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Tonio news in a brief	30 June 2009
Although the A1GP Season has ended and F1 is having it's summer break, Tonio is still busy with keeping is fitness level up and attending some events in Europe. In mid May, Tonio visited the first DTM race for the season at Hockenheim, together with his girlfriend. They were a guest of Collin Kolles, who owns an Audi powered DTM team. A week later, during the Monaco Grand Prix, Tonio and his girlfriend were at the Amber Fashion Show, where they showed some clothes on the catwalk for charity. Tonio, a normally somewhat eccentric dresser, was transformed in urban chic, while his girlfriend was dressed in a stylish grey dress. Finally in June, Tonio entered a poker competition from Party Poker Racing, where he played against other well known sportsmen, like team mate Giancarlo Fisichella, Jacques Villeneuve, Frank Leboeuf and Phil Taylor. Who said that life as a racing driver is boring?!

Tonio hopes test seat leads to F1 race role	05 May 2009
Tonio has admitted he accepted a two-year role as Force India test driver because of the prospect of a 2010 race seat. The 27-year-old Italian recently returned to race action in the A1GP series, but admitted to Speedweek that his hopes are high for a Formula One drive next year. He told an Italian magazine last month that while Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil's contracts are expiring, he already has a Force India agreement through to 2011. He revealed: "My best chance is with Force India, it is the reason I was happy with the role as the test and spare driver for two years. There are certain prospects for a place as the main driver in 2010."

A1 Grand Prix Brands Hatch: Feature race & Sprint race	03 May 2009
This season's A1GP adventure of Tonio ended on Sunday at Brands Hatch with an overall improving pace that eventually helped him to land 2 points at the end of the feature race. The driver from Locorotondo, Italy, who is currently part of the Force India Formula 1 team, faced two difficult comeback races. In the sprint race, he made his way back to the top-10 despite the few laps available, thanks to a great start, a fast pit-stop and a good overall pace. On the feature race, he reclaimed even more spots at takeoff, before suffering from understeer problems that increased his gap from the cars in front. He made a couple of further steps, ending up in 9th and scoring 2 valuable points for Team Italy. Afterwards, he said: "We knew that, on a track like Brands Hatch with no big passing areas, it would have been tough to recover. We found a solution to yesterday's problems, but it definitely came too late to aim at a top spot. We worked on the braking system and radically changed the set-up with positive results. I made good starts in both races. The first and shorter race was more concentrated, we came back as we could, we kept pushing during the pit-stop and on-track too. The feature race was pretty unchanging. I passed many cars again at takeoff, then I just kept my position due to the wide margins between me and the other cars around. We pushed very hard and I'm happy that we've scored some points at this difficult track. What I think about A1GP? I like the car and the format of the championship, but Formula 1 is still my priority."

A1 Grand Prix Brands Hatch: Qualifying	02 May 2009
The problems suffered by Tonio at Brands Hatch continued on Saturday during the two qualifying sessions for the final round of the 2008-2009 A1 Grand Prix Of Nations. After suffering from serious brake issues yesterday, A1GP Team Italy had a tough time finding the right balance for the tough and twisty racetrack. The main problems are still the brakes, as well as the general grip level, especially on the bumpy areas. As a consequence, despite the hard driving, results didn't match expectations in the two qualifying sessions. Tonio will take off from the 16th spot on the grid for the sprint race and from the 18th spot for the feature race. Afterwards, he commented: "The situation is definitely not good in terms of results. After the positive approach experienced at Portimao we expected more here, but we started suffering from brake problems since yesterday. Despite the slight improvement, we can't find the right balance due to the lack of grip and the unstable handling. In some corner I feel fast, on other places I feel oversteer, understeer and bumping. We're revamping our set-up for tomorrow's races. We haven't given up, and we hope to fight back to the top, though we don't expect to be as competitive as seen in Portugal."

A1 Grand Prix Brands Hatch: Practice	01 May 2009
Tonio experienced a troubled start in the first practice session for the final event of the 2009 A1 Grand Prix season. The Italian, at his second start with his Nation's team, suffered from brake troubles. On the Kent racetrack, in it's longer Grand Prix configuration, Tonio tried to climb up the order with an unstable car, but eventually ended his day with an off-track excursion that damaged the right front suspension. The day ended on the 16th spot for Tonio, who will be back on-track tomorrow for the final practice session and qualifying session. Tonio commented: "We suffered from a problem to the braking system, that was acting only on the rear wheels. The same issue caused the contact with the retaining barriers. The main problem is having lost half an hour that could have proved really useful in setting up the car. Before the issue though, we were off to a good start. The car's balance seems optimized compared to Portimao, and we're not beaten down by the setback suffered today. Brands Hatch is a really difficult and technical racetrack, somehow old-school and very bumpy. In many corners there is just one possible line, and that might prevent from passing, but it's nice to make a jump in the past sometimes..."

