'He was born to race'

A West Kelowna teenager isn’t old enough to have a driver’s license, but he sure knows how to drive a race car. 

Marco Kacic, 15, has been racing carts since he was five years old and just made the shift into Formula 4 racing. 

His father owned a carting team and got Kacic into the sport.

“I just loved it as soon as I got into it,” he said. “Ever since then all I want to do is get in a car and drive.”

Kacic's mother Amy says he grew up at the race track and would sleep better when the engines were running. 

“He was born for this,” she said. 

At first, they started in Formula 1600, but due to funding issues, they weren’t able to finish the season. This year, he jumped into Formula 4 and became part of Doran Motorsports Group. 

Kacic is one of the youngest competitors and says he is so talented because of his speed. 

The 15-year-old just won his debut in F4 at the Auto Club Speedway race track in Fontana California hosted by the Formula Pro USA F4 Winter Series. 

“He’s going to become an F1 driver,” said Amy. “That’s the hope and the plan.”

Kacic trains in the gym and also spends about three hours a day using his simulator that is inside his dad’s old office at their West Kelowna home.

He attends Canadian Sports School, which allows him to focus on his sport and gives him flexibility with his racing.

“There is so much that goes into it, you have to be a good driver, you have to have a good team and one of the most important things is you need to have the funding and money to make all that happen,” he said. “That is where we are struggling right now.”

The family hopes to be able to get sponsors to keep Kacic racing and reaching his goal of being an F1 driver. They also set up a GoFundMe fundraiser to help support him. 

“In western Canada, there is really not a lot of racing,” he said. “I found lots of people are really interested in the sport, but it is really difficult to find funding around here.”

He is busy preparing for his next race which is just around the corner in March.