Following in the wheeltracks of the news that Korea is to become the latest addition to the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport grid in 2009, Sung-hak Mun has laid claim to be the nation's first
Formula 1 star.
The teenager – the only one of his countrymen to come over to Europe in an attempt to further his grand prix ambitions – is competing in the Eurocup Formula
Renault 2.0 this year, but his first tentative steps on the international racing scene were not easy ones. Regularly covering more than 100 laps on-track over the course of gruelling ten-hour days, he was told if he couldn't hack it he could simply pack his bags and go home
“I went to Europe because I wanted to compete with better drivers,” the18-year-old told
The Chosun Ilbo. “When I was just five-years-old, my father put me on his lap and let me drive a car. I remember that moment vividly; I can't forget it.”
Mun made his Formula Renault debut last year as the youngest driver in the BARC championship with Eurotek Motorsport, going on to finish a highly respectable ninth out of 28 competitors in the final standings and scoring a rostrum finish at
Snetterton along the way. The exhaustion from his intensive testing programme, however, eventually took its toll, with a hefty accident in which his car skidded and slammed into a protective wall whilst its pilot was attempting to overtake at 180 km/h.
“My mind went totally blank,” he recalled, “and all I could think was that I was going to die like this. I was able to survive because of the car. I was afraid of driving again for quite a long time after that, but I got my confidence back as time passed and my performance got better.
“Thousands of people try to be a Formula 1 driver every year, but only one or two are lucky enough to be selected. If you dream of being a Formula 1 racer, you have to be nothing but the top.”
