Racing driver from Rochdale lands silverware in first race season

Bobby Trundley and Sandro Ballesteros

A talented local teenage racing driver landed more silverware this year with a top three spot in his first season of racing two hour Enduro races.

Award-winning seventeen year old Sandro Ballesteros from Rochdale who was diagnosed with autism at three years old and enjoyed early success racing karts from the age of five, formed a Racing with Autism UK dream team as he partnered up for 2024 with TeamBRITs' McLaren GT driver Bobby Trundley to race in the Club Enduro Championship.

Driving Sandros' Audi TT Cup car in the 750 Motor Club events on multiclass grids of 30 plus cars, the team mates went on to consistently score points throughout the season despite many setbacks arising from taking a sprint car into longer two hour endurance races. Their highest place finish was second at the Snetterton round, in a series which also saw them visit other iconic UK circuits like Silverstone and Brands Hatch. They would also pay a visit to Sandro's "home" track Oulton Park in Cheshire, where the car cruelly suffered catastrophic brake failure whilst running second in class with just 15 minutes of the race remaining. Thankfully due to his reactions and experience, both car and driver came away totally unscathed, but this incident also robbed them of the possibility of winning the class B championship.

During the season the duo racked up five top six finishes and eventually claimed overall third place in standings for Class B cars rated at up to 240hp per ton. They would also land third place in the Clubman Cup for pre 2010 cars, with a boost to their points tally after winning this category at the Silverstone round.

Speaking about this year's events Sandro said: "It has been the biggest challenge in my motorsport journey so far, a huge leap forwards for me in terms of car performance, plus the switch back to a front wheel drive car, and even longer races.

"Due to time and tight budget restraints we went into each round with very little seat time, and feeling a little out of our depth, but we finished our very first race so close to third place. Then our almost runaway win at Brands Hatch early on gave us a sense that we belonged here and deserved to be at the top. This gave us the fuel and extra motivation to keep pushing hard as we were getting so close to our goal of a podium finish.

"It has been a steep learning curve for us all, especially as we are a small family team up against some serious competition. We are all very proud of what we have achieved this year, even if it now leaves us with a feeling that we have unfinished business, we are aiming to return in 2025."

In addition to a busy and successful motorsport calendar, juggling A level studies, a small business, and hosting autism friendly karting sessions at his local indoor track, Sandro was also invited to join a youth in motorsport panel at The British Motor Show this summer representing neurodiversity in motorsport. He spoke about how some of his autistic strengths can actually be used to his advantage in certain areas of performance, especially in endurance events where extreme focus and consistency is required.

Sandro also gained his road driving licence in 2024, three years after taking his ARDS test for a junior race licence at 14, while filming cBBC iPlayer documentary "My life on the Fast Track" where the film crew followed his journey from racing karts to cars.

Sandro added: "The winter months will be spent studying for my upcoming A levels, while at the same time preparing for the new race calendar starting in April. It's really hard work but I'm really pleased to continue making progress, I am so grateful for the help we have had over the years to get this far, with so many people to thank for their amazing support and advice. Hopefully I can continue to make them proud."