10/04/2013
NEWS STORY
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Mention Essex to most people these days and the image that immediately springs to mind is fake tans, boob jobs, whinny accents and almost total vacuity. One of the biggest counties in England, Essex not only has some beautiful countryside, some of it just a few miles outside London, but a rich history.
Other than Brentwood, home of the infamous reality programme that we refuse to mention, Romford is another Essex town that has built up an increasingly poor image, much of it undeserved.
Yet, the historic market town, other than being where Pitpass is headquartered, has produced a couple of well-known racers. F1 and Le Mans star Jackie Oliver, who also owned the Arrows F1 team is from Chadwell Heath, while Johnny Herbert grew up in nearby Collier Row.
Now Romford appears to have another race winner on its hands, though his name hardly suggests a link to the ever growing suburb. Indeed, most people, when they hear the name Luciano Bacheta are more likely to think of Rome than Romford.
Even more curious however is the fact that both Luciano's parents have their origins in India, consequently the six foot two inch youngster is more Mumbai than Milan.
With such an intriguing mix, we began by asking Luciano whether he feels he's representing India, Italy or the UK. "Mainly the UK and India," he replies, "but there is of course part of me that feels I am also representing Italy and I like to acknowledge my roots.
"I have an interesting ancestry and I like to embrace all elements of it because somewhere along the line it has made me the driver that I am."
The daughter of a good friend of Pitpass editor Chris Balfe was Luciano's school teacher - she speaks highly of him - and through him we know that the youngster's dad is interested in classic cars and among others owns a beautiful E-Type. Naturally we asked Luciano if he had racing in his blood.
"No, I was the first one in the family," he reveals. "Basically, one summer evening I tried karting at the local car circuit and was inspired beyond control. They had a little academy and I used to win all the races there. The level was not very high but the desire for controlling a vehicle and competing was definitely born from those first few races I took part in."
Unusually, after Karts, rather than single-seaters he opted to race Ginetta GT Juniors and T-Cars, we wondered why.
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"I started in karts at the age of 14, and moved to Ginetta at 15 to get circuit experience," he replies. "There were not a lot of championships apart from Formula BMW and budgets for that were quite high. Jonathan Palmer, who had a team in T-Cars, asked us to join and the grid was in fact challenging and included the likes of Max Chilton, Joylon Palmer and Alex Brundle. But I won the series and then went on to single seaters."
Following his success in Formula Palmer Audi (he finished third in 2007) and Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup (runner-up in 2010) he briefly switched to GP3, but then opted for F2. We wondered why.
"The GP3 season was unplanned and at the end of 2010 I had a call up from Mercedes DTM," he reveals. "I started testing with the intention to race, but that deal fell through late in 2011. So options were limited, since most championships had already started. Thus we went into F2."
"It's quite sad really, as it was a low cost championship, run professionally and it was great for my experience," he admits when asked about the scrapping of F2. "It is a shame but I am proud to be the last winner and thoroughly enjoyed being a part of it."
For 2013 he's opted to contest the AutoGP series, partnering former F1 racer Narain Karthikeyan at Zele Racing. Though he took his first win on Sunday, we were intrigued as to why he chose the series.
"After F2, we had good options in GP2 and also in the World Series by Renault," he reveals, "but the budgets in those championships are very high. AutoGP offers a powerful car in which I can learn and I feel that I have already learned a lot. It's a good place to be at lower costs and prepare myself for the next step in a good team."
While winning the F2 title did result in a test with Williams, we wondered if it had helped in terms of raising his profile in the eyes of potential backers. "Not as much as I would have liked," he admits. "Up to a few years ago, all my racing was family-funded. More recently though it has come from sponsors. I am hoping to raise my profile through my results to secure bigger sponsorship deals in the future.
Having admitted that his dream is to move up to Formula One, we wondered why, despite the numerous pitfalls, the series continues to fixate young drivers as opposed to Sports Cars, Indy, Rallying or Touring Cars. "Oh, they do have a pull, too," he admits. "But F1 is the pinnacle of the sport with the fastest cars, the best engineers, and everyone knows F1. We will always push towards F1, but should another interesting opportunity arise, we will certainly consider it.
Other than his obvious talent, we wonder what else will attract potential backers. "I am hoping that my diverse heritage will appeal to a variety of people," he says. "The level of support that I receive whenever I race in India is phenomenal. I perceive myself as a good role model and hope that that shows through also.
"Other than that, I guess I am a nice guy," he laughs, "and I get good results when I am racing!"
With money such a vital element these days, we ask Luciano if he feels up and coming racers should be viewed in the same way as athletes and should be entitled to government/public funding?
"Yes, absolutely," is the instant response. "The UK government funds so many sports, but motorsport gets nothing. It's one of the areas where British athletes are really successful, so it should get funded. But the question is how far and in what way. I don't think the government should set up academies, driving programmes, etc. to boost British drivers."
As the Vettel/Webber saga rumbles on, we asked if Luciano feels that some bad habits develop early in a driver's career and tend to go unchecked.
"I don't think it will happen again," he replies in response to the Sepang incident. "Vettel wanted to win. The way you act outside of the car is not your personality inside the cockpit. When you race, you have no friends. I can understand why he did it, but I am also disappointed that it happened. Especially, if a team is paying you so much money and has given you three world championships, you should obey their orders."
As his prize for winning the F2 Championship, Luciano got to test with the Williams F1 Team. We asked him was the experience all he'd dreamed it would be and had there been any further contact with the Grove outfit. "I was quite nervous before, as everyone told me F1 so physical, so brutal," he admits. "And after my final F2 race, I did not have a lot of time to prepare for it.
"But it all went well and the team gave me a lot of support. I was quite fast and they were very complementary. Although I have made an F1 team aware of my talent, I will still need to work on my experience, my CV and also on financial talks.
And the immediate future? "In 2013 I want to win AutoGP and do testing for GP2 at the end of the season, as I want to move there in 2014."
With his Italian name, his Indian heritage and his Essex sense of humour and accent, Luciano Bacheta is an intriguing mix. Other than being a pretty good driver he's also a nice guy, a great ambassador for the sport… and Romford.
Pictures courtesy of Peter Maurer and Eliana Cortella