Q&A: Rob Nguyen - Pt.1.

Robert Nguyen is the newest Australian on the international motorsport stage and, while much of the season's hype surrounds the likes of Mark Webber, Ryan Briscoe and James Courtney, is poised to make his debut in the FIA F3000 series this weekend.

Nguyen is of Vietnamese origin, but has grown up in Australia, and is now based in Switzerland. He is set to make his F3000 debut with Team Astromega at this weekend's Brazilian GP in the category which produced four wins for Webber in the past two years. The connection does not end there either, as Nguyen's team-mate at Astromega this year will be none other than Brazilian Mario Haberfeld - Webber's partner at Super Nova in 2001.

Q:
There is not a great history of Vietnamese in motorsport, so have you been expecting an easy ride, or is it going to be pretty tough for because you are pioneering?

Rob Nguyen:
You can say that I'm pioneering in a way. As we know, F3000 is the last proving ground to Formula One, and all the drivers in F3000 are champions from various other categories, so I'm really going to be expecting a really tough ride because it's very competitive and a lot of the guys are very experienced.

Q:
How's the testing been going?

RN:
The testing in pre-season, I think, is very similar to F1. When you just look at timesheets, you cannot really tell who is going to be the winner, who are going to be the slow guys, because, with this car, you can run under-weight, run different fuel loads. As in F1, normally you see the slow teams running under-weight and things like this, just trying to get sponsors and that. During pre-season testing, it's really hard to know exactly where we stand, how competitive we are, so the only real indication is where you are with a team-mate and, basically, I've been comparing myself with Mario.

He has a quite lot of experience, I've learned quite a lot from him and, at every test, my gap has been improving to Mario. In some tests, I've actually been quicker than him. So, I think, the test, even though I've only done seven days or so before the first race, was very positive and we are looking forward to the first race.

Q:
Can you explain how you first became interested in motor racing?

RN:
Since childhood, I've always had a passion for motorsport and, the same as many other Australians, never had the chance to do it. I was staying up late at night watching F1 every race I can, and I spent all my savings going go-karting and things like that. I just never had the support from my parents - from my parents' point of view, it makes no sense to invest so much money to go -karting, so I never really had the chance to do any motor racing in Australia.

The idea was that I should finish high school - and then I got a chance to go to study in Switzerland. None of this was a plan, it just happened to be that I got really good grades in my studies in Switzerland and, as a present, my brother-in-law and sister gave me a gift for my results and from there everything went so well and here I am now. But, initially, there was no intention for me to go racing, although personally, in my heart, the passion has always been there.

Q:
Could you just give us an idea of your background. Were you born in Australia, were you born in Vietnam and growing up in Brisbane, where you actually lived and what school you went to, that sort of thing...

RN:
I was actually born in Brisbane. I lived all my life in Brisbane, I did high school there, primary school there. My parents actually came over after the Vietnam War with other Vietnamese, I imagine, to Australia in 1975, and I have lived all my live in Brisbane. I grew up there, and I actually didn't leave Brisbane until 2000. That's when I came to Switzerland to study, so I have been basically a Brisbane boy my whole life.

Q:
What are your expectations for this year? What do you think you are capable of, considering your experience and so forth? Do you hope for points or wins or what?

RN:
As I said before, I think it's too early to make predictions or expectations, as we've only done pre-season testing and you don't really know what the teams have been doing. I think, after the first few races, I would have a better idea how I stand compared to the rest.

But like anyone else in F3000, I think you are not here to make up the numbers. Everyone is trying to get to F1 and trying to win, but, for me, for my first season, given my experience and that, I hope to be very competitive as soon as possible and get a lot of top ten finishes and, by the middle of the season, maybe get in the points more often. Then, by the end of the season, maybe some podium finishes will be very good for me. I also plan for the second year to be very competitive and maybe, like Mark Webber, to aim for the championship in the second year.

Q:
Obviously, motorsport isn't the cheapest thing to get into, and teams always like to have a driver who will bring some money in with him. Sponsorship-wise, how are you going and who have you got on board?

RN:
At the moment, it's been very difficult. Finding sponsors always has been very difficult but, last season, I had a few Austrian companies sponsoring me and, more for this year, I have some people investing in me and with me long-term. I'm more interested in sponsors than first season and, of course, throughout the season I'm trying to look for sponsors. It would be very nice to get some support in Australia also, but it is very difficult to get, it seems.

Q:
Have you spoken to anyone in Australia?

RN:
I think not to the extent [that I should have]... I think, at the moment, we are speaking to some in Europe and we spoke to a few people in Australia. The problem is probably that most Australians are into the V8 Supercars. I think all Australians are more attracted to that and generally there is not enough support for lower categories than Formula One, like 3000. Volkswagen, Renault, etcetera go more for F1 or the V8s, so it's very difficult to get sponsors and to get drivers in the public eye a lot. I think it's very difficult because 3000 and support categories for F1 do not have so much support in the Australian public.

Q:
Could you give us a little of your family background? Are your parents still in Brisbane? Could you just tell us a bit about your family?

RN:
My parents still live in Brisbane. My whole family still lives in Australia, except for one of my brothers, who lives with me in Switzerland. And, from my parents' side, I think half of the family is in Australia and half is still in Vietnam. Basically my family is still very Australian-based. They travel a lot to come and visit me, but everyone still lives in Brisbane, more or less.

