As we begin to discover the cars from winter hibernation, the young Sicilian driver Simone Patrinicola appears on the starting grid of the new season of the Italian GT Championship.
For him it is a debut in GT racing, even if in 2020 he participated in the Coppa Florio 2020 on his home track in Pergusa.
His beginnings saw him in karting, an environment where he trained for several seasons, before moving on to prototype sports in 2017.
A complete season for him who finished in second position, in the overall standings with the Suzuki-powered Radical SR4, behind the winner Ivan Bellarosa. A year that however saw him conquer the Under 25 classification with a large margin and the classification reserved for the Radicals.
Last year he juggled at the wheel of the Audi RS 3 LMS and immediately stood out in the opening race of the TCR in Monza.
The Sicilian will be involved in the Sprint series and will have the “weight” to carry the number 1 on the sides, thanks to Audi Sport Italia’s double in the past season, both in the Endurance and in the Sprint series, hitting both the drivers’ title and that reserved for Team.
For Audi Sport Italia it will be a new challenge, a team that in recent seasons has focused on young people, see Lorenzo Ferrari and Riccardo Agostini.
Alongside Patrinicola, another young man could arrive who would complete the crew and in the coming weeks we could have other names.
Simone brings another leading figure in Sicilian motorsport as a “dowry”, it is Eros di Prima who has been following Simone for a long time.
For him it is a “homecoming”, in fact at the end of the 1980s he sat several times in the co-driver’s seat on Audi’s group A cars. Speaking of which, Motorsport.com reached out to Patrinicola for its hot statement.
“A new season is about to begin, in my opinion this is one of the most beautiful championships in Italy – he tells our newspaper – Fantastic racing for an official team, representing a house like Audi”.
“For me it is an honor to be part of these teams, the most important thing is to gain experience because I don’t know the car. I want to thank Audi Sport Italia for the occasion and for all the partners who made this project possible.
Simone Patrinicola, Audi Sport Italy
Photo by: Audi Sport
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