Gonzalez gained the British F3 Nationwide class title with T-Sport in 2006, then raced in GP2 and examined for the Lotus/Caterham and Marussia F1 groups earlier than a six-race IndyCar spell for Dale Coyne Racing in 2015. Subsequent well being points then sidelined the British-educated Venezuelan.
“I ended as a result of, for a while, I grew to become barely sick,” stated the 36-year-old, who contributes to ESPN Argentina’s F1 protection.
“I had a rising tumour in my center ear and I felt I used to be dropping quite a lot of stability.
“We had a deal to go IndyCar racing the yr after with Dale; sadly, I wasn’t capable of be medically match so I needed to cease.
“I went for a large operation after which spent a yr recovering from that. And, when you fall off the radar, it was very powerful to come back again.
“I misplaced all my sponsorship after which we had the unhealthy disaster in Venezuela, so it simply went downhill from there.
“I fell out of affection with racing for some time however I believe the extra I attempted to remain away, the extra I wished to come back again.
“I used to be impressed by seeing [Fernando] Alonso come again to racing after some time off. [Robert] Kubica was an enormous inspiration, to see him after so lengthy come again to racing. So I assumed, ‘These guys are capable of do it; why shouldn’t I? With sufficient coaching, maybe I can do it.’”
Rodolfo Gonzalez driving an Idola Motorsport Praga at Silverstone
Picture by: Steve Jones
Having sampled the Praga R1 throughout final November’s MotorsportDays LIVE occasion, Gonzalez agreed to return in an Idola Motorsport-prepared automotive.
He certified second at Silverstone and, regardless of briefly slipping to 3rd in moist circumstances, compelled a mistake from Charles Corridor to win the opening dash race.
The automotive he shared with Ruben Stanislaus, who featured within the current BBC documentary Born to Race, suffered {an electrical} situation earlier than his stint within the longer 50-minute contest.
“You don’t overlook it!” smiled Gonzalez. “It comes again. It’s simply in medium-to-high pace corners, you assume, ‘Ah, might have gone quicker’.
“I’d like to do the complete season. I really like the UK – it’s like being dwelling for me, dwelling away from dwelling.”
