By Joe Murphy and Luke Pons
GT4 and Aston Martin Academy Driver; Roberto Faria, sat down with Wheel2Wheel Reports’ own Joe and Luke to discuss what it’s like being a racing driver whist simultaneously studying at university. We also discuss the career path he took to get to F3, the difference with GT and what the future holds for the driver.
Click here to listen to the entire interview!
Young Aston Martin Academy driver with Ambitions of Le Mans in the near future…
Here at Wheel2Wheel Reports, we had the pleasure of conducting an exclusive interview with Brazilian driver Roberto Faria. Faria has been a part of the Aston Martin Academy Driver programme since 2024 and is about to start the 2025 season of GT4.
His journey started over ten years ago, originating from karting back home to arriving in the UK aged just 15 to start a new life all by himself. First, he spent six months in Daventry, just next to the workshop of Fortec. He revealed to us that he would go there every day to do data analysis and to learn some of the basic mechanics. This helped him settle into UK life a bit better, as they took him in like family. After some time in boarding school, he eventually progressed through to doing a degree at Loughborough University. Unsurprisingly, he discussed he is reading ‘Automotive Engineering’ to complement his racing career.
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Everything took off in 2019 with Roberto joining Formula 4, as well as participating in British F4 and British F3. In 2020, he did half F4, half F3 because it was the COVID affected year. He described his path as “just a bit of a mess”. In 2021 and 2022, however, he did the full season in F3, Bridge F3. Then, in 2023, he moved to FIA Formula 3. He was originally part of the Sauber Academy while doing British F3 in 2022 alongside current Le Mans driver Théo Pochet.
Roberto then went on;
“And then, yeah, I moved to FIA. I wasn’t originally going to move to FIA F3, I was going to do regional. But then PHM offered a really good deal and were a new team on the gird. We basically had the budget to do one more season and said, OK, let’s do it and let’s see what happens.”
Faria really clicked in 2021 GB3 Championship, earning a win and nine podiums. He explained;
“After all the preparation, I felt the car was a very nice drive. I really enjoyed it. And the team, I was basically with the team since 2019, and they were basically family for me. And, yeah, I really enjoyed that year, to be honest. That was my first winning spot and that was very special to me and everything”.
Roberto was fighting for P2 in the championship until the penultimate round. But after a couple of unfortune crashes at Silverstone while leading the race, it wasn’t meant to be;
“It is racing, so sometimes you don’t get what you want. However, 2022 with Carling wasn’t the best follow up to the great 2021 season. I think we didn’t get the new car soon enough. And to be honest, I just did one test day before the first round. We didn’t develop the car right enough. we actually had Sullivan as well, the previous champion, testing at Silverstone with me. And he said, yeah, the car doesn’t feel that good. But yeah, it was just a new car for everybody. And I felt that the setup was not optimal since the beginning”.
In 2023 Faria went to FIA F3. However,it was evident that the team lacked experience and there were a number of mechanical issues with car. Roberto revealed;
“They wanted to improve the car. It was improving the last race of the year. I was actually P11 and then I had a problem with the exhaust that just had a hole in it and the exhaust temperature sensor just flew off. And then behind the safety car, I had to basically stop. But I felt that was a very good year for learning. But yeah, I think 2022 and 2023 weren’t the best years”.
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As is so often the case at this level of motorsport, the ultimate problem for Faria came down to the financial side. The budget of racing at Formula level means it made more sense to move to the world of GTs, something he argued isn’t in fact a backward step, but a sideways one;
“Moving to GT4, if you want to compare, it’s like three test days in F3, it was my full European GT4 season last year. Last year basically my teammate was also helping me a bit because I had more experience and everything. For this year it’s actually a bit more expensive but still would be similar to four test days. This year I’m going to have a teammate to fight for the title”.
In GTs, he reiterated, your teammates are much more helpful and supportive with the budget. Furthermore, being a part of the Aston martin Driver Academy opens more doors for you in terms of sponsorship opportunities due to its level of prestigue;
“For this year in the Iberian, I’m bringing a lot of sponsors. And I don’t even need to come up with any budget. The sponsors cover everything”.
Faria mentions one of the main transitions when he moved to the GT path;
“I didn’t have much experience when I started. My father is not a racing driver, so we were all very new to it. We didn’t know about the GT path. for me, it’s very different because I came from Formula 3, which is like 30 seconds faster than GT4. Last year was my first time racing GT4, which is slower than a Formula 4, which I raced when it was like my first time in a racing car. So, this step was actually kind of like backwards, but I would say the path to grow is way wider now. And the possibility of gentlemen driver helping you to progress in your career is also higher. I feel that Formula is mainly for professionals and if you have a really big budget, then you can support it.”
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A huge thing for Roberto is trying to balance his racing life with his university life, something he admitted wasn’t always easy;
“Last year, I actually had a test day in spa, and then the next day, I was doing like a maths exam in the uni, and I was like, I took the train at night and arrived here at 10 p.m., and the next day at 9 am, I had a maths exam. But I think the secret is for example, this week, I’m quite free, so I’m 100% focused on uni for now, and then next week is like Portimão, so I’m going to be doing like very good preparation, the sim and everything, driver notes, to focus on how can I be the best prepared when I’m on the track so I can focus just on learning the track I already know, I’m just changing my focus. once I’m focused on uni, I’m basically like 100% focused on uni. And then once I’m racing, I’m 100% focused on racing. I don’t like to bring uni work to race weekends because I know that’s just gunna distract me.”
Thw young driver concluded by confirming he still has big goals for his career moving forward in motorsport;
“The main objective is to be a factory driver, and the main goal now would be to be basically driving Le Mans for like WEC, with a factory team, and many drivers achieve that, and that’s my dream, and I hope to be able to do that with Aston. I love racing, and that’s my dream since I was a child I know that it’s very hard to be part of like Formula 1 now and everything, but that was my dream before. But I would still love to be a professional racing driver and just do this for my rest of career. And I think the automotive degree is just, like, an add-on, you know, like it’s just something that, extra that I bring to the table that other drivers don’t have I’m doing everything I can to make myself more, more versatile.”
With the GT4 season kicking of in just a few weeks time, it isn’t long until he takes to Portimao for the first feature race. Soon after, he heads to Paul Ricard Circuit in France and it won’t be too long before he’s racing round Spa again, which is his favourite track.
W2WR wish Roberto Faria all the best in his efforts of achieving his objectives for this campaign.
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