Destination is Formula One, with stop in Egypt

By Mark Billingsley, Sacramento Bee
Published: Friday, Oct. 9, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 6C

Troy Castaneda will do whatever it takes to fulfill his dream of driving in Formula 1, even living overseas or traveling to the land of the pharaohs to compete in karting's biggest race, the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals.

"I lived in Italy for a couple of months in 2008 racing Formula 3 cars, but after one race, our team got its support pulled, so I just tested race cars for a while before I came back," said Castaneda, 19. "Formula 1 is the ultimate goal, but without a race team, I had to drop back down to kart racing."

Castaneda, a Sacramento resident, has done just about all he can do on that level, other than winning a world championship. But he'll get the chance to race for Team USA from Dec. 9-12 at Ghibli Raceway in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Castaneda qualified to represent the United States by finishing second at the Rotax Grand Nationals on Sept. 19 in Norman, Okla.

Castaneda competes in the Rotax DD2 division. Rotax is a karting engine manufacturer and sponsor of the series. DD2 is the designation for Rotax's direct-drive, two-speed motors.

He leads the DD2 division in the Jim Russell Northern California Rotax Challenge and has six victories in seven races. There are three races left in the series, including Sunday at the Dixon Kart Track.

"After the race in Egypt, I'll see what's going on," said Castaneda, who works for [mtrsprt.com] in Sonoma as an instructor and marketing and sales associate. "I'd love to get back to Europe and drive, maybe the F3 series for Mazda. Who knows?"

Posted on October 12, 2009 11:54 AM