5) Andrea Roda
Andrea Roda’s season was one of highs and lows, although he was classified inside the top eight in every race during the 2014 Auto GP World Series season.
The Italian, driving for Virtuosi UK, was running second on the final lap in the season opener in Morocco but spun out of the race, and it took until race one in Hungary for him to finally achieve his first series podium, finishing third behind Kimiya Sato and Tamas Pal Kiss.
He took another podium finish in race two at Monza, finishing second, before a third podium in race one at Imola. However, his best weekend undoubtedly was at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.
He gambled on a late pit stop in race one to take his fourth podium finish of the season in race one, leapfrogging Kevin Giovesi for the bottom step, but a strong drive in race two, albeit helped by a few issues for the guys around him, saw him take a well-earned and well-received first series win.
Despite being in the battle for second place in the championship over the closing stages of the season, he wasn’t able to maintain the challenge, ending the year fourth in the championship, but with 166 well-earned points.
Roda’s talents have been noted in other series, such as the Formula Renault 3.5 Series where he made his debut, albeit a tough debut, at Monaco for Comtec Racing, and in the European Le Mans Series. He will have options should he not return to Auto GP for another season, but if he did, he can come back with extra confidence knowing he is a race winner.
