Townsville Bulletin

No P- plates but Rullo, 17, gets green light for Supercars licence

- JAMES PHELPS

SCHOOLBOY star Alex Rullo was officially given the green light yesterday with the Confederat­ion of Australian Motor Sport granting Australia’s youngest ever Supercars driver a full- time racing licence.

In the ultimate present for a teenage revhead, Rullo celebrated his 17th birthday after CAMS gifted his “SuperLicen­ce’’ at Hidden Valley before today’s first practice session for Darwin Triple Crown.

“It is a pretty cool birthday present,’’ he said. “Not a bad thing to get.’’

Rullo – who still does not have his P- plates – made history earlier this year when he became Supercars’ youngest full- time driver.

The Perth tyro made his championsh­ip debut in Adelaide at the age of 16 when he strapped down for Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport.

Rullo ( pictured) was granted a special licence for his barrierbre­aking debut and has had to reapply to drive before each race since. Not anymore.

“It is good to get it out of the way,’’ Rullo said. “And certainly a good thing to qualify for the licence. After the first two races the only thing that was holding me back was my age. Now nothing is.’’

A winner at just 14 when he powered his way to a third- tier victory against men, Rullo claimed the licence would not change his approach to racing.

“Really it doesn’t change too much,’’ Rullo said. “It is just another distractio­n out of the way I guess. For me it won’t be any different for me with the way I approach things. It was just an age criteria thing and at the end of the day it won’t change a lot for me except the applicatio­n process.’’

With a season- best finish of 20th, Rullo said he was slowly finding his feet in a sport where he is pitted against his heroes.

“I think we are getting to the stage where we can finally start pushing the limits,’’ Rullo said. “I think the first few rounds was really about finding my feet but I am really looking forward to having a good weekend here in Darwin. We have a bit of a break and I think that will suit us. I want to start finding some good results now and pointing some points on the board.’’

Still in high school in Perth, Rullo said he had not been overawed by his racing assignment.

“I don’t think I have been intimidate­d,’’ Rullo said.

“You have to gain respect and that is what I am trying to do. At Phillip Island I was in P8 and got to race those guys competitiv­ely so that was certainly a highlight. That was cool and I think that was the moment I settled in. I think I became just one of the drivers then.’’

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