Racing driver from Rochdale set to create ‘super team’ pairing for Club Enduro season

Sandro Ballesteros, a 16-year-old racing driver from Rochdale, is set to pair up with a fellow autistic driver to create a ‘super team’ for the 2024 Club Enduro Championship.

Sandro will pair up with 22-year-old Team BRIT driver, Bobby Trundley from Wokingham, to drive an Audi TT in the 750 Motor Club’s championship.

Both Sandro and Bobby were diagnosed with severe autism in childhood and both have found motorsport to have a major impact in helping them deal with the challenges of the condition. 

Both were found to have a natural talent for karting at a very young age, with Bobby becoming passionate about the sport from the age of 10, and Sandro first sitting in a kart at the age of just five.

The pair have known each other for years, with Bobby being a five times national karting champion, and their families sharing support and experiences of living with autism. Both describe autism as their ‘super power’ when it comes to racing, something also being explored in a forthcoming US-produced documentary in which they will both star.

‘Racing on the Spectrum’ follows the journeys of Bobby and Sandro, as well as two successful young American drivers with autism, Austin Riley and Armani Williams.

Sandro has recently progressed from a winning track record in karts to race in cars, competing in the Junior Saloon Car Championship (JSCC) before his last season in the BMW116 Trophy.

Alongside his racing with Sandro, Bobby will also compete in select rounds of the British Endurance Championship for Team BRIT, driving a McLaren 570S GT4, a car he has driven for the past two years in the British GT Championship and the McLaren Trophy Series Europe. Team BRIT is the world’s only competitive team of all-disabled racing drivers.

Sandro said: " I am absolutely thrilled to be teaming up with Bobby, he is a friend who I have always looked up to and can learn a lot from. We first met at an ‘Autism Hero Awards’ event and have some nice history together in endurance karting and sim racing online in lockdown. It will be great to take my racing to the next level with someone who has his experience, and truly understands.

“We also share the same goals off the track too, using our racing to share autism awareness and acceptance, supporting and hopefully inspiring others.

“I think we will make a great team as we are both dreaming of racing in the 24hrs of Le Mans one day... With a full team racing on the spectrum that really would make history.”

Bobby said: “I’m really looking forward to a season of racing with Sandro. I’ve known him for years and have watched him develop into a fantastic driver. We both found our passion for racing in karting, so are equally as competitive and are therefore taking the championship really seriously – we’re in it to win it!

“It will be a great opportunity to mentor Sandro, sharing what I’ve learnt in my five years with Team BRIT, during which time I’ve moved from racing a BMW 116 to a McLaren GT4. 

“I’m really grateful to all at Team BRIT for their help in making this happen. They’ll also be giving support to Sandro’s Dad, Tony, who will be leading our championship efforts, so it will be great to bring everyone together in the paddock.”