The first time Pepe got into a kart he was scared. He doesn’t remember it, but his parents tell him that. He does remember, laughing, one of the first days of him riding a kart, when he was six years old. His sister, older than him, was in a more powerful kart. She overtook him and began to open space. Her kart was running less, it was practically impossible to overtake her, but he didn’t want to lose. He passed through the middle of the circuit grass and caught it. Now, at 18 years old, Pepe Martí (Barcelona, 2005) is burning stages straight to his great goal, get to the Formula 1. This weekend he competes in the Macau GP with the colors of Redbull, after joining the young driver academy of the team that dominates F1, in a move that could be key to reaching the ‘Great Circus’.
Martí’s passion for motors It is not understood without its mother. “My mother has always liked Formula 1, she was the one who created that passion at home,” he tells El Periódico de Cataluña, from the Prensa Ibérica group, via video call from Macau. On Sundays at noon there was no excuse, it was time to sit on the couch and watch the race. Pepe’s first times riding a kart were on vacation in Menorca. He got into karting regularly relatively late, at 11 years old. And his progression was meteoric.
meteoric progression
He started competing in 2016 at the Kartòdrom Catalunya in Llissà de Vall. A year later he made the jump to the Catalunya championship, and in his first race he came third. At the end of that year meeting Genís Marcó, Fernando Alonso’s mentor. Pepe and his family told him about their idea of competing in the Spanish and Catalan championship the following year, but Marcó made it clear to him. If they wanted to do karting, they had to make the leap to Europe. Martí went from racing in the Catalan championship to racing in Europe with Tony Kart Racing, one of the most powerful karting teams.
In 2022, after standing out internationally and in Formula 4, debuted in Formula 3 with the help of Campos Racing at the age of 16, being the youngest driver on the grid. This 2023 has taken the definitive step. Three wins, two poles and one more podium They did not go unnoticed by Helmut Marko, a prestigious Redbull advisor with whom he met several times before signing off on his entry into the Austrian team’s young driver program.
“The realization of a dream in Barcelona”
Pepe’s best moment came this year at the Circuit de Catalunya. He, who wears the silhouette of Barcelona on the back of his helmet wherever he goes, won the home race. He couldn’t quite believe it. After the celebration and euphoria, he sat on the highest box, which he had won on the track, and put his hands on his face, excited. “It was a moment that I will remember forever, “the realization of a dream”he expresses.
Before, when passing the checkered flag, he had made a twist with the car to celebrate the victory. “It’s something I had seen Fernando Alonso do in videos and being able to, in some way, replicate what he had done was very special,” he explains. When getting out of the car, He melted into a hug with Alonso. Martí signed with the Asturian’s representation agency in 2022, and since then they have been advising him along with Marcó, who has practically become family for Pepe.
When Pepe Martí received the offer to join the Redbull academy He didn’t think about it for a second. “I had no doubt, being part of an academy is something I had been looking for for a long time. Being at Redbull is an honor and an achievement,” he says. Six of the 20 drivers on the current grid are from the Austrian academy, making it the team with the most trained drivers.
The Macau Grand Prix is special, the F3 World Cup. legends like Schumacher, Senna o Coulthard They won in their day on the streets of Macau where Pepe Martí will seek victory this Sunday with the colors of Redbull (8:30 a.m., Esport3). Everything is aimed at him moving up to Formula 2 next year, leaving him just one step away from the premier class. “The goal of Formula 1 seemed very distant at one point in my career, but little by little things have been aligning,” says the young Catalan, who has two maxims etched into his mind: “work and humility.”
2023-11-18 17:09:19
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