10 Questions with Alex Cascatău (BMW Clubsport Trophy driver)

How did it all start for you?

I got my passion for cars from my father. He used to watch F1 when I was young, and I enjoyed watching with him. Even then I loved to see the onboard camera footage and I tried to understand what the drivers were doing to go fast. He also used to let me drive when we went to the countryside. It was always the same piece of road which was very empty, but also had some corners. Soon enough I wanted to go faster and faster on it so he had to slow me down and manage my speed to be safe. I was hooked from a young age and I loved the feeling of driving, especially through turns, but I realized that you couldn’t go very fast on public roads without high risks and you couldn’t learn that much. That’s when I decided to go to my local karting track as much as I could, and then I just went on from that to racing karts and so on.

What’s the most difficult thing about being a racing driver?

At the level I’m doing it, it’s definitely finding the budget to race every year. Racing is expensive and you need to practice a lot to get good results. Track time is therefore costly, so I try to use simulation as much as I can, to keep myself sharp. Usually I am very fast in learning new cars and tracks, but there are times when the lack of experience and track time will play a role, especially when it comes to finding those last tenths.

If you weren’t a racing driver, what would you be doing?

I would still be involved in racing in one way or the other – be it as a team owner, engineer, designer or photographer.