Diego Menchaca: “I think we found the good direction”

Diego Menchaca, Mexican racing driver, is spending his first season in GP3 Series with Campos Racing. We talked with the rookie driver at the Hungaroring about the beginning, his career, the new series and his goals. Figure out what he said.

As most racing driver Diego also started his career with karting. “It all started when I was 10 years old and I really wanted to race” started the Mexican. “I had all the moral support from my family but not economical.” To make his dream come true and become a racecar driver Diego had to find a way to start his career on his own. “I started to find sponsors and bought my first gokart. This is really when it all started.” One of Mexico’s most successful driver Sergio Pérez Formula One driver for Sahara Force India also helped Diego. “I had a lot of support from Sergio Pérez. He helped me quite a bit to begin and from then I started building up on sponsors. I made myself a bit of a name in karting in Mexico and then I did not have to pay to race.” Things changed when Escudería Telmex came and decided to sponsor Diego’s career. “Thanks to them I made a step to Europe” said the Mexican.

Before arriving to GP3 Series Diego Menchaca completed one year in World Series Formula V8 3.5. “We had a quite good rookie year in the World Series and the plan was to do the championship and win it like Pietro Fittipaldi did because we are in the same program.” The 2018 season of World Series V8 then got canceled due to lack of entries and Diego had to look for other option. As the Formula 2 championship was going through many changes for the season, Telmex’s manager did not want to risk the season a decision on joining GP3 Series was made. “This was the easiest escape route let’s say” started Diego about joining the series. “With Campos I did two years in the EuroFormula Open. Even if last year I was with another team, I was in the Campos workshop every day as they have a driver academy. To me it is home. Campos Racing is like my family. I was approached by three other teams but for me it was always clear that I wanted to be here” said Diego about completing the season with Campos Racing.

Of course, changing to GP3 Series from the World Series was not an easy task to do. “It was hard for me to adapt to the car” began Diego to talk about the change. “Everybody told me that the world series is more powerful. Those car have more downforce and everything.” Without testing the car it is difficult to find the pace in the beginning. “With F3 it was easy after one free practice I was on the speed but here it was hard. The difference between the two cars is huge. I really have no downforce compared to the world series. The tyre behavior is really different and the car moves a lot in the corner ends which did not happen in the previous series so it took me quite a bit of time to get used to the GP3 car.”

“As a driver you keep learning every race” started Diego about his season so far. “For now I covered most of the basics that were complicated for me in the beginning of the season. I think now I am on top with the race pace and managing the tyres better.”

Diego scored one point on his first race in Barcelona bit then had two unsatisfying rounds. “In Barcelona I started quite well but then Paul Ricard was not that good. In Silverstone we were a bit lost as a team but the pace was better.” Diego is currently 16th in the GP3 Series’ standings after scoring 2 points at the Hungaroring. “We have been working a lot in the team and I think now we are on the right direction.” Half of the season is still to come and Diego has clear goals for it. “From now on I want to have a consistent run on points and try get some trophies” closed the interview the 23 years old driver.