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With
a two day acclimatisation test at Fiorano
successfully under his belt Luca Badoer says
that he is motivated to make the most of the
opportunity to drive in his first grand prix for
Scuderia Ferrari after 12 years serving as an F1
test driver at Maranello although the Italian
test driver says he knows he is set to face a
tough challenge in Valencia. When the
38-year-old is strapped into the F60 for the
first of the free practice sessions at the
Spanish street circuit in just 48 hours time it
will be Badoer's first grand prix weekend action
since he drove for the Italian Minardi team back
in 1999.
Badoer gets the
chance to race for Ferrari after the head and eye injuries
that Felipe Massa suffered during the Hungarian Grand Prix
last month opened up a vacancy in the #3 car. Seven times
world champion Michael Schumacher sensationally announced
his return to grand prix racing but a neck injury he
suffered earlier this year in a motorbike testing crash saw
him drop out of the picture last week leaving the team's
test driver Badoer clear to step into the seat for the
European Grand Prix. "Since I've been a child I always
wanted to race for Ferrari and now I've got the possibility
to make this desire come true," Badoer said last week.
Badoer wrapped
up two consecutive days of
testing at Fiorano yesterday, ostensibly it was
promotional filming to provide footage of him
in a racing environment. As permitted in the teams testing agreement, the Italian
test driver
completed no more than 100 kilometres per day at the wheel of the F60, which was fitted
with Bridgestone's stock ultra-hard demonstration tyres. The filming though provided Luca with the chance to
reacquaint himself with the car in which he had only completed a handful of
kilometres so far this year. The factory shut-down meant that Badoer had not
even been able to meet with the race engineers and that was another issue
addressed over these past two days. He also spent time in the static simulator,
to give him a general impression of the Valencia street circuit.
Badoer marked himself out as
as a driver to watch by winning the European F3000
championship in 1992 before graduating to F1 with BMS
Scuderia Italia the next year, starting his career off in
the top flight at the South African Grand Prix. He
subsequently drove for the Minardi and Forti Corse teams
before his time in F1 petered out at the end of the 1999
season after 48 grand prix starts.
I am very
motivated to make the most of this opportunity, even if I know I am facing a
tough challenge, especially during the first couple of days in Valencia, said
Badoer commented yesterday. It will effectively be a test session for me, but I will be trying my
best to secure a good result. I have to say, my first thoughts when I take to
the track will be for Felipe, because I got a real fright when I saw his
accident. I am delighted that he is making a good recovery and I hope he will be
back racing as soon as possible. I have to add that I am also thinking of
Michael, because having trained with him over the last few weeks, I know how
much he wanted to make this comeback and how much effort he was putting into his
preparation. Even though his decision has provided me with this great
opportunity to race for the Scuderia, I feel sorry for him, because not only are
we friends, but I am also an admirer of his. And finally, I repeat how grateful
I am to Luca di Montezemolo and Stefano Domenicali for giving me the chance to
make my childhood dream come true.
ItaliaspeedTV:
Luca Badoer interview -
Ferrari F60 test (Fiorano) & European GP (Valencia)
preview
/ (Italian
Version)
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