Zamparelli makes Italian F3 switch thanks to lightning pace
During a trip to Italy to speak with prospective sponsors and investors, Bristol based Dino Zamparelli was given a one off Formula 3 test with an Italian F3 team, Corbetta Competition. Having never been to the Italian track of Varano or driven an F3 car before, Zamparelli managed to break the team’s lap record and was immediately invited to the official F3 test at Misano last week.
Up against an experienced Formula 3 field of 28 other drivers at the Misano test, Zamparelli again impressed the team on his first outing in an F3 car in the wet and at an unfamiliar circuit.
“The last few days and especially today have been something of a blur,” commented Zamparelli after the test. “Even though my experience of F3 only amounts to a couple of days, I’m finding the car a dream to drive and I can really push to find the limit quickly and smoothly. To have set the fastest ever time for the team at the track of Varano and to have run strong here at Misano in the rain and against people with a couple of seasons of F3 to their credit, is the best way I can think of to start the Italian F3 Championship.”
At Misano, the day started off with a wet and miserable session. Throughout the day, occasional brief spells of sun appeared but none of them lasting until the final of the 4 x 1 hour sessions.
The MSA AASE Academy student said, "I was disappointed to see the rain in the morning because to learn a circuit you have never been on is already hard. However, to learn it in the wet is twice as hard! I had to make sure that I made no mistakes and I also had to deal with learning how the F3 car handles in the wet. I was definitely up for the challenge though!"
“It was difficult because the F3 car and the tyres handle differently to the Formula Renault that I’m used to. Every lap I was progressing and I started to understand which way the car would handle,” said an excited Zamparelli.
In the last of the 4 x 1 hour session and on a drying track, Zamparelli was going faster and faster. With only 6 minutes left on the clock, he had to come in to the pits for fuel. This turned out to be an unlucky situation for the 17 year old Anglo Italian, as the red flags came out two minutes later, on Zamparelli’s out lap from the pits. This prompted the stoppage of the session and an abrupt end to the day, thus not allowing Zamparelli to set any more lap times.
BRDC Rising Star Dino Zamparelli explains, "From my lap before I made the pit stop, I gained 9 tenths on my previous quickest lap. The next lap I was already 3 tenths up, but I knew that if I stayed out for another lap then I wouldn’t have made it around.
“Then on my out lap, someone put their car into the gravel, which meant that I couldn’t set any more lap times and the track was a whole lot faster. Some of the drivers who stayed out before the red flag managed to get a last lap in and I fell from around 6th to 9th,” he explained.
His performance against such a competitive field and out pacing his would-be team mate was more than enough to close the deal with Corbetta Competition for the opening round at Misano on the 24/25th of April, for the first race of the season.
On the subject of driving so fast on tracks he had never raced before, Zamparelli praised the team for their back ground information.
“Learning new tracks is something that you have to be able to do. A lot of the information I can pick up by studying the circuit layouts, however it really helps when the team are able to talk me through the extra bits of information that the plans don’t give me.”
He continued, “A few weeks ago it all looked very bleak for 2010 I was going to be on the sidelines, due to a lack of investors and sponsorship in the UK.
“I’m eternally grateful to Corbetta Competition for the chance to show what I can deliver when given the opportunity. However, we still need to cement the rest of the 2010 budget in order to compete in the whole season".
Click here for results from the official test at Misano
The first round of the Italian F3 championship takes place at Misano on the 24th and 25th of April 2010.