At the Mugello Circuit Filippo Fant is tackling the third round of the Porsche Carrera Cup Italia season, which is also his third appointment overall at the wheel of the 911 GT3 Cup of Team Malucelli, a team that welcomed the driver from Belluno after he himself wanted to definitively put himself on the line in motor racing at an age now considered quite mature (27 years old).
After just one season, his 2023 debut in the Touring Car and a past made much more of football, in the proper sense of playing football, than of steering wheel, pedals and gear shift, to paraphrase the cinematic Benjamin Button, Fant is truly a “curious case” of a car driver.
Not because, as in the film, instead of aging the protagonist gets younger, but rather because of the genesis of his becoming first of all a racing car enthusiast and then a driver, among other things showing a good dose of courage in landing in an ultra-competitive championship like the Porsche Carrera Cup Italia already in his second year of racing with limited experience and a rather unusual background.
And interestingly, from Fant’s own words: “I played football in Belluno for 11 years (now Belluno Dolomites, ed.)up to Juniores. Then at 19 I decided to stop and, just for fun, move to the world of karting. After a few years I started competing in races, completely privately. It was me and my dad and I was also a mechanic”.
“In 2022 – goes on – I then took part in a ‘talent’ and came third out of 3,000 competitors from all over Italy. From there I managed to find the first sponsors, who in 2023 allowed me to move to the world of cars, something previously unthinkable. There I understood that I could be there, it was a turning point. In the first year, last year’s championship went well, also considering the fact that I was racing alternating with another driver and therefore had limited test sessions, among other things without knowing any circuits. In the end I managed to get 4 podiums (3 second places) and also a pole position, among other things right here at Mugello”.
From there, how did you end up in the world of Carrera Cup Italia?
“It happened almost by chance. The idea was to repeat the Mini challenge alone to try to win it, then some things changed within the organization, through various connections I managed to find sponsors to participate in the Carrera Cup and I’m very happy about this.”
How are you finding the Porsche single-brand series in general?
“The championship is beautiful, very high level and very well organized. Obviously the high level makes it very difficult to succeed right away, especially if you don’t have a budget suitable for carrying out further tests.”
You decided to get involved anyway…
“I like to challenge myself and always aim high. It takes a bit of patience and this year I will need to gain experience to be able to play for something more important next season.”
Of course, in addition to experience, you need more elements to get to the top: what will you need technically and what are you focusing your work on?
“The car is completely different from what I was used to, with so much more horsepower, rear-wheel drive… it has to be driven in a completely different way. However, I’m getting used to it quite well. The thing I need to work on the most is making the most of the performance that the new tire gives you in those one/two laps of maximum performance. At the moment I’m struggling a bit more, while with the used ones the pace isn’t bad.”
So what is your ultimate goal for 2024?
“Improve race after race and aim to get into the top 10 in the last appointments to then improve further next winter, maybe managing to find a bigger budget for the tests, which count a lot because it counts a lot above all to use a lot of new tyres to get used to the extra-grip and therefore be able to dare more.”
How are you finding yourselves in the team with Team Malucelli?
“I didn’t know him but it’s going very well with the whole Malucelli family. And they’re teaching me a lot, so I’m happy.”
Last year here at Mugello Matteo won…
“So (jokingly, ed.) I have no excuses! It will be difficult to imitate him, but we will still give our best.”
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