Swiss Christof von Grünigen proved his great talent at his AutoGP World Series debut with Zele Racing
Christof von Grünigen competed in his first-ever AutoGP event and made a very good job. Despite being unlucky in both races, he scored his maiden championship points in Sunday’s event.
Following a promising display in the free practice sessions on Friday, the 22-year-old sensationally placed his Zele racer in the front row in qualifying. In Saturday’s first event, the rookie was unlucky, as he had a lot of wheel spin at the start dropping far back. His catching up with top lap times came to an abrupt halt, when Loris Spinelli crashed into his left rear wheel pushing him into the gravel.
“My quali was perfect. Everything went really well, but it seems I have used up all my luck then. My start on Saturday was crap and then I was taken out by a crash“, von Grünigen analysed critically.
On Sunday, the Swiss had to start from the bottom of the grid. However, this time, he start was good and he overtook a couple of rivals before it was again Spinelli who hit him in the first chicane. Von Grünigen spun and lost a lot of time.
“When Spinelli crash into me again, I couldn’t believe it. But at least I could continue this time and get some points.” Dead last, the youngster was all out on attack and closed the gap with several fast laps. He finished ninth.
“Christof has proven his kill this weekend. He showed some lightning quick lap times. With a little more composure, which will come with more experience, and far less misfortune, he could have achieved much more. Thus, we are looking forward to his next starts with us“, team boss Michael Zele said.
Teamleader Tamas Pal Kiss came 2nd and 5th to further close the gap in the overall standings to absent leader Kimyia Sato to 13 points.
Zele Racing’s second rookie this weekend, Samin Gomez, scored points in her very first AutoGP race, but was rammed into the gravel by Michele la Rosa in Sunday’s event.
