Scuderia Coloni have confirmed that Luca Filippi will race for them again in the GP2 Series this weekend at the Hungaroring following his victory at the Nurburgring last weekend.
The Italian driver had originally opted to miss the GP2 rounds in Hungary in order to race in Auto GP at Oschersleben in Germany. He currently leads the Auto GP standings, driving for Super Nova.
After switching from Super Nova to Coloni in GP2 ahead the last round in Germany, Filippi took a superb victory in his first race back with the team on Saturday, before taking a podium finish in the sprint race on Sunday.
Therefore he has opted to contest the GP2 rounds this weekend, rather than defend his standings lead in the Coloni-run Auto GP series.
“I'm really happy to be on the GP2 grid also in Budapest, and I have high expectations for the races because in Germany the car was very quick and I like Hungaroring a lot,” Filippi said. “I want to say thanks to Scuderia Coloni for giving me this opportunity, they know that I will give one hundred percent to make the most of it.
“On the other side I'm a bit sorry because I will lose the clashing Auto GP round in Oschersleben, and I have to say thanks also to Super Nova, because they understood how important this chance can be for my career. From Valencia I'll be back in Auto GP to fight for the title, that is still a very important target for my 2011 season. As I have an 18 points gap on my closest rival there, I'm sure that I will still be in contention after this weekend.”
Paolo Coloni said: “After the great weekend we had together in Nurburgring, splitting from Luca would have been a real pity, so when we saw that having him with us also in Hungary was possible, we went for it. Pushing Italian talents has always been our philosophy, and looking to what Luca did in Germany we thought that he deserved the chance to shine again in Budapest, also because we believe that having an all-Italian pairing at high level can be good for all the Italian motorsport scenario.”
