Recently EFRA European Champion Riccardo Berton hit the TV headlines with an appearance on the mainstream Sky Sports channel to talk about all things RC racing… and F1!! As we all love to see our sport getting the attention it deserves, we caught up with the Italian sensation to find out more!
EFRA: Hey Ricky, how are you? It’s so cool that you recently took RC onto a mainstream motorsport programme! How did you find out they wanted to interview you?
Riccardo: I met a guy during a day of practice next to home that worked for Sky Sports, he was there for fun and he noticed me racing, we didn’t know each other at that moment and we started speaking some days later… He thought that maybe Sky could be interested in RC racing as sometimes they dedicate some spaces to a sport that people don’t know too much and help them to grow. So he asked Sky and they were excited to speak about this new sport and they gave me a little space in the afternoon while they were speaking about F1.EFRA: Wow, good guy to meet! On the show they are talking a lot about F1 and playing the clip of you winning the Euros, what sort of things did you discuss?
Riccardo: Yes they especially spoke about F1 as the episode was focused on that. So I just entered the discussion with some questions from them. Later they asked me about the RC world and how you can drive these type of cars as they had never seen anything like that! And then we spoke about the EFRA Euros win.
EFRA: Well your Euros win was an amazing moment. Perfect for the world to see how exciting the race was and how well you did. Were the TV presenters impressed?
Riccardo: Yes I think they were impressed, I think they have seen it like a “new world” that they had never seen before and I think this was super cool for them too. I think they didn’t know more or less anything about it, I think it was completely new for them but they looked pretty interested!EFRA: You seemed very calm and well spoken. Were you nervous to talk on national TV?
Riccardo: Honestly I was pretty nervous on the day and in the hours before, but when It started I didn’t care about that too much, of course I think that making it at home via Skype helped me a lot haha.
EFRA: Do you still think about that amazing race and win back in 2019?
Riccardo: Yes sometimes I do, I think that feeling when you win some races is something that’s hard to understand and it’s great when you are able to feel that. The race was super close and I think really fun and exciting to watch too, especially the last few minutes. Winning in Italy was of course great as more friends were there and I am still super happy about that.
EFRA: Well, (hopefully) next year we will hold an EFRA Euros again finally!! It will be 3 years that you have held the crown. Has a lot changed for you? And do you look forward to defending your title?
Riccardo: I think we all hope that Euros will be back next year as we all look forward to one of the most important events of the year, getting ready for some races like Euros and Worlds is always special and I think we all miss that part too. Yes, some things changed since 2019 for me, I started to work on a completely new project with Infinity and I hope in the next year we can show what we have done in the last months… Of course European championship is always one of the most iconic and beautiful race of the year and I look forward to go back at it as defender and fight on track with the best drivers in the World!
EFRA: Congratulations Riccardo on your well deserved moment in the spotlight! We can’t wait to see you at the track again soon!
Check out Riccardo’s dramatic battle to take the win back in 2019!
