2023-09-03 12:24:53
MONTREAL – Quebec driver Patrick Woods-Toth quickly leaves a strong impression on the track.
Just a few months following making the leap from karting to car racing, the 19-year-old from Saint-Lazare leads the American Formula 4 championship. He has a 36.5 point lead with six races to go.
He also attracted Canadian Motorsports Hall of Famer Ron Fellows as a mentor.
“From what I can see, he is the youngest with the most talent that I have ever seen,” said Fellows, who holds the record for the most victories by a driver born outside. of the United States in the three main series of NASCAR.
And other Canadian legends have taken notice as well.
In December, Woods-Toth received a scholarship for the “Karts for Cars” program at Radford Racing School in Arizona. It only needed a few days to impress Scott Goodyear, American F4 race director and also a member of the Canadian pantheon.
“At the end of the second day, my comment for [Fellows] was, “Houston, you’ve got a problem,” Goodyear chimed in. Because he has a super talented young man and really no financial backing worth mentioning. »
Goodyear was impressed with Woods-Toth’s composure and his ability to make good decisions at high speeds in the car. Fellows added that his protege was able to process information at an elite level and was able to watch data and videos and use them to improve.
However, accolades in motor racing do not go further than the magnitude of financial support. The only two Canadians to have raced in Formula 1 in the past 15 years, Lance Stroll and Nicholas Latifi, had billionaire parents.
The Woods-Toth story is different. He lost his father to an accident and his mother to illness before he was 5 years old. His grandparents raised him.
“You might say the rest of the family adopted me,” Woods-Toth said. I lived with my grandparents for a while, and then my aunt and cousins all supported me. »
Woods-Toth spent most of his time with his grandmother in Saint-Lazare, but spent his weekends with his grandfather in Saint-Sauveur. This is where his love of racing was born.
His grandfather, who died in 2021, raced himself. He was a huge racing fan, never missing an F1 or IndyCar event. Together, they had fun in all-terrain vehicles or snowmobiles, until karting took over the life of the grandson.
Woods-Toth’s family funded his karting journey. When he was 14, Prime Powerteam owner Trevor Wickens pulled out his checkbook. Woods-Toth took the opportunity to win three titles in a row in the karting championship in Fellows, Ontario, then the Canadian Championship last year.
Now backed by Fellows and Fidani, who own a Toronto property company, Woods-Toth exceeded expectations in F4 from the first event, with a second and two third finishes in all three races. He is well placed to be crowned.
Woods-Toth has a few options in front of him for the future: regional Formula 3 in the United States, or F3 in Europe.
“The real goal is to go to Europe, where I can really develop,” Woods-Toth said. There is no scholarship for that, we will have to pay. This is the next big hurdle. »
The jump to F3 on the Old Continent might cost between $1.25 and $1.5 million. Fellows is trying to find sponsors, but nothing concrete is coming up for next year.
“In a perfect world from a funding point of view, you would want to see a guy of his talent have a chance in F1,” Fellows said. The bulk of the job is to spread the word that a very talented youngster deserves a chance. I’ve been in this industry all my life and I’m going to keep knocking on doors all the time. »
Despite this reality, Woods-Toth refuses to temper his expectations.
“If you’re not aiming for F1, I don’t know why you’re racing,” he said.
And Fellows is confident the young driver will get his chance.
“If you’re good enough, really want to, and stick around long enough, someone’s going to notice you. I wholeheartedly believe so,” he concluded.
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