Stefan Fürtbauer is a new rookie in ESET V4 Cup with kart background. Newcomer from Austria is racing in F4 car in Franz Wöss team and after four races, he has scored three wins.
You have moved from karts to open wheels cars, how difficult was the transtion to big the world for you?
Principally it‘s a big step and a big difference from driving a kart to a F4 car. It is necessary to make some test runs, but after some days you get more familiar how to drive the car. The best way to get the necessary race experience is – no doubt – in a kart. These skills you also need in the other racing cars like F4.
For newcomer, there must be for sure a challenge to find ideal setup of the car, how do you cope with it?
It takes some time to get to know the car better. But after this period it is not that difficult to understand the car and to find a suitable setup.
Another challenge for you are unknown track. How do you prepare for racing? Are you using for example simulators to learn them?
Even unknown track is a specific challenge and from my experience nowadays it is an absolute must to prepare by a simulator. An even better way to prepare would be of course to do test runs but this is impossible from the financial point of view.
Next round of the ESET V4 Cup will be Grobnik next month, where we can expect really hot weather. How do you prepare for this kind of conditions?
For a racing driver it is generally very important to be in very good condition. That means you have continually to do your exercises, especially regarding endurance. During race weekend‘s it‘s very important to drink a lot to equalize the tremendous loss of humidity.
Your main rival in F4 is Marius Morosan, but you also share grid with faster F3 cars. How satisfying is for you, when you beat some of F3 cars?
For me the most important thing is to deliver an optimum performance in every race.
If I succed in doing better then some F3 cars of course this is causing a satisfying feeling and gives me an additional motivation. It‘s a pity that only a very limited number of young drivers are presently racing the F4 serie.
As you are in your first year behind the wheel of F4, every race is important to gain more experience. Where are you racing other then ESET V4 Cup?
Appart from the ESET V4 Cup I am only doing some selected testing days. Desirable additonal races are unfortunately impossible for financial reasons.
What are your goals for this year season?
For me the goal of this year is to learn as much as possible, and to improve as far as possible.