test on the DBRS-9 GT1 the following year. "A new adventure will start in Monza for me and all the Solaris Motorsport guys, a great challenge we will face all together! It is impossible to make predictions now, the level of the championship has further grown up this year and we have to discover the effect of the BOP." said the Italian driver - "About me, the test we did in Monza two weeks ago was very usefull for me. It gave me the chance to know the car, to discover how the team works and to start to work side by side with Francesco. The Vantage GT3 impressed me in most in traction and in braking. I found quickly a good feeling with the team and I appreciated a lot the support of Prodrive, with a dedicated engineer who will follow us all the season long. I'm excited to start this new amazing adventure!"
The upcoming season will be very important for Solaris Motorsport, after a difficult 2015, the Italian team changes everything and bets on this new challenge with Aston Martin: "Everything is new for us: the car, the drivers and due this we will probably need some races to setup and merge everything as best we can. In compensation, we have the chance to work closely with Aston Martin Racing and represent the English brand in Italy, this means having a big pressure on us. The Italian GT Championship is probably the second best GT series in Europe, behind only the BES for grid quality and the drivers and cars number, it will be a convincing test for all of us." commented Roberto Sini, Solaris Team Principal who leads the team together with his sons Francesco and Laura. "I don't want make any prediction, but after the test sessions of this winter we are very confident. Mugelli showed early competitiveness and, most important, a driving style and setup preferences very similar to Francesco's ones. They are one of most interesting duo in the championship."
The Italian GT Championship weekend will start on Friday, April 29th with the two session of free practice, scheduled at 11:35 AM and 4:20 PM. On Saturday morning the two qualifying sessions, one for each race, will be at 9:45 AM and 10:15 AM. Race 1 will start at 4:45 PM on Saturday, April 30th, while Race 2 is scheduled for Sunday, May 1st, at 12:10 AM. Both the races will be live streamed on the official website of the Italian GT Championship (
www.acisportitalia.it/CIGT)
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