Photo: BMW Motorsport
If you’re an avid Motorsport fan you probably already know who Alessandro Zanardi is and what he’s made of. Apparently, nothing can keep this ambitious race car driver away from the track as he’s going to enter the Blancpain GT series this year aboard a BMW.
His second session of tests was just completed and both the company and himself claimed to be satisfied with the results achieved on the “Circuit Paul Ricard” track in Le Castellet (France).
The Blancpain GT Series is made up of two championships, the Blancpain Sprint Series and the Blancpain Endurance Series and Alessandro hopes to win both of them aboard the BMW Z4 GT3 prepared by ROAL Motorsport.
Since Alessandro had both his legs amputated after a tragic accident during a race, the focus was on making further optimizations on the modifications done to the car for him to be able to use it to the max. Changes included a new mapping for the clutch and a tune up on the brake pedal.
“Things are going well. But I have to say that for sure it won’t be easy. I was expecting the challenge to be hard, but now I know that this, in fact, will be the case because in the Blancpain Sprint Series I am going to face an opposition of very fast and young drivers. Nevertheless I think we can be there and that we can do well, but for sure we still have to make improvements”, Zanardi said.
“In terms of the race pace we are already very close to where we are supposed to be. We are fast on worn tyres, but we still have to find a way to balance the car better with new tyres, in order to put together one good flying lap in qualifying. After this test we will look at all the data we have collected, and I am sure we will be able to learn a lot from what we did in the past two days,” he added.
Alex already proved he can win not only races but also championships despite losing his legs. Just two years after his tragic accident, the Italian was back behind the wheel of a BMW, winning several FIA World Touring Car Championship races over several seasons. His first race in 2014 will be at the Blancpain Sprint Series debut in Nogaro, on April 21st.
The Blancpain GT Series is made up of two championships, the Blancpain Sprint Series and the Blancpain Endurance Series and Alessandro hopes to win both of them aboard the BMW Z4 GT3 prepared by ROAL Motorsport.
Since Alessandro had both his legs amputated after a tragic accident during a race, the focus was on making further optimizations on the modifications done to the car for him to be able to use it to the max. Changes included a new mapping for the clutch and a tune up on the brake pedal.
“Things are going well. But I have to say that for sure it won’t be easy. I was expecting the challenge to be hard, but now I know that this, in fact, will be the case because in the Blancpain Sprint Series I am going to face an opposition of very fast and young drivers. Nevertheless I think we can be there and that we can do well, but for sure we still have to make improvements”, Zanardi said.
“In terms of the race pace we are already very close to where we are supposed to be. We are fast on worn tyres, but we still have to find a way to balance the car better with new tyres, in order to put together one good flying lap in qualifying. After this test we will look at all the data we have collected, and I am sure we will be able to learn a lot from what we did in the past two days,” he added.
Alex already proved he can win not only races but also championships despite losing his legs. Just two years after his tragic accident, the Italian was back behind the wheel of a BMW, winning several FIA World Touring Car Championship races over several seasons. His first race in 2014 will be at the Blancpain Sprint Series debut in Nogaro, on April 21st.
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