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Kimiya Sato confident Vittorio Ghirelli can be beaten in Auto GP

Auto GP title contender Kimiya Sato is confident he can usurp points leader Vittorio Ghirelli in the series finale despite not having raced at Brno before

The Euronova Racing driver led the championship at the halfway stage but has retired twice in the past six races, falling 11 points behind Ghirelli in the process.

Despite being frustrated by the nature in which he has fallen back in the title race, he believes his inexperience will not cost him over the final weekend of the season.

"It is a strange situation," said Sato, who has won four times this season. "It really shouldn't be that we go into Brno second in the standings, it is not what we expected.

"I have heard that Brno has high tyre wear [so] tyre management could be important, and we need to remain focused on the longer distance races, as on heavy fuel tanks we have had a few problems with braking.

"I had never been to Monza and Marrakech, but I won races and scored podiums. I believe at Brno can we fight properly with the Super Nova drivers."

While Sato is optimistic, fellow Brno rookie Sergio Campana is more reserved about his chances of overcoming Ghirelli's 17-point advantage.

"In the last laps [at Donington] when I was on my own the pace was very good," said Campana, who led the points after the races at Mugello but has slipped to third in the standings.

"The incident was a pity because this time my car was good but I didn't take the points that were possible. In the previous race I lost a lot of time in the pits.

"If I had just said 'OK, I'll arrive third' then it would have been no problem, but I was trying to achieve the maximum. For me, this final part of the season at Brno will be difficult."

Ghirelli's Super Nova team-mate Narain Karthikeyan also has a mathematical shot at the title.

Meanwhile, organisers have announced details of AutoGP's two-day post-season test. It will be held three weeks after the title decider, at Jerez on October 28-29.

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