Monza Race Mechanic - Giuseppe Bonsignore
Winning the TRW competition to be a race mechanic at the WTCC was a real surprise and an unforgettable experience.
The technicians on the team were great and helped me to deepen my knowledge of the technical procedures for the race. Although I am a mechanic by trade, being a mechanic during in a race environment is a different, and exhilarating, experience.
I arrived at the Monza race track on Saturday morning where I was introduced to the team, had a tour of the track, given my list of jobs for the weekend and was kitted out in the official Chevrolet shirt.
Then it was time to get down to work to preparing Robert Huff's car for qualifying.
Here I am mounting the slicks for the qualifying - Robert Huff qualified second on the grid, so I must have done something right !
On the Saturday, TRW's customers were given a full briefing by Bruno Correia, the official TRW Safety car driver, where he explained the track, what to look out for and where to brake.
At 6 o’clock on Saturday evening I took part in the hot lap, for which I wore special Chevrolet racing fireproof overalls. It was a hot lap in more ways than one, with the overalls and helmet on it was sweltering in the car, but having the race experience inside the Chevrolet Cruze more than made up for the heat! Alain Menu, the driver for the lap, was supremely confident and it was great to see the track up close.
On Sunday, there was some final preparations to ensure everything was in the right position prior to the car going out for the race
The tyres have to be at the right temperature before being fitted to the car.
This is just minutes before the start of the race. All the hard work of the weekend was building up to this point !
Finally, I get to buckle in Robert Huff and there's just time for a quick handshake before the door is closed. This was a great experience, it was fantastic to be so closely involved!
During the two races on the Sunday, I held out the pit board for every lap so that the drivers knew their positions and lap times.
On the last lap of the last race, Robert Huff's tyre blew out, so he finished the race on 3 wheels - definitely nothing to do with me ! There's an interview about it with Rob here
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In the first race, Robert Huff came third and Yvan Muller came fourth and in the second race, Yvan Muller came first and Robert Huff came third. At the end of the weekend, I was given a certificate by Alain Menu - a fantastic memento of a fantastic weekend !