16yr old racing driver Damani delivers impressive performance despite engine trouble throughout first race weekend
16 year old Damani Marcano had his car racing debut in the Volkswagen Racing Cup this weekend (4th – 6th April) in his Team HARD VW Golf GTiR Cup Car, wrapped in an impressive design by Bossdog Graphics. Damani raced well throughout but unfortunately experienced engine problems all weekend, starting on Friday at testing. An engine change on Friday resulted in 40kg of penalty ballast added to the car, further disadvantaging him. During qualifying on Saturday he suffered more engine issues leaving him with no power. Damani scraped through with the regulation minimum 3 laps, placing him 28th and last on the grid. In race 1, with the problems apparently resolved and on his first opportunity to push in the dry at Oulton Park he surprised everyone delivering mid-pack pace finishing 23rd.
In round 2 his result looked promising, delivering some convincing overtakes taking him up to 20th, only for engine issues to return after a spin in the second chicane – leading to him having to nurse a sick car through the last few laps. Back on the grid for round 3 it seemed there were more engine issues on the rolling up lap. After a pit-lane start and a few laps in still with no power, Damani had to retire from the race.
A particularly challenging first race weekend for the young driver, but many lessons were learnt and most importantly, when the car performed well Damani showed his potential, overtaking and gaining on other drivers with far more experience behind the wheel of a car. With the rest of the season ahead spectators are keen to see what Damani can do as he gains experience and as the issues with the car are ironed out.
Tony Gilham, Team Principal of Team HARD comments: “Damani showed surprising mid-pack pace this weekend and some great overtakes. We knew Damani had potential but to be mid-pack already with so little experience on his first dry laps at Oulton Park was unexpected. It was a shame that the car struggled with a number of technical issues over the weekend, limiting Damani’s opportunity but when he had the chance to show people what he can do he delivered way beyond everyone’s expectations.”
Team HARD racing driver Damani Marcano describes his feelings of the weekend: “This was probably the most enjoyable race weekend I’ve ever had compared to karts, even with all the problems. The atmosphere in the paddock was amazing and when I had the car underneath me the racing was even better. I can’t thank Team HARD enough for working so hard to fix the technical problems but in the end these got in the way of me finding out what I could really do.”
With so little experience behind the wheel of a car compared to his adult peers, Damani surprised many with the lap-times he achieved even carrying the 40kgs of extra weight for the engine change penalty. Damani’s personal best lap of 1m 58.6s in his first 6 laps in dry conditions at Oulton Park was comparable to experienced adults who finished as high as 15th.
Damani adds: “I am very happy to know that even with 40kgs of ballast that I could achieve mid-pack pace in so few laps of experience. This was amazing really as it was my first real experience of driving a car in the dry. I know that the time I spent on the simulators at Lets Race and at Ultimate RCE helped me get used to the track before I got there. The coaching sessions on the pro-grade simulator at Pro-Sim with Adrian Quaife-Hobbs helped me fine-tune my lines so Oulton Park in the dry for the first time felt somehow familiar. Driving the car for real is very different so I really wasn’t expecting to be anywhere near the pace I achieved, and to do my first overtakes in car racing already was an amazing buzz!”
Watch Damani’s personal best lap from the weekend, in his first opportunity to drive Oulton Park circuit in the dry during race 1 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_uCh4mf_OA
Watch Damani’s karting story, “A Drive to Drive”, on YouTube; a video previously used to support his racing career crowd-funding campaign: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ8ALt9AyMI
For more information, photography or to arrange an interview with Damani please do get in touch.
Ends
Editor’s Notes
Issued on behalf of Damani Marcano by In The Bag PR.
For further information please contact Pippa Gibb on 07970 441 046 or email pippa@inthebagpr.co.uk
Photo credit for ‘Featured Image': Jack Taylor, Definitive
Damani pilots a fully race prepared VW Golf GTI R Cup Car in the Volkswagen Racing Cup alongside regular proven and experienced racing drivers. Racing in the VW Cup will be Damani’s first step on a multi-year programme to eventually race in the British Touring Car Championships (BTCC).
VW Golf GTiR Cup Car: a 250 bhp race-prepared hatch-back capable of speeds of up to 150mph. These cars are based on a road car but stripped of all parts, not essential to racing, and fitted with a safety roll-cage meeting safety regulations of the VW Racing Cup. Additional differences are adjustable racing suspension and racing tyres that increase the amount of grip, and therefore cornering speeds, that the car is then capable of.
For more background on Damani, please see: damanimarcano.com/about
You can follow Damani’s journey:
On Twitter (@DKMRacing)
On Facebook (www.facebook.com/DKMRacing)
On YouTube (www.youtube.com/DKMRacingTV)
2015, Featured, press, Team-HARD, VW Racing Cup
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