Racing Engineering's Marciello looks forward to the first pre-season test session in Abu Dhabi

After your first contact with a GP2 car in Abu Dhabi almost four months ago, you will be back in the Racing Engineering car soon. Are you excited that your first GP2 season is about to start? Raffaele Marciello: I’m really excited. Even if there are some nerves as is often the case at every race and with every new experience, at the moment I am completely focused on the championship. I know what I’m capable of and what I have to do and I only want to think about that.

Raffaele Marciello

Photo by: XPB Images

What are your objectives for the upcoming season and where do you expect the biggest challenges? I’d like to finish in the top three in my first year. The most demanding challenge will be to learn to manage the Pirelli tyres in the race, they are quite complicated and involve adapting your driving style quite a bit.

Even though there was a break of several months, you were quite busy. Can you tell us something about your preparation for your season in GP2? I was away for a month at the Florida Winter Series and did a lot of kilometres in a Formula Abarth, trying to learn new things which will be useful for me in GP2. Last week, I joined the team in Spain to begin preparation on the driving side. From the physical preparation point of view, I train every day, but that’s normal.

In March you have 6 test days to get ready for the GP2 season which kicks off in Bahrain at the beginning of April. What do you expect from these days of testing? I will have to learn the track because I’ve never driven there and I will begin working with the team to establish a good relationship with everyone. The car is not very difficult to drive and a lot depends on how you manage the tyres. I hope I can quickly get up to race pace and manage to do some good laps in qualifying.

Racing Engineering