The A1 GP Taupo, the fourth round of the “winter motor sport championship”, has started. Last night the A1 Teams have run in the rookie session and in the Practice session.

A1 Team Italy hasn’t brought any rookie in New Zealand and has concentrated more time to work on the car set up. In the last two months Edoardo Piscopo, first driver of the Italian team, hasn’t done any tests on the car: the first Practice session has been important to regain confidence with the V8 Ferrari engine before the Qualifying session.

The day has begun with the rookie session, dominated by the Swiss Alexandre Imperatori, second was the French Nicolas Prost, the Lebanese Daniel Morad and the “landlord” Chris van der Drift that since the beginning of season four alternates the driving of the “All Black” car with Earl Bamber.

Switzerland has been the protagonist with its first driver Neel Jani also in the first Practice session, during which the Italian driver has finished 12th, less then one second (0.876) behind the Swiss world champion driver.

“By not participating to the rookie session – tells Piscopo – the today’s practice session has been the first occasion to try the car. The track is technical and winding, and it is important to drive fast at the exit of the turns. We have worked on the trim in order to find the right car balance in the slowest part of the track. We are few tenth of seconds behind the top 5 and this is very hopeful for tomorrow. The time’s differences are very small and we won’t ignore any detail, in order to obtain a good position on the grid”.

“Edoardo has faced the practice session like a set up tests – comments Piercarlo Ghinzani, seat holder of the A1 Team Italy – He hasn’t pushed so as to avoid incidents and has worked on the adjustments. His performance has to be evaluated, considering the fact that other teams have run with the rookies that have given them information about the track and the vehicle; in this sense we have started disadvantaged, but we have limited the lead to a few tenths. Switzerland? It continues to have good results but it invests little in young drivers. In the long term, the politics of our team will reward us with great satisfactions”.

Tonight, there will be the last Practice session and the Qualifying sessions for the Sprint and Feature race, that will be broadcasted pre-recorded on Rai Sport Più (Sunday, January 25th from 2.15 pm on).