RFM Front Page News

Photos courtesy Jamie Longmuir
MONTREAL, Quebec, Canada (August 26, 2006) — Nicky Pastorelli is a realist, an optimist and a hard worker. “My goal,” he said, “is to get the most out of [the situation] as possible, and the future will tell how successful I will be.” The 23 year old Dutchman grew up around cars; his father had a garage, and he helped his father work on cars from an early age. He can’t really remember his first race as a spectator because he was only a month old! But from the age of 10 when he started in karts, he has known that he wanted to make racing his career.

Pastorelli did most of his racing in Europe, including test driving in Formula One for Minardi and Jordan, and he was the first driver to be officially introduced in Midland F1’s “Young Driver Development Programme” to help promising junior drivers develop their talent. He came to Champ Cars this year, and he has been enjoying the challenges and the opportunity to mix with the entire community of Champ Car people. “I really like racing in North America,” he said. “The tracks are more varied here, you get a much more rounded training as we race on streets, road courses, ovals and airports! In Formula One and in the European series the tracks are more similar.” Montreal is a good European track, he agreed, where it is necessary to be more aggressive and difficult to learn.

This year was the first time Pastorelli had ever been on an oval, and he can’t say he likes driving on them although he found Milwaukee a challenge. “Maybe we should run on two ovals in a season,” he suggested, “just for the experience it gives to us. I wouldn’t want to do more than that.” His favourite Champ Car track is Road America, which he considers the most European track the Champ Cars run on. “It’s a very technical track,” he explained. “The track flows under you like the European tracks, and it is very beautiful too. We had a test session there and I am very much looking forward to doing a race there.”

As for the contrast in the paddocks between North America and Europe, well there is no comparison. “In Champ Cars,” said Nicky, “everyone gathers together and there are many more fans – every track except Milwaukee (the one oval track) had lots of fans and the drivers had plenty of time to talk to them and the fans are very knowledgeable. In Formula One you just stay in your trailer and you never see anybody but sponsors and some journalists. Formula One cars are the fastest cars in the world, but in Champ Cars you don’t have all the electronics so a Champ Car is more a driver’s car. All in all I like this series very much!”

Nicky is looking forward to next year’s season when the entire field will go into the new Panoz DP01 car. “They are completely different from the cars we have now,” he said. “The aero, the paddle shifters, and the look of the car – it’s fantastic. And everyone will be starting at zero with these cars, so we’ll all have a time learning how to handle them at once.”

As for plans for 2007, those are still up in the air. “I hope I will be back for 2007,” he said frankly. “We are talking now and although the plans are not firmed up at this time, things are looking good. Rocketsports gives all their drivers the maximum and although the team has had three different drivers this year, I don’t feel that it has handicapped us in any way.”

Nicky had a struggle during first qualifying, but he remains optimistic that his attitude of getting the maximum out of the car and the situation in which he finds himself will lead him to success this weekend. “I could get in the top five,” he said, “or the top 10 (he has had two top-10 finishes this year) – it depends a lot on the weather (rain is expected) and what the others do, of course. We’ll see.” He believes in making the best of each and every day, whatever it may bring.

Nicky Pastorelli’s motto in life is “Never give up.” With strong will and determination on his side, he will always be one to watch.