Cerruti: “It’s 100% confirmed, we won’t be in WTCR”

Since November 2020, we have not heard from you. What did you do during this time?

We have taken a big step forward by integrating the battery and all elements of the Pure ETCR regulations on our Giulia. The Covid crisis hit Italy again hard and we were unable to go to Great Britain, Williams Advanced Engineering (which supplies the battery and the regeneration system for the ETCR. Editor’s note). Fortunately, the rules were relaxed a little and Williams was able to come and install, with our teams, the battery and its elements. This saved us a lot of time, otherwise this integration would not have been possible before the end of April.

How did the recent Vallelunga tests go?

We are really satisfied. We are happy with the number of kilometers traveled (180. Editor's note) and the Giulia reacted really well. We still need to work on the basic settings, but the fact that it runs smoothly is already a small victory. Everything connected well. All the cables, the little elements, fit together perfectly even though we designed everything remotely. The mechanical part did not experience any major problems either. When you put the car on the ground, you always have that little suspense of knowing if it will stay in one piece during its installation tour (laughs). The car feels good and its behavior seems homogeneous, taking into account the fact that we drove without the anti-roll bars. Our driver was also able to measure the car.

Can you introduce us to your technical director, Mario Ferraris?

He is my partner, owner of Romeo Ferraris and the son of Romeo Ferraris. We run the company together. I am responsible for operations and oversee all the technical aspects for the cars of Mr. Everyman and the competition department. We are both pilots. We are able to work on the development of a racing car. We accomplished this task on the Giulietta (TCR model seen in competition in recent years. Editor's note). I'm really disappointed not to have been there for his first rounds. I would have loved to be behind the wheel. Mario is an excellent driver who can drive any car, so he was the ideal person to accomplish this first run.

Find the interview in full in AUTOhebdo No. 2305 available in digital version and still on newsstands.