PIT & PADDOCK
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In brief
WALKINSHAW NISSAN
Sean Walkinshaw, son of legendary
sportscar team boss Tom, will
contest the full Blancpain GT Series
with the German MRS Nissan team.
The 21-year-old will share the Nissan
GT-R NISMO GT3 with Craig Dolby
in the Sprint Series, while they will
be joined by a third driver in the
sister Endurance Series.
ABREU FOR BMW GT
the new coupes to be delivered
before the start of the season, was
due to be given a shakedown at
Paul Ricard today (Thursday). The
first 05 completed its initial
mileage at the southern French
track on Monday in the hands of
Stephane Sarrazin.
ROY KENNEDY
Rossi gets latest GP2 chance
1937-2015
Ex-Caterham and Marussia Formula 1
reserve Alexander Rossi (below) has
completed the Racing Engineering
line-up for this year’s GP2 Series.
The 23-year-old Californian joins
Briton Jordan King as the Spanish
Ian Flux raced RKR Peugeot
in ’93 BTCC
27
Formula Renault BARC champion
Pietro Fittipaldi, the grandson of
two-time world champion Emerson,
steps up to the Formula 3 European
Championship this season with
Fortec Motorsport. The team has also
confirmed British F3 runner-up Matt
Rao and plans to run up to four cars.
FONTANA AT STATUS
Swiss GP3 regular Alex Fontana has
become the first recruit for Status
Grand Prix in 2015, his third full
season in the category. Another GP3
signing is Pole Artur Janosz – the
2014 Euroformula Open runner-up
graduates to join Italian team
Trident Motorsport.
ZETA IN FULL REGALIA
S BLOXHAM/LAT
TEAM OWNER ROY KENNEDY,
whose squad raced in Formula 2,
Formula 3 and touring cars over
three decades, died last month
at the age of 77.
Notable alumni of Roy Kennedy
Racing, set up for an F2 campaign
in 1974, include David Purley,
Jean-Pierre Jaussaud and Dave
Coyne. The squad ran the Burke
Ratcliffe Racing Can-Am Lola in
Thundersports in the late 1980s.
Kennedy moved into the BTCC in
1990, then fielded Renault Spider
Cup cars as Orbit Motorsport.
team. “My ultimate goal remains F1,
and GP2 with Racing Engineering is
perfect for those objectives,” he said.
Nathanael Berthon is another to
be confirmed for GP2 this year, the
Frenchman staying at Lazarus.
FITTIPALDI’S F3 DEAL
BIG NUMBER
Facu Regalia, runner-up to Daniil
Kvyat in the 2013 GP3 Series, has
joined Italian team Zeta Corse for
the Formula Renault 3.5 series. The
23-year-old Argentinian contested
four GP2 rounds last year. Elsewhere
in FR3.5, Oscar Tunjo has split with
Pons Racing due to budget concerns.
LAT
to the Chinese entrant’s line-up for
the remainder of the season after
contesting the Spa round and the
Le Mans 24 Hours at the wheel of the
third Porsche 919 Hybrid. He will share
the ORECA with team regulars Richard
Bradley and Matt Howson.
KCMG’s ORECA 05, the first of two of
Formula 1 legend N elson Piquet is
moving ever closer to a full-time race
return in the Brazilian Porsche GT3 Cup.
The 62-year-old, a three-time world
champion, is due to drive in free
practice prior to this weekend’s season
opener at Curitiba, but looks set to
leave racing duties to his son, reigning
Brazilian F3 champion Pedro Piquet,
while he gets fit.
Piquet Sr, who turned some laps
in a Porsche at Curitiba last year, has
targeted the second round at Mogi
Guacu on April 18.
The number Adrien Tambay has chosen for
the DTM’s new F1-style system, and carried to
two GP wins by the Audi driver’s father Patrick
with Ferrari in 1982-83. Amusingly, ex-Lewis
Hamilton rival Jamie Green is #44, while Gary
Paffett has #2, Paul di Resta #3, and rookie
Tom Blomqvist keeps #31 from Formula 3.
WorldMags.net
MARCH 5 2015 AUTOSPORT.COM 9
9
PIQUET BACK –
IN A PORSCHE!
Atila Abreu, runner-up to Sebastian
Vettel in German Formula BMW in
2004, will undertake his first full
season of racing in Europe in 10
years with the Team BMW Brazil
Blancpain squad. The 27-year-old
will race one of the team’s BMW Z4s
in both the Sprint and Endurance
Series alongside fellow V8 Stock
Car driver Valdeno Brito.