February 13th, 14th, 15th, Monza in Italy hosted the first round of the 2007 World Series by Renault Championship and 22 year old Monegasque Clivio Piccione’s first weekend in the series, with the RC Motorsport team, following two successful years in GP2.

Qualifying, 14th April

After a successful practice session on the Friday, Clivio felt in confident mood about qualifying, “This is a new team to me and I haven’t had much seat time yet as my deal was put together late but I am very comfortable with the team and have good experience of this track.” Said Clivio. However with only 20 minutes to qualify for Saturdays race Clivio did not have luck on his side with yellow flags. “I am disappointed with the qualifying result, 6th in my group means the I will be 11 th on the grid, I was happy with the car and felt I could go quicker but all the yellow flags in the session seemed to come out when I was on a good lap, at least I know there is good pace in the car and I look forward to a better result in the race.”

Race 1, 14th April

Following qualifying Clivio was hoping for a good race and progress through the field using Monza’s famous long straights and tight chicanes for over taking. However Clivio’s race was only to last 8 laps ending in a spectacular crash. “I made a good start, the car was working well and I was having a battle with Fauzy for the first few laps and I was feeling confident and comfortable.”

On lap 8 the safety car was deployed after Italian driver Valsecchi beached his car in the gravel on the exit of the fast Parabolica corner leading on to the main straight. Clivio had moved three places to 7 th having passed Fauzy, however, the restarted was chaotic. “The lead driver, Aleshin, accelerated and then backed the whole pack up, which is dangerous, by the time the effect had reached me I had no where to go into the first chicane and I hit Moreau and had a big accident.” Recalls Clivio, “it was one of the biggest of my career but luckily I am OK, it shows the strength of these cars, but it was an accident that shouldn’t have happened.”

Race 2, 15th April

The RC Motorsport team had a long night rebuilding a new car for Clivio for race 2 on Sunday. “After my accident on Saturday the car was destroyed, I have to give a big thank you to the team for building me a new car for race 2, they worked hard all night to get it ready.” Clivio continued “I only had a couple of warm up laps on Sunday morning before the race to make sure everything on the car worked but the team did a great job, the car felt good.” Clivio started in 25 th due to his retirement from the first race and soon started moving through the field as the race got underway. “I was up to 12 th place when on lap 6 I was making a move in to the first chicane, I had 11 th place but the guy I was overtaking didn’t think so and he drove into me! The front was too badly damaged to carry on so it was another short race for me. I am disappointed for myself and also for my team who had worked so hard to give me another good car. It was a tough weekend because we could have achieved great results which gives me confidence for the next race and the rest of the season.”