Changeable weather welcomed the Alfa Romeo Autodelta team in Adria, where today thirteen drivers had the opportunity to test the Alfa Romeo 156 GTA car from the 2003 FIA European Touring Car Championship.

The drivers were split in two groups of six, between two identical cars, according to their height. At the wheel of the short drivers’ car, alternated Ricardo Mauricio and Enrique Bernoldi from Brazil, Gianni Morbidelli, Simone Iacone and Luca Rangoni from Italy, Nicolas Minassian and Jonathan Cochet from France. The ‘tall’ drivers made shifts in the second car: Michele Bartyan, Gabriele Gardel and Matteo Grassotto from Italy, Toni Vilander from Finland, Tarso Marques from Brazil and Phil Bastiaans from the Netherlands.

Each driver was given the opportunity to complete three 5-lap runs of the 2.7-km track, for a total of 15 laps. Lap times were not comparable, due to the different track conditions, from very wet to almost dry.

“I have to admit we were a bit worried before the test, team manager Monica Sipsz said, because it’s not easy to manage so many drivers in the same test. However, I think we have given them all the opportunity to have proper runs. We had very positive reactions from all the drivers. Everybody was impressed by the car, despite some of them are used to more powerful cars. In the end, this test will be very important to us. Our plan is to run six competitive cars in the 2004 FIA ETCC, and one or even more drivers might come out from the group we have seen today.”