Vitantonio Liuzzi made his Superstars Series debut last week at Monza, immediately jumping up to second in the championship and claiming a win in race two, despite having to start from the back of the grid due to a puncture in qualifying.
The Italian, a former Grand Prix driver and still committed with Hispania Racing Team as third driver, made his touring car debut at the wheel of a Mercedes C63 AMG prepared by CAAL Racing. TouringCarTimes met up with him to discuss his first weekend in the Superstars Series as well as his future.
“The Superstars Series project is a dream we’re trying to fulfil with Mercedes and CAAL Racing. I think a racing driver needs to be versatile if he’s to be among the best in the sport. This is also a challenge for myself, as I would like to prove that I can make the difference in the touring car world as well and that I can keep on winning in this environment,” said Liuzzi.
While the CAAL Racing driver misses the Formula One world, he is still very happy to have joined the Superstars Series: “Of course I miss Formula One,” said the Italian, “Because it is the pinnacle of the sport and the ultimate goal in a racing driver’s career. For sure I would like to try to get back there in the future. On the other hand I’m really happy to be here, this is another chapter in my career and I’m glad I had the opportunity to prove myself in a high level championship as the Superstars Series.”
When asked about his goals in the Superstars Series, the former Red Bull Racing driver seemed very determined about trying to win the championship: “Of course the title has to be our goal, we’re not here just to keep the seat warm! We had a good start at Monza with two podiums and a win, and both the team and myself are really looking at the championship as an important goal. Still, there are other manufacturers who are not just here to make up the numbers, they will be competitive. We made a good effort in Monza with Mercedes, but there are other tracks like Imola which are unlikely to favor us and we will have to work hard because Audi and BMW will not just be there staring at us. I think we will be competitive at Spa, while Budapest could prove a bit more difficult for us.”
When asked if he would go back to Formula One this year if he had the chance to do so, Liuzzi did not rule out the possibility: “If I had the chance to go back to F1 midway through the season I would need to evaluate the situation very carefully. Of course I’m still linked to the Grand Prix world as a third driver for HRT and it has a priority for me, so if the opportunity comes I would have to think about it and you never know what’s going to happen in the future. In the meantime we enjoy this good weekend we had at Monza and this new adventure I’m living and then we’ll see.”
Liuzzi currently lies second in the championship, five points shy of Max Pigoli and twelve ahead of Thomas Biagi. The Italian has raced in Formula One for Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Force India and Hispania Racing Team.
