Maranello, 12 January - A long flight to New Zealand signaled the start of a brand new experience for Raffaele Marciello. The 17 year old from the Ferrari Driver Academy will take part in the five race Toyota Racing Series. It gets underway this weekend, ending on 12 February. It will be a great opportunity for Raffaele to keep fit over the winter, as well as giving him experience of international competition, going up against many other drivers from European based championships.

Free practice took place yesterday and Raffaele’s first task was to get to grips with a car he has never driven before. “Initial impressions are the same as those of a Formula Renault 2.0,” he explained. “We went out on the Teretonga race circuit and after a few laps, I felt comfortable. At the start of the test, I was a bit off the pace of the leading teams in the series who were comfortably in the top three places, then we gradually made progress and I got into the top 5. But there is still a lot of work to do to prepare for the race weekend.”

It will be a busy time on track, given there are three races per weekend. “In a little over a month, I will have done no less than fifteen races,” explained ‘Lello.’ “I think that will prove very useful irrespective of the results I obtain on track. The driver pool is made up of some youngsters having their first taste of single seaters, but also vastly more experienced drivers from the European championships, so there are people to measure yourself against. Anyway, as soon as you take to the track, you always try and do the maximum, giving 100% to try and get the best possible result.”