IGOR FRAGA
Gran Turismo champion, McLaren Shadow winner and now Red Bull Junior driver. Can the Brazilian turn sim-racing success into a motorsport career?
08:00
I wake up relatively early and have breakfast.
08:40 I’m currently competing in Gran Turismo’s virtual championships, so on the days that we have races, I’ll do a couple of hours of simulator testing first thing in the morning. I have some friends who I sometimes practise with, but I tend to practise by myself. If there’s no race, I do emails, phone calls, produce presentation materials to support my real-life racing or maybe some interviews.
10:30 It’s time to prepare for my training, getting the weights and everything in place. Since I’m living in my grandmother’s house during lockdown at the moment, I have to pack the weights away every time. But I’m lucky to have the equipment with me, so I’m able to get a workout.
11:00 I begin physical training at 11. The training is mostly for the real-life competition, because it’s really physically demanding. I do believe that this can help also on sim-racing too though, because being physically fit you might have better reactions and reflexes that can affect some of your decisions even on the virtual track.
12:30 Lunch, usually rice, beans, meat, vegetables and salad. Typical racing driver diet!
13:30 If it’s a race day, more simulator practice, I mostly practise exactly how the upcoming races are going to be. So I try different fuel and tyre strategies or different ways to drive to see which works best. Of course, I’ll also have to practise qualifying laps, looking for the maximum pace over a single lap.
14:40 Eat a snack, some yoghurt and fruit, and prepare for cycling.
15:00 Around an hour of cycling, to take care of the cardio element of training. I’m expecting my routine to change as part of joining the Red Bull Junior Team programme, but lockdown started as I entered it, so we’ve not been able to work on that yet. 16:10 Take a shower!
16:30 Yet more simulator practice. That’s about four hours in total on a virtual race day.
17:30 A coffee break with a bit of food, maybe an egg and some bread, to keep me going.
18:00 On the days I have the online championships I’ll be competing in my first online race at this time. Depending on my finishing position and the scoring system, I might end up having to do a second race. On the other days, I have to do some interviews, practise on the simulator, livestream on my Twitch channel or just relax.
20:30 Dinner, usually a similar meal to lunch, though one day I’ll have a cheat day to eat pizza.
21:00 A small amount of free time. I’m basically racing almost every day, whether that’s in reality or on simulators, so it’s crazy and I like to take time to do other stuff too. Recently I’ve been getting into photography and I’m enjoying that quite a lot. I also like to play acoustic guitar (I’m not that good yet) and spend time with family.