Sergey Sirotkin: “I love the challenge of learning new tracks” 29.06.2012: At 16, Sergey Sirotkin became the youngest race winner ever in Auto GP history. After that magic weekend

At 16, Sergey Sirotkin became the youngest race winner ever in Auto GP history. After that magic weekend in Valencia he kept making an impression on the paddock emerging as one of the most interesting talents in European motorsport.


His tally now includes one win, one 2nd place, three 3rd place finishes, one pole position and 5 fastest laps, impressive achievements for a driver that last year was driving a F. Abarth, a car with just a fraction of the power delivered by the Zytek engine Lolas of Auto GP.
 


When he speaks on the matter, Sergey strongly believes that age isn’t a limit for a driver with talent, and that it shouldn’t be taken as a factor in evaluating his performances:

“For me how old I am doesn’t make any difference. My aim is  always to keep improving and learning and I look at a driver’s skill and not his age. I felt ready to race a powerful car like the Auto GP car and even after the first test I did last year I felt straightaway at home with the car.


I think my season has been pretty good so far: I won in Valencia, had another 5 podium finishes and always been at the front of the field.  I have had some really good drives like at Budapest when I came from 13th to finish on the podium, and the races have always been exciting with good battles”.
 


You started the season setting some new records: did you expect to be so quick from scratch?

“We expected to be competitive because Euronova is a professional team: having won with them last year I knew they would give me a good car and I was also sure that Vincenzo Sospiri would help me a lot to learn things quickly.


In the first test we were on the pace straightaway and at Monza I qualified on the front row so yes, we were quick straight out of the box. It is always nice to make records like being the youngest winner!
  



Now, with two events to go you lie third in the standings: 96 points are available and your gap from Quaife-Hobbs is 81 points in the Overall and 63 in the Under 21. Do you think that you still have a shot at the title?

“I think that unfortunately the title is already too far away for me to challenge for it, but it does not mean that we will give up! We will do our best to get as many points as possible from the last two rounds”.
 



None of the Auto GP contenders ever drove Curitiba or Sonoma: what impact you believe this will have on the competition? How are you preparing for those last two events?


“I think maybe some of the Brazilian drivers have been there before! But anyway it doesn’t matter as I always like the challenge of learning new tracks quickly.


I am training very hard now to be fit for the races and when I get to Curitiba and Sonoma I will walk the track with Vincenzo and my engineer as usual, to understand as much as possible before free practice starts”.
 

 
Filippo Zanier, Auto GP photo