Scuderia Playteam plans to run two cars paired with two football teams in Formula Superleague. The first of these has already been confirmed, and is the renowned Istanbul team, Galatasaray. As well as running its single seater test programme at Vallelunga last week Scuderia Playteam was in action on the Roman track with the Ferrari F430 GT2 ahead of its duel Italian GT and Open GT Championship programmes this year. The young talents alternating in the Suderia Playteam single-seater at Vallelunga last week were Davide Rigon, the Italian and European Champion in Formula 3000 Euroseries last season, and Marco Bonanomi, currently engaged in the Asia GP2 Series.

Alongside its confirmed commitments in the Italian GT and Open GT Championships, Scuderia Playteam will make its participation, through a new technical division, in the Superleague Formula challenge.

The basic idea of this Championship is to pair two important sporting disciplines, as football and motorsport, in a new series, the Superleague Formula, in which 20 teams from among the most famous Football Clubs in the world will lend their colours to the same number of racing cars.

The agreement provides for Scuderia Playteam to run no less than 2 cars paired with 2 football teams. The first of these has already been confirmed, and is the renowned Istanbul team, Galatasaray. The second will be decided in the next few weeks. In the meantime, a meeting with the Galatasaray management launched the project which will see the car and the team presented to fans at the beginning of March.

"We are very happy that the Superleague Formula has paired us with Galatasaray.  It was one of the two teams we had indicated as our preferences among the possible assignments right from the time of our candidature for the championship," affirmed Playteam Team Owner, Giambattista Giannoccaro.

"The reason behind our choice lies first and foremost in my personal attachment to the city of Istanbul, where I worked and lived for a number of years, and which I consider my second 'home town' for its life-style and culture. And then in the international standing of Galatasaray, a team that has won so much at international level and has a huge following of faithful supporters, without forgetting a great tradition in numerous sporting disciplines, always at the highest level. We’ll do everything to make them proud in motorsport too."

The need for an in-depth, proper preparation for the Superleague Formula challenge has led Scuderia Playteam SaraFree to sound out new categories that would allow them to 'try out freely' and which at the same time had a technical content as close as possible to that of the cars that will be entrusted to them. "There is only one category that satisfies these conditions: Enzo Coloni’s Euroseries 3000," says Giambattista Giannoccaro. "We have just taken delivery of two cars which we will use both for selection tests for Superleague Formula drivers and for the new Euroseries 2008 Championship challenge."

The selection process for Superleague Formula drivers has already begun. The first tests saw Scuderia Playteam occupied at Vallelunga on 4, 5 and 6 February. On one hand the attention was on those drivers that, with the Ferrari F430, will be the protagonists of GT championships - Sara GT and GT Open – from the other hand there is great enthusiasm for the start of Scuderia Playteam SaraFree in the Formulas.

The young talents alternating in the single-seater were: the driver Davide Rigon, Italian and European Champion in Formula 3000 Euroseries last season, and Marco Bonanomi, currently engaged in Asia GP2 Series. The test also involved Giacomo Ricci, Champion 2006 in Euroseries 3000, and the great promise of Scuderia Playteam SaraFree, Alessandro Pier Guidi. The Vallelunga circuit has also been witness to the baptism of the new Sport Manager of the Formulas division, Giovanni Minardi.