Liuzzi eyes Brands Hatch glory	30 April 2009
Tonio believes he and A1 Team Italy can fight towards the front again at Brands Hatch – despite it being a circuit he has never driven before. The Force India F1 test driver joined the Italian squad in the Algarve earlier this month for the first of two race weekends this season, scoring the team’s best result of 2008/09 with a fourth place in the Sprint race. It was Tonio's first open single-seater race for one and a half years. As the Autodromo Algarve was a new circuit, nobody had any experience of the track, however, the majority of drivers have raced at Brands Hatch, either in A1GP itself or in junior formulas. Surprisingly for a European driver, the popular Brands Hatch track is a circuit 28-year-old Tonio has never been to, but he insists he improved enough over the Algarve weekend to believe he will still be one of the major contenders at the UK round of the championship on 3 May. "Every driver has a different history, and you cannot just say because someone has raced in Formula One that they can come to A1GP and win pole or perform well," he told A1GP.com. "My aim was to come to A1GP, race fast and get used to the racing feeling again. Overall we can be happy because we brought A1 Team Italy to pole position in Algarve and were strong in races and fighting for high points. Initially I felt a bit lost. I thought it would take a while to get used to it but experience counts for a lot. I ended up really upset (with the crash in the feature race) because we could have gained a lot of points. But there is still a lot to come because I’m still learning; I never stop learning. I was pretty annoyed in the Algarve because of the overall result but we showed that we are pretty fast and strong.We want to show the fans that our performance in the Algarve was not a one off. We believe strongly in our potential so I think we can fight for good results at Brands Hatch. Tonio said he loved the chance to race again, after sitting on the bench testing Formula One cars since 2007. "I love to race, so when Force India gave me the chance to be back experiencing the feeling of racing, competing with others, fighting in battle, starts, all these feelings I haven’t had for one and half years, it was great. We had a positive weekend and it was good to be in Portimao."

Speedcar Series Bahrain: Race 2 - Tonio wins!	26 April 2009
Although Tonio couldn't win this season's championship anymore, he ended his first Speedcar Series season on the best possible way: with a win! After starting from the 5th position on the grid, the Force India test driver was on a charge, and after passing Al Maktoum on lap 8, he hunted down Biagi. After briefly getting ahead on lap 12 he finally made the move stick on lap 14, and thereafter he eased away to score his third win of the year, guaranteeing the teams' title for his UP Team. He said: "I had a clean and controlled race. I was trying to save the tyres, because yesterday we had a problem in the last 10 laps. I think we did the best we could do this weekend, with a first and a third. My target was to win the teams’ championship because with the bad luck we’ve had with the transmission we were unable to fight for the drivers’ championship." After today's win, Tonio's final championship position is 3rd, while his team finished 1st in the teams' championship standings. Therefore, Liuzzi Fan Base would like to congratulate Tonio and his UP Team with their great performance this season, well done! Tonio's next race will be his second A1GP race on 2 - 3 May at Britain's Brands Hatch circuit, let's hope he can fight for a victory again!

Speedcar Series Bahrain: Race 1	25 April 2009
Johnny Herbert scored a dominant win in the penultimate round of the Speedcar Series on Saturday morning in Bahrain, while Tonio scored a podium when he finished 3rd. After a good start Tonio began to pressure Frentzen. However as the Italian crossed the line at the end of the fourth lap, Alesi suffered a spectacular engine failure, and pulled over to park next to the pit wall. Having avoided the slowing Alesi, just seconds later Tonio took a dive down the inside of Frentzen into turn 1. The two cars rubbed paintwork as they entered the corner side-by-side, but Tonio locked up, and sailed straight on. He didn't lose too much time, and was soon pushing the German once again for what had now become second place. Finally, the gap between Tonio and Frentzen was less then 2,5 seconds at the finish line. Tonio commented: "I was eventually able to move to 3rd spot and clinch a podium finish. Johnny Herbert was really unstoppable out front, but I battled Heinz-Harald for 2nd. We even passed each other a couple of times, but unfortunately, differential problems made exiting corners very difficult, and I had to settle for the final podium spot. Since our chances to fight for title were already washed away in the past races by technical problems, I'll start Race 2 with the intent of moving to 4th place in standings." Tonio is now 5th in the standings with 35 points and 16 points behind leader Gianni Morbidelli. With only one race to go, the title can still be won by Frentzen, Herbert and Morbidelli. It's going to be a hot and intense race tomorrow in Bahrain!
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