16 year old school boy racing driver, Damani Marcano, competed at Snetterton this weekend as part of the VW Racing Cup. In this, the penultimate race of the series, Damani has shown determination and real progression.
Team HARD Principal Tony Gilham comments: “I’m incredibly proud of Damani’s performance this weekend, as he can’t drive a car on a daily basis he doesn’t have the same level of exposure as the other drivers all have and I feel the way he enters a race and begins afresh each time is very impressive. This weekend was particularly special as Damani’s pace, race craft and lessons learnt have all come on leaps and bounds from when he began.”
Damani qualified this weekend matching a lap time, which over the previous couple of years, would have seen him very much towards the front of the pack. After a good start in race 1 he was unfortunately involved in an incident on the track that put him to the back at the start of race 2. Damani fought his way forward to be met with the same driver that put him out in race 1, after battling for some time on the track Damani pulled a difficult manoeuvre on the outside and moved past. With only 1 lap left of the race Damani continued to push himself to the limit and completed his fastest lap of the race.
Tony continues: “The progression that Damani has made in this weekend alone is astounding, he really came of age as a racing driver. His pace, his technical ability and his skill at mastering difficult manoeuvres is all testament to his natural ability and he really demonstrated the talent I first noticed in him. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do next weekend, and indeed in the future.”
Supported over the weekend by Team HARD, The Clever Baggers and RiverGlide, Damani really put his racing skills to the test, competing against drivers with 16yrs + more experience than him. To train for such races Damani uses ProSim simulators to learn the course, this helps immensely but cannot fully prepare Damani for taking the turns at speed and the g-forces that come with this!
Team HARD racing driver Damani Marcano comments: “The highlight of the weekend for me was definitely when I achieved my fastest lap of the weekend in race 1. Knowing that this was approaching front running pace a couple of years ago in this championship really boosted my confidence. I feel more at home on the track now and I’m really looking forward to what the future holds. To hear from Tony that I ‘came of age as a racing driver’ this weekend is amazing and I’m really proud of myself and my progression. I’m itching to get back out there!”
Damani is the youngest driver in the Volkswagen Racing Cup, a major UK racing series held as part of the British GT Championship race weekends. He began his first step into racing cars this year with the backing of Team HARD Racing, the largest team in the Volkswagen Racing Cup and a fan favourite in the British Touring Car Championships. Up against experienced adult drivers, Damani is the only competitor in the series who is too young to hold a road driving license.
Watch Damani’s story, “A Drive to Drive”, on YouTube; a video that supports his racing career crowd-funding (patreon.com/DKMRacing & gofundme.com/DKMRacing) and commercial sponsorship campaigns: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TV_TbaCQuA
For more information, photography or to arrange an interview with Damani please do get in touch.
Title photo by SiNiMi Photography.
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
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
For more information on The Clever Baggers please see: www.thecleverbaggers.co.uk
You can follow Damani’s journey:
On Twitter (@DKMRacing)
On Facebook (www.facebook.com/DKMRacing)
On YouTube (www.youtube.com/DKMRacingTV)
2015, Car Racing, Featured, Motorsport, Team-HARD, VW Racing Cup
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