PLAY MOVIES FASSBENDER CHASES PODIUMS

Fassbender thought he was going to be sick. But the two- time Oscar nominee, 41, was not in front of the camera in a demanding new role. The stage fright was a totally new experience: He was moments away from racing a car for the first time.

“I was extremely nervous, to the point that I was in the toilets,” Fassbender says.

“I thought I was going to throw up. I didn’t, but I was very close.”

That was last year, when the amateur driver made his debut in the Ferrari Challenge series. “You’re racing nose- to- bumper at high speed,” Fassbender says. “The Ferrari cars have an awful lot of horse power. If you lose the back end you have to catch a tow quickly, or you leave the track.”

He clinched his first podium the same year, a third place at the rain- soaked Mosport race in Ontario, Canada.

“Emotions were bubbling up inside of me when I approached the line. Thankfully my coach hadn’t told me my position, but I knew I’d passed a lot of cars.”

Now, he’s chasing podiums. In January, he was first at Daytona, following that up with a second place and a third place at other races. The German- born Irish actor is popular worldwide. He was nominated for Oscars for his roles in Steve Jobs and 12 Years a Slave, and is instantly recognisable from XMen films. Fassbender is not the only actor to discover a passion for racing, after movie stars like Steve McQueen and Paul Newman. More recently, Grey’s Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey enjoyed success in pro- am racing at the 24 Hours Le Mans.

“Patrick has been so great for me,” Fassbender says. “He always texts me at race weekends, asks me how I’m doing, and gives me really solid advice.”