PIRRO FOLLOWS IN HIS FATHER’S FOOTSTEPS
This year’s Festival was missing some of its regular returning stars such as Niall Murray and Joey Foster, but one standout name on the entry list was Goffredo Pirro.
Son of five-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Emanuele Pirro, the 24-year-old was making his UK racing debut and his first appearance in Formula Ford.
In fact, he has little racing experience to call upon at all, mostly sharing classic GTS and touring cars with his father.
“I’m trying to, in the least possible time, apply as much of my engineering knowledge to supplement the lack of driving,” said Pirro Jr, an engineer for Italian Formula 4 title winner Prema Powerteam. “I think it helps you analyse what’s going on [but] sometimes it’s a little bit of a hindrance because it’s hard to turn off all the engineering brain.”
Pirro Sr competed in Italy’s Formula Fiat Abarth in his junior career, but recognised “Formula Ford was a very good category since I started”, and says
“it’s been sort of a family dream” for his son to compete in the category.
“We are really happy to be here with a very humble attitude,” he said. “Thank God, a lot of fathers have taught me what not to do as a father! We are quite discreet and humble people. My theory in the education
I tried to give to him and his brother was always show them with example, but then let them do their own mistakes because there is no better way to learn than by doing it your own way.
“I feel from father to son there is a special empathy, and I feel almost like I’m racing myself.”
Pirro Jr added: “It’s a dream come true and it’s such a cool event. When you see the list of winners, and people that have taken part, I almost feel bad being on the same list as some of those guys.”
Run by 2018 winner Oldfield Motorsport, Pirro was eighth in his heat, but was collected by a spinner in his semi-final. From the back of the last-chance race, he carved through to fifth before finishing 22nd in the final.