:
Can you explain to us how you can go so quickly in a race car as soon as you get in it? Your speed at your first F3000 test really surprised everyone. Did you have immediate empathy with the car, or did it just feel automatically natural to you or what?

RN:
I had that same feeling because, when I first sat in the Formula Volkswagen, I was testing with a lot of other guys who had five years' experience and it was just my first outing. I saw them go crazy and I'm saying to myself, 'What am I doing here?'

You look at these guys, they are able to drive so quickly, and then you sleep over it and, a few days later, at the few next tests, you suddenly feel everything is working and you feel very comfortable. I think I have been lucky to be able to get a feeling for the car quite quickly although, for the F3000, it's taking me a little bit longer to learn to progress in the car.

For me, jumping into the 3000 and using my Volkswagen [experience], the way I approached it, it was always daunting at first, but I think I'm very quickly getting used to it. It's like watching a movie for the first time - at first, you don't really understand it, you watch it over and over, and then everything is very clear and slow and you can really feel everything. Speed is not such a big problem, you get used to it.

Q:
Can you just take us through what racing you have done? You mentioned karting back in your teens, but when you first started out, what you started out in and perhaps just run us through what you did each year?

RN:
The karting I mentioned was just hobby karting that you go to the local karting track and you pay. I've actually never been in a race kart or racing competition in Australia or anything.

The actual first time I sat in a race car was with the Austrian team in the Formula Vauxhall, or some people know it as Opel Lotus. I sat for the first time in November 2000. That year, I did one test with them, and I set really good lap times and the team was very amazed and they re-invited me for the second test. This time, they brought their race driver along and, although it was in the wet and dry conditions that are quite difficult, I was only one second behind him, so the team was quite amazed. This guy has driven Indy cars also, a past Indy car driver, so he knows what he is doing and I was only one second behind him.

So that was it for 2000. I was signed up for 2001 to race in the new German Formula Volkswagen series, and we initially had a nine-race season and, because I have done no racing, had no licence to compete, so I had to do some Swiss races on a national level to get my racing permit, and I did four races in the Opel-Lotus to get my licence and then basically my first race was in Salzburgring and, amazingly, my first race was in really pouring rain and, to everyone's surprise again, I qualified fifth. Then, during the race, I had an electrical problem and I finished eleventh.

The good thing was, two races later, I astonished everyone again, I had pole position in both qualifying sessions, quite a big gap to the rest, and in that race I had a differential problem and I dropped back to second and then immediately backed up my speed again. I qualified third for Zolder, the third race, and throughout this season I had a lot of top ten finishes. It was quite easy for me, as I had another podium in the last race.

And then, because I did so well, the Italian Euro Formula 3000 team called Team Contarni invited me for a rookie test at the end of last year. I attended one and a half days' testing in Vairano in Italy, and there were four drivers present, another Formula Renault driver, Formula 3 drivers and also their race driver - and I was the quickest out of it. I was even seven-tenths quicker than the race driver who raced with the same car the whole season, and I was one-tenth behind the lap record that they had ever done there.

Then from there it was European [F3000] Championship. I surprised people again and my supporters thought why not give the FIA international series a shot and, from there, we arranged a test with Team Astromega in Valencia in January this year. There was Mario, of course, and I think Ricardo Sperafico, one of the twins, was there, and Nicolas Kiesa was testing and I was the third quickest out of the lot. I did half the amount of laps compared to Mario, and I was only seven-tenths behind him. For this reason, in the new F3000 car, Sam Boyle, the team manager of Team Astromega, was quite impressed and so that's my short career to date.

Q:
One of the big challenges for you this year will be learning new tracks because of your limited experience, but it seems that you haven't had a great deal of trouble acclimatising. Is that right?

RN:
For testing, we have two days, and normally it takes me one morning to get up to speed. In that respect, it's not a problem for me to learn the tracks, but the problem is that, throughout this season, we have twelve races and only two of those are where I have been before. The problem is with F3000 is that it is not like F1, where you get free practice, then two more free practice sessions, qualifying and then the race. We go straight into qualifying - two times 45 minutes - then straight to the race. There is going to be a lot of tracks where I'm just going to go straight in qualifying, so I think it's going to be really daunting for me and it's going to be a big challenge, but I'm really looking forward to it.

Q:
Are there any shortcuts you can take in learning those tracks, through video games or anything like that or getting to the tracks early and walking them, or running around them, or riding push bikes around them or anything?

RN:
Yes, that's what we always try to do, of course. Wherever I go test or race I play on the computer, the simulator and, before I arrive there, I try to do two or three laps for the road car and do a few runs, jog around a couple of times, and it helps you to a certain extent. But, once you are in the race car, finding the braking point, finding where you should be in the exit, it's really totally different. It helps you a little bit but, of course, the more you test, the more you know the track, you can just start off at such a high level and it makes life so much easier.

Q:
Yours has been a remarkable assent to this level of motorsport. Have you done this on your own, or you have got a bit of crew, some friends around you?

RN:
Actually, the team that I raced for last year in the Formula Volkswagen - his name is Walter Penker and he is the team owner - has been helping me out quite a lot. He just gives me some advice, but he is not a race driver himself, he has just been working with a lot of race drivers and sees their mistakes and tries to teach me to avoid them. But, as in people helping me, I think, more or less, I've been working alone. I try to learn as much as I can from other experienced drivers around me, and try and do what they do well and try to avoid what they do wrong. That's what I've been doing so far and it's been working.