Ex-F1 test driver Gonzalez makes racing comeback in Praga

Gonzalez won the British F3 National class title with T-Sport in 2006, then raced in GP2 and tested for the Lotus/Caterham and Marussia F1 teams before a six-race IndyCar spell for Dale Coyne Racing in 2015. Subsequent health issues then sidelined the British-educated Venezuelan.

“I stopped because, for some time, I became slightly ill,” said the 36-year-old, who contributes to ESPN Argentina’s F1 coverage.

“I had a growing tumour in my middle ear and I felt I was losing a lot of balance.

“We had a deal to go IndyCar racing the year after with Dale; unfortunately, I wasn’t able to be medically fit so I had to stop.

“I went for a massive operation and then spent a year recovering from that. And, once you fall off the radar, it was very tough to come back.

“I lost all my sponsorship and then we had the bad crisis in Venezuela, so it just went downhill from there.
“I fell out of love with racing for a while but I think the more I tried to stay away, the more I wanted to come back.

“I was inspired by seeing [Fernando] Alonso come back to racing after a while off. [Robert] Kubica was a big inspiration, to see him after so long come back to racing. So I thought, ‘These guys are able to do it; why shouldn’t I? With enough training, perhaps I can do it.’”

Rodolfo Gonzalez driving an Idola Motorsport Praga at Silverstone

Photo by: Steve Jones

Having sampled the Praga R1 during last November’s MotorsportDays LIVE event, Gonzalez agreed to return in an Idola Motorsport-prepared car.

He qualified second at Silverstone and, despite briefly slipping to third in wet conditions, forced a mistake from Charles Hall to win the opening sprint race.

The car he shared with Ruben Stanislaus, who featured in the recent BBC documentary Born to Race, suffered an electrical issue before his stint in the longer 50-minute contest.

“You don’t forget it!” smiled Gonzalez. “It comes back. It’s just in medium-to-high speed corners, you think, ‘Ah, could have gone faster’.

“I’d love to do the full season. I love the UK – it’s like being home for me, home away from home.”