On Saturday the Italian national luge team came to Maranello to test the latest aerodynamic solutions, set up by technicians from Maranello and CONI experts, in the Ferrari wind channel.

The Olympic athlete Armin Zöggeler as well as the luge double Gerhard Plankensteiner and Oswald Haselrieder tested the latest modifications with the Olympic Games Vancouver 2010 coming up. The collaboration between Ferrari and CONI, the National Olympic Committee in Italy, started in 2007, includes planning and development of innovative solutions connected not only to aerodynamic but also to materials and the equipments’ structures for different events such as luge, skeleton, skating and trampolining.

The CONI-Ferrari project, under a technological and scientific profile, has been promoted by the Technical Department of the Prancing Horse together with CONI’s Science of Sport Department. Over the last months the Head of the Scuderia Ferrari, Stefano Domenicali, and Raffaele Pagnozzi, CONI’s General Secretary, examined the details of a technological synergy considering also the aspects of the applications of the rules.

Armin Zöggeler, the double Olympic Champion and five-times World Champion, was more than satisfied after today’s tests. “This was a positive experience, you never stop learning. I want to thank CONI and Ferrari for this opportunity, which allows us to refine our preparations for the Games the best possible way. The technical and scientific support can definitely help us to improve and gain this fraction of a second, which will be translated into a medal. That’s where the experience of the Scuderia, the most successful team in the world, is crucial." Later on the athletes went to the Fiorano race track where they could admire and test the latest car from the Prancing Horse, the 458 Italia.