“In typical Charly fashion he came in for one-minute chat and stayed for two-and-a-half hours him dressed in his finest BMW Motorsport team gear, me in the best that Bonds had to offer. “At about 20:00 I was fast asleep, then bang, bang, bang at the door, I open it in my undies and there’s Charly Lamm. “I didn’t tell Charly (Lamm, Schnitzer team boss), who came looking for me. “I arrived at midday, did the test, then I was so buggered that I went back to the hotel to rest. “Getting to the Schnitzer test was a mission the trains were down in London so I had to bus it to Stanstead Airport and sleep there on the floor, then caught a Ryanair red-eye from Stanstead to Dusseldorf. “I was staying with my sister-in-law, sleeping on the lounge floor, sometimes on the couch,” Minal said. Through Ceprnich he had the opportunity to work with Schnitzer Motorsport at a test in Germany, then landed an interview with Ian Pocock, Engineering Director at the Jaguar Formula 1 team. With no job sorted but the bright lights of Europe beckoning, Minal packed his bags and headed to the United Kingdom, where he couch surfed and worked in a pub to the north of London.Īfter three months of hard grind, in the space of a week his fortunes changed. That driver was Augusto Farfus, who would win the Euro Formula 3000 title with Draco that year. “So he passed the phone to his young driver who I spoke to about the possibilities for a job.” “I rang Draco and wanted to speak to Adriano Morini, but Morini doesn’t speak any English,” Minal explained. Lunetta put Minal in contact with Adriano Morini, founder of Draco Racing, which at the time fielded a Formula 3000 team based out of Italy. He also crossed paths with Carlo Lunetta, who had formerly worked with Osella, Birrana, and Ferrari. His first paying job in the sport was not a glamorous one, mopping the floors and other janitorial tasks, but it earned him the money he needed to survive and continue working towards his goal. His break, however, came courtesy of Chris Smerdon, where he’d been working as a volunteer while still studying and holding down a job pouring beers. He had a spell with Stone Brothers, where he met and formed lasting friendships with Campbell Little and Paul Ceprnich, the latter of whom would play a key role in Minal’s career abroad. Taking the initiative, a trait that he has maintained throughout his career, he began calling teams across the country, offering his services simply to get experience in the industry. That decision to return to university set the course of Minal’s life. “Anyway, I did biomedical, then after that I pushed back and went into mechanical engineering because I enjoyed the racing.” “There was no money for a jack stand, so I used to fix up my Fiat propped up on chunks of old tree trunk and used a busted skateboard for a GoJak. “While I was doing biomedical I used to go to Mallala with an old rusty Fiat 124. Minal at the wheel of his Fiat 124 at Mallala “At that time my parents really pushed me to do medicine and I ended up doing biomedical engineering. “I used to watch Schnitzer, Smoking Joe (Joachim Winkelhock), Alain Menu and the like, really fantastic racing back in the day. “When I was in uni, I used to nerd out watching BTCC, the old DTM we’re talking early ‘90s,” he told. Minal is not one to boast, preferring to play his cards close to his chest and let his work do the talking.īut his is a fascinating story, one driven by passion, hard work, determination, and strong personalities. You can click on each driver to visit their dedicated page for additional information.From Mallala to Monza, Silverstone to Suzuka, Nurburgring and beyond, there are not many places Minal Kanagasundaram’s love of motorsport hasn’t taken him.īorn in Sri Lanka, he grew up in Brunei before his family moved to Australia when he was 12 years old, where he fell in love with motorsport.Ī competitor, engineer, team manager, and much everything else as needed, he’s one of the most rounded and experienced figures in Australian motorsport.Īnd yet it took some prodding for this article. The list is in order of starting Overall Rating and includes drivers removed via game updates. This is a list of all drivers available in the game and which rank you need to be in to unlock them.
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