Dino Zamparelli - Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Dino Zamparelli heads into the final rounds of the 2011 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship with one hand resting on the championship trophy after a stunning weekend last time out at Thruxton, the Antel Motorsport driver holding a nineteen point advantage heading into the Silverstone finale.
Many people's pre-season favourite for the title, Zamparelli had a relatively slow start to the season compared to his title rivals, but soon hit form. He has finished off the podium just once in the last seven races and Thruxton saw him dominate the whole meeting.
Reflecting on Thruxton, Dino said: “It was a weekend that I needed to grasp and clutch the championship with one hand, which is what I did with two poles, two wins and two fastest laps. It was a good way to do it and the important thing was that all elements of the weekend were good, which puts up in good shape for Silverstone.”
The masterclass in Hampshire means Zamparelli heads to Silverstone with a decent advantage over closest rival Josh Webster, but 19 year old Dino won't take the championship points into consideration when preparing for the weekend, instead heading into the meeting focusing on just one thing … wins.
Dino explains: “As I said back at Oulton Park, it's always about the wins, so come Silverstone I'm not going to worry about anything but the wins. I've been in this position before, so I know what to do and I've just got to focus on the wins and let the points take care of themselves.”
Bristol-based Zamparelli was in this position back in 2008, when he led the Ginetta Junior Championship heading into the final rounds at Brands Hatch. Dino took seventh and third place finishes on the final weekend to take the title and believes this experience could give him an edge over his rivals this time around.
Zamparelli concluded: “In Ginetta's I was in almost exactly the same situation, around twenty points ahead. Then, I went into the final weekend and made a couple of mistakes that looking back I wouldn't have done normally, as I was focusing on points. So now at Silverstone I know to just focus on the wins, not take any unnecessary risks and take the title.”
