Although the distance between the city in which he lives and Campo Grande is over three thousand kilometers, the weekend stage in Mato Grosso do Sul capital is practically the "home" race for the Amazonian Antonio Pizzonia. Resident of Manaus, the former Formula 1 driver is the displacement champion in trips among the 32 drivers on the grid. The double header this Sunday is, after all, the closest to the calendar for fellow Julio Campos from Paraná in the Prati-Donaduzzi team.
For comparison, a road trip between Manaus and Campo Grande exceeds the Lisbon-Vienna route, which runs through Portugal, Spain, France and Germany before joining reaching Austria. "The trips are the trickiest part of my logistics," admits Pizzonia, who holds two victories in the main category of the national motor racing, from last year in Santa Cruz do Sul and Tarumã. “And for all of them there is a flight connection in Brasilia, because there are no direct flights from Manaus. To go to the south of Brazil, it is more than 4 thousand km. That is why Campo Grande is virtually my “home race”, he continues.
Even for a driver who takes extreme care with his fitness - he is an amateur triathlete, he runs, swims and rides many kilometers on his bike every day - Pizzonia is required to fulfill a different schedule from that of his colleagues. "I always need to arrive one day before in the cities, to have a minimum recovery time," he explains. In Campo Grande, it has been no different: he landed on Tuesday and was the first driver to set foot in the Midwest, although the opening of the official program - marked by briefing with the test drive - is scheduled only for Thursday .
On Friday, when the pits exit is released for the first free trainings, Pizzonia will start his rehabilitation to the circuit. He raced for the last time on the racetrack in 2010 and was not in the Stock Car team the following season, when the category started the current four-year period out of calendar. With 60 points and holding the 17th place in the overall ranking, Pizzonia has not reached the podium in 2015. "We need to improve the car set-up, especially in qualifying training. Everything always gets harder when you do not start in the front rows, although our car has always had a better speed in the race“, he concludes.