MANILA, Philippines - Enzo Pastor, who’s been burning rubber since he was young, will continue to bank on his skills and some stroke of luck as he pursues his dream of making it to the Sprint Cup Series, which is the mother of all NASCAR races.
Pastor, one the finest Filipino race car drivers around, has come a long way from the days he raced a go-kart and became a touring car and F3 standout and overall champion in the Asian Formula Renault in 2002.
In 2003, Pastor became the youngest Filipino F3 driver at 21. And in 2009, he finished second runner-up in the tough Macau Grand Prix to become the first Filipino on the podium after the late Dodjie Laurel.
Last year, Pastor, now 31, won five of nine races he entered in the Philippine National Touring Car Championship, raced in his fourth Macau GP and did his first Euro Racecar NASCAR race in Brands Hatch in England.
He said he’s just getting started.
“I just keep on trying. I am blessed. I also consider myself lucky always being at the right place at the right time,†said Pastor, who faced motoring scribes in a round-table discussion yesterday at Resorts World Manila.
Last March, in the opening leg of the 2013 Euro Racecar NASCAR at Nogaro in France, Pastor finished fourth – just a few seconds short of the podium.
It wasn’t really a good start because right in the first corner two cars spun in front of him. He ended up on the grass and got stuck. When he rejoined the race he was in 21st place. But he inched his way back, overtaking 17 cars for a hard-earned fourth-place finish.
“At one point I was two seconds away from the third car. But the gap grew to seven seconds,†he said.
Pastor said he would rather forget what happened in the second leg a couple of weeks back at Circuit Dijon-Prenois in France. He felt he was “bullied†during the race, getting hit five times by three different cars.
“After the race, the front half of my car was smooth but the rear was... Did they have anything against me? I don’t know. It was a race to forget,†he said.
Still, his effort at Nogaro caught the eyes of Andy Woolgar, team manager of Creation Cope Racing, who invited the Filipino driver to this year’s K&N Pro Series East, a regional stock car racing series owned and run by the US arm of NASCAR.
The invitation was coursed through his father, Tom Pastor, the man behind the Philippine Formula Autosports Foundation, Inc. (PFAFI).
Nobody turns down such invitation.
On Aug. 24, Pastor will make his debut in the K&N series at the Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia, and on Oct. 18 for the second leg – the Road Atlanta race in Braselton, Georgia.
If he gets lucky, all he has to do is to wait for the chance to make it to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, which is the top racing series in NASCAR.
It’s the F1 of Formula racing.
“And not just anyone can jump in and race. You need to be chosen then tested then trained. You just can’t walk in unknown and race at NASCAR,†said Pastor of the series which is highly followed in the United States.
“That’s why everyone wants to get in. And there’s a long line. It’s never easy. I’m lucky being invited. I’ve been lucky throughout the years since I went international in 2002,†said Pastor.
But while he waits for his K&N debut, the boyish-looking racer who can only laugh talking about the hellish Manila traffic said he won’t waste time by competing in the remaining legs of the Euro Racecar.
On Tuesday, he leaves for England for the third leg of the Euro Racecar again at Brands Hatch. He knows what to expect.
“Definitely I want to land in the top three,†said Pastor.
How does he intend to do it?
“Stay out of trouble,†he said.