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Ever since primary school I have been telling anyone who was willing to listen that I wanted to be a racing driver. It was all I thought about and nothing else made sense besides going around in circles at a race track.
When I left high school I assumed that I would simply jump on a plane to Europe and begin my pursuit to becoming a professional racing driver but reality hit me hard when I realised I didn’t have the financial means to do so.
So instead of getting on a plane, I got behind and a desk and built a tech company with my brother, in the hopes that I could save enough money to one day give racing another shot. Just one more attempt at becoming a professional.
Then, around the age of 30, I believed I had saved up enough money to give it another go and made the decision to turn my focus away from my desk job and back to going around in circles.
The first 3 years were incredibly tough, sleeping on the floor in dodgy hotels, finding money out of thin air for the next race and sacrificing close relationships with friends and loved ones. I sold everything I owned, moved countries and became a master at skipping meals to save money.
Things started to turn around in year 4 when I joined Rinaldi Racing and slowly but surely proved myself to be more than just an amateur pay-driver.
Now, as I enter the 2019 season, I am proud to announce that I have crossed the line from amateur to professional, as this season will be the first year I am paid to drive a racing car.
A childhood dream realised (but still more to come).
Here are my 2019 Plans:
In a huge contrast to last year, where I didn’t have any offers until May, I have known of my program since November 2018.It’s been difficult to keep it a secret for all these months but I am happy to announce that I will be back in the Blancpain GT Series, competing in both the Endurance and Sprint Championship with Rinaldi Racing in the Silver Cup Class, using a brand new Ferrari 488 GT3 (yes, it will be green).
In the Endurance Races I will be sharing the car with my 2018 Spa24-winning team mate, Rinat Salikhov, and joining us as the third driver will be Denis Bulatov, who comes over from AKKA Mercedes.In the Sprint Races it will be myself and Rinat who fight for honours in Silver Cup Class.
Outside of the Blancpain GT Series I will also be at two 12 hour races, in the Creventic Endurance Championship at Mugello in March and Spa in April.
However… most exciting of all has to be the Kyalami 9 Hour in November where I will be racing in front of my home crowd for the very first time!
This will be my busiest race season so far with at least 13 races planned and more being negotiated. I truly cannot wait.
I need to say a big Thank You to Rinaldi Racing and Rinat Salikhov for selecting me as one of their drivers for this season. I’ll be putting in the absolute maximum effort on and off the track to make sure we have a successful season.
Finally I need to thank my family, Claudio Piazza Musso and Alan Macdonald for helping me achieve a life long dream. You’re all heroes in my books.
