KELOWNA TEEN ON TRACK FOR BIG THINGS
Fifteen-year-old set to take on Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
It might not have the star power or profile of the heydays of the 1990s, but there’s a quiet Canadian open-wheel racer renaissance taking place on the world’s top race tracks.
Montreal’s Lance Stroll is competing in his sophomore season in the sport’s ultimate series, Formula One; Oakville, Ont.’s James Hinchcliffe is one of the most recognizable IndyCar racers in the world; 29-year-old Robert Wickens of Toronto is having a sensational rookie season in IndyCar; and Montreal’s Zachary Claman De Melo, also a rookie, finished 19th in the recent Indy 500.
Of the four, only Stroll will be on track during this weekend at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Montreal’s Notre Dame Island. But many eyes up and down the pit wall will be on another Canadian racer, Marco Kacic. As much as the above-mentioned hot shoes represent the current generation of Canadian open-wheel stars, the Kelowna born-andraised 15-year-old is firmly in the driver’s seat of representing the next. Marco is in his first season competing in Toyo Tires F1600 Championships, which holds two races during the Montreal F1 weekend. He’s one of five drivers entered by Montreal’s Exclusive Autosport team, and is driving a car sponsored by Vancouverbased electric vehicle builder Meccanica, Guayaki Organic Bread, HUB, ORG, New Balance Vancouver, Area 27 and Siemens.
Like most, if not all, of the drivers on track in Montreal this weekend, Marco cut his teeth in go-karts, beginning for fun at age five, then in organized racing at age eight.
“My dad had a team, so I thought it would be cool,” the Grade 9 student said on the phone from his West Kelowna home earlier this week. “When I first started it was just more for fun, but when I started getting older I became more serious about it.
“And when I went to cars, about a year ago, it got a lot more serious, knowing that that’s what I wanted to do.”
That’s what his father wanted to do too. Danny Kacic grew up