PORSCHE POTENTIAL
Local racer in the running
Roman De Angelis doesn’t do waiting very well.
The 18-year-old De Angelis’s patience is being tested this week as he’s one of 12 junior drivers from around the world waiting to hear Porsche’s decision whether he’s been awarded a sponsorship on next year’s Mobil Supercup circuit. Porsche will announce the winner of its’ annual Junior Shootout Friday.
“Looking back over five years, I wouldn’t have thought I’d won the two (GT3 Canada and GT3 U.S. series) championships or get on the podium at (the Rolex 24 Hours of ) Daytona this year, so I definitely never imagined being invited to the Junior Shootout,” said De Angelis, who is the first driver to win the Canadian and U.S. series titles in the same year.
“This year has been crazy. It just seems to have all clicked.”
The Porsche Mobil Supercup follows the F1 calendar and the circuit’s 24 drivers compete in the preliminary races before the F1 race.
The Junior Shootout winner will be selected based on their performance in a series of tests measuring their attributes in variety of areas both on and off the racetrack. The annual event was held last week in Portimao, Portugal.
Porsche invited De Angelis after he won a combined 22 of 28 GT3 series races in North America.
The series features Porsche’s high performance 911 GT3 sports cars capable of speeds up to 320 kilometres per hour.
“It was the best of the best from around the world,” said De Angelis, who was the youngest driver in a group that ranged from late teens to mid-20s.
“It was a very demanding three days. They were 14-hour days.”
The first day was dedicated to probing and testing the drivers on their physical and mental ability and communication skills.
“I felt like an astronaut,” said De Angelis of the rigorous testing.
“They really pushed you. They fry your brain with tests for 40 minutes. “You’re mentally dead after that.”
The on-track testing took place over the final two days, though the drivers were never put up against one another.
“It was a technically demanding track,” said De Angelis who ran for Kelly-moss Road and Race in the U.S. and Mark Motors in Canada this year.
“It wasn’t just about being fast, but also how much you improved. I felt really good about how much I progressed over the two days.”
If selected, De Angelis would become the first Canadian to achieve that feat.
It would join a growing list of firsts for the Lakeshore native.
The first-year University of Windsor engineering student is the only driver to ever win the Canadian and U.S. season championships in the same year in the 50-year history of the International Motor Sports Association.
At 16 he was also the youngest driver to ever win a Porsche GT3 Cup race and the youngest to win the season points’ championship.
“It’s the competition of a single-person sport,” said De Angelis of his draw to racing. “I know we have a team, but they can’t jump in the car during a race. I love the speed rush and adrenalin.
“It’s an addiction I guess.” However, that doesn’t mean De Angelis is moving through life so fast that the world is a blur.
Through an American sponsor, Medical Trust Properties, De Angelis and his team have struck up a relationship with the Children’s Hospital of Alabama.
Vinyl handprints bearing the names of children being treated there adorn his car in races. Kelly-moss holds an auction to raise money for the hospital to start each season and De Angelis visits the Birmingham hospital.
After winning the U.S. championship this fall, De Angelis donated the Porsche Carrera he’d won to the hospital for use at events and to give the children rides. The car’s exterior was replicated complete with the children’s handprints.
“Visiting those children really hits you right in the chest,” De Angelis said.
“I like winning, but I feel like I’m racing for all those kids with their hand prints on the car. They show all our races in the hospital, so I know they’re watching.
“It’s a pretty special partnership.”