Michael Schumacher once said: ‘I’ve always believed that you should never, ever give up and you should always keep fighting even when there’s only a slightest chance.’ I simply boil that down to: Never. Give. Up. It’s good advice for sport, and life in general, and if there is someone who personifies this credo it’s David Perel.
Many of you may not have heard of Perel but the 36-year-old will be lining up at the start of the 89th 24 Hours of Le Mans on August 21, 2021 in a Ferrari. But how exactly does a Capetonian with a career in IT become a professional racer for one of the most famous racing teams in the world at one of the most famous races in the world?
Perel was a karter who, as a teenager, competed in South Africa, specifically in the Cape for a few years. He was, by his own admission: ‘Not one of those guys who pitched up on day one and stuck it on pole position. I was quick but there were guys who were quicker than me in a kart.’ He plugged away and with time came results. During his days at the track David was befriended by karting legend Claudio Piazza Musso. The two formed a friendship that would be pivotal in David’s career.
‘Claudio is my mentor. My dad was never really into racing, which meant I was often alone when competing. Claudio was often there to help at the racetrack. He taught me how to be a better driver and completely changed my mental approach to racing,’ explains David.
It was in the Rotax Max Senior category that David excelled, netting four regional championships and one national title. Thanks to the SA title he earned himself a spot at the Rotax Max world finals where he finished a credible sixth in 2007. With that result under his belt Piazza Musso arranged a drive in the, now defunct, Formula VW single-seater national championship category.
It was here that David’s talent started to shine through. ‘Pre-race testing was not allowed in the series, which meant that the first time I drove the car at any track was on race weekend. At the season opener, I was already on pace and by race two I was challenging for a podium.’ However, that bugbear of all racing drivers reared its head as David ran out of funding just three races into the 2008 F-VW season.
‘I decided to pause my racing career but I made myself two promises: that I was going to return and that it would be on my own terms.’ At that point, David ploughed all his efforts into forming and building his own business in the website development space. He entered a few karts races between 2008 and 2014. ‘I always tried to race at the African Open as the winner received an invite to the World Finals. At these events, I realised that I still had the skills even if I had been away from active competition which left me feeling positive about an eventual return.’
David had always been a fan of endurance racing, particularly Le Mans. ‘I’ve watched every hour of this race for many years. I very clearly recall watching the 2014 event. I had just witnessed a driver change in the dead of night and as the car blasted off into the darkness I decided there and then that I wanted to race at Le Mans.’
On the Monday after the race David started contacting teams to ask for advice and none replied, save for the owner of Ram Racing, Daniel Shufflebottom. He agreed to take a call, but just to impart some advice and information. Racing is, like it or not, all about money. Non-professional drivers paid (in 2014) roughly €300 000 to compete at the 24-hour race. But having the money does not guarantee you a seat, you have to have a decent racing CV as well.
With €20 000 to his name David started to call in a few favours. Through Piazza Musso, David was introduced to Alan Macdonald who arranged a drive in Europe. David bought a seat in the Italian GT championship driving a Lambo Gallardo Super Trofeo where he impressed the team with consistency and good lap times. ‘With that race in my pocket and a decent result on track I was happy to finally end my racing career.’ But as it turned out, he didn’t need to.
From there he was offered drives in various series in Europe and Asia, first with Lamborghini teams then later with Ferrari outfits. ‘It was an incredible and very stressful time. I was racing in Europe, coming home to find money to race and heading north again. I sold everything I had, my apartment, car, the business I built with my brother, I took loans to race which I am still paying off, my relationship fell apart, but I was finally making it as a racing driver.’
In 2015 matters were getting very serious as he was being offered drives regularly in Europe. ‘I had been racing so much and flying between Europe and SA that by the middle of 2016 I was essentially homeless, in debt, and left questioning my choices,’ recalls David. ‘I thought it was game over.’ He returned to SA to resume his life here when he received a call from top Ferrari outfit Kessel Racing, which he had raced for previously. They wanted to give him another chance. ‘I won both subsequent races and finally, I was no longer paying to race.’
Since the start of 2017 Perel’s been in the UK as a full time racer with Kessel Racing. He’s racked up a number of race wins and podium finishes on some of the world’s most famous racetracks. He won the GT3 Sprint series, Endurance series, combined championship, Spa 24, and Gulf 12 in 2017 with Kessel Racing. But the team no longer needed his services in 2018 so he moved to another Ferrari team called Rinaldi Racing.
In 2018 and 2019 Perel was a paid driver for Rinaldi Racing where he finished second in the ProAm class of the GT World Challenge. In 2020 he competed a full season with Kessel Racing. His dream of competing at Le Mans was inching ever closer as he bagged second place in the 2020 European Le Mans Series and in the short, 2021 Asian Le Mans series he finished third overall.
The results had not gone unnoticed and in March of this year David got the call from Ferrari’s own AF Corse outfit to ask if he’d like to compete at the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans. The dream had finally been achieved. Perel forms part of the Spirit of Race driving trio alongside Matt Griffin and Duncan Cameron in a Ferrari 488 GTE. This is just one of five customer Ferrari GTE Am entries that compete under the factory AF Corse umbrella. When you tune in to watch on August 21 look out for the SA flag on the No55 car because it is a symbol to Never. Give. Up.
Words: Juan Miguel Luis Beco | Photography: Courtesy Images; Gary Paravani; Sergey Savrasov
