Toddler to race at Ferrari festival
World's youngest racer has been invited by Italian brand to show-off his skills.
PT1M21S http://www.drive.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-35nfb 620 349 March 28, 2014 - 1:52PMA toddler with a need for speed will be racing around Sydney Motorsport Park as part of the Ferrari Racing Day festival in a fortnight.
Two-year old Piero Pascazio has been personally invited by the famous Italian brand to demonstrate his go-karting skills at the event, which his father hopes is the next step in his dream to groom him to drive for the company’s Formula One outfit.
The Gold Coast-based speedster will drive his specially-modified go-kart around one of the circuits at the western Sydney venue on April 12-13 and meet with Ferrari’s Formula One driver, Spaniard Marc Gene, who will perform similar demonstrations in a real F1 machine over the weekend.
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Toddler to race at Ferrari festival
Toddler to race at Ferrari festival
Pascazio is being touted by his father Joey as the world’s youngest racing driver, having started steering his go-kart around the Extreme Karting circuit on the Gold Coast earlier this year just after this second birthday.
He says his son – coincidentally named after his paternal grandfather who shares the same name as the second son of Ferrari’s founder, Enzo – has been hooked on motor racing since he was born when, at just one week old, he watched his first grand prix on television.
Since then, the self-confessed Ferrari fanatic has been grooming his toddler – whose go-kart is painted in Ferrari colours and sleeps with a teddy bear version of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso - for a date with destiny in grand prix racing, hoping he will become the first Australian to drive for the historic F1 team
“I’ve had this all planned out even before he was born,” Pascazio told Fairfax Media.
“His first word was car and now he just lives and breathes racing. His passion for it is amazing.
“I’ve tried to spread his interests around to soccer, baseball and other sports, but he just wants to drive his go-kart.”
Pascazio believes his son has already shown impressive skills behind the wheel of his little machine, which is limited to a top speed of 30km/h and has a remote emergency switch that he controls in case of emergency situations.
He hopes his appearance at the Ferrari festival could lead to more support from the Italian brand and eventually a place in its junior racing program.
Although Pascazio is extremely young, it is not unusual for high-profile racing teams to scout for protégés in their formative years. Former world champion, Lewis Hamilton, was picked-up by McLaren when he was 13-years old and current title holder, Sebastian Vettel, has also been groomed by Red Bull since he was a teenager.
“To succeed at something you have to start early these days,” said Pascazio, who himself moved to Italy as a teenager to play for Italian soccer club Juventus.
“Have a look at [Michael] Schumacher and [Sebastien] Vettel, they both started racing before they were five years old.
“And Lewis Hamilton was groomed by McLaren from an early age.
“Hopefully Piero could be the next big thing for motor sport in Australia.”
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