While many expected him to finally turn his back on the
Formula One support scene and try to establish himself in either the top flight or another arena altogether,
GP2 Series veteran Giorgio Pantano had other ideas.
Instead of heading for pastures new, the Italian decided to ink a deal with Racing Engineering, believing that Alfonso d'Orleans Borbon's team is finally ready to challenge for the title after three years of battling for points and podiums. Pantano finished last season's championship in third position, having helped to transform the fortunes of perennial backmarker Campos Grand Prix, and his objective for this 2008 season is to improve on that.
"The choice to come to the Racing Engineering team was because the project they presented me with was a fine opprtunity to be in a serious team which knew very well what it wanted," he explained, "They have good engineers, a good team, and a clear focus - to win. This is what made me decide to come here, and I still have the same opinion.
"My goal is to win the championship. It's what I signed for when I joined this team, and that's what we're going to struggle for. I think that, at this moment, we are in a good position to achieve it.
"Working together will be very important, to do our best as a team, including the mechanics, the engineers, myself, the boss, and the sponsors. I think it's important that everyone gives it their best, and that it's done in an adequate atmosphere, like in a big family. We all have to have the same goal in mind."
Pantano, of course, brings a lot of experience to Racing Engineering, after competing in every season of
GP2 and both
F3000 and, briefly, F1 before that. His record in the current feeder series boasts five victories and a further eleven podiums with a handful of teams. A long-term future in
Formula One may continue to elude him, but the Italian is clearly happy in
GP2.
"Of course, it's a good way to go before reaching
Formula One, because you have the opportunity to learn a lot," he explained, "You work a lot with the engineers, you work on the set-up of the car, and you learn to use the information to adjust the different elements of the car. The car we use is very similar to a
Formula One car, with very competitve materials such as the carbon brakes, the gearbox, or the actual power, which is not bad at all.
"There are many things that make
GP2 similar to
Formula One and, what's more, the important thing is that it is a very competitve series, because all the drivers have the same car and the difference is made according to each driver's capacity to properly adjust the car, and the skill displayed in the race."
Racing Engineering will no doubt benefit from Pantano's experience, even though team-mate Javi Villa is himself moving into a third season in
GP2.
