When I was 13 I could barely complete the beginners circuit in Sega Rally, but for 13 year old Indonesian Sean Galael, the art of rallying seems to come naturally.
The youngster is currently in the midst of competing in the KFC Junior Rally Sprint in Indonesia, where he has already won the first two rounds at the helm of a Prodrive Impreza Group N rally car - the same as that used in the Production World Rally Championship.
It’s not the first time Galael has come under the media spotlight for his motorsport prowess - in 2008, he navigated Prodrive’s David Maslen and former Australian rally champion Cody Crocker to victories in the Indonesian Rally Championship. When I was 12, I was failing maths.
The talented teen entered the field of rally through his father, Ricardo Galael, who won the Indonesian Rally Championship in 2006. Later this year Sean will return to the dusty tracks of the Indonesian series in the navigator’s seat of the Serge Motorsport Prodrive Impreza N14, for which we wish him luck.
We’ve got to wonder though, if this is what the kid is like at 13, what kind of rally-driving superstar will he be when he’s actually old enough to get a drivers license? We’ll keep an eye on this one.
