Around this same time last year, Enzo Pastor faced a small group of writers for a free-flowing round-table discussion in one of the fine restaurants at Resorts World.
Pastor arrived just as everyone else had settled in. He shook hands with those seated close to him, sat down and said he’s ready to take questions.
The interview lasted more than an hour.
Pastor started out racing go-karts but as he grew older he sought the bigger stage. By the time he turned 21, he was joining Asian F3 races.
He said he idolized Alain Prost.
“I always liked him because he never needed to win the races to win the championship,” said Pastor of the four-time Formula One champion from France.
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Among the Filipino racecar drivers, he said he looked up to was Jojo Silverio, son of another great racer, Dante Silverio.
“Jojo Silverio is one of those guys you can throw in any car and he’ll be fast,” said Pastor, who in 2009 had a podium finish in the Macau Touring Car Race.
That race was part of the four-day racing festival over the fabled Guia Circuit and highlighted by the Macau Grand Prix.
Pastor made a lot of heads turn in that race.
While he had his racing idols, he said it was his father, Tom Pastor, who really pushed and guided him in the dangerous sport of car racing.
“My dad he pretty much taught me everything even without him going to a racing school. One day he asked me if I wanted to go Formula racing,” said Pastor.
Someday, he said, he hoped to pass it on to his kids.
But that day will never come because last Thursday, Pastor was ambushed, shot and killed in a major Quezon City intersection as he drove a transport truck carrying his race car.
Police have yet to establish any lead to the killing of the 32-year-old racer.
When the interview took place, Pastor was coming off an impressive stint in the Euro Racecar NASCAR at Nogaro in France, finishing fourth, just a few seconds short of the podium.
It was enough to catch the attention of Andy Woolgar, team manager of Creation Cope Racing, who gave the Filipino a ticket to the K&N Pro Series East.
Pastor fell in love deeper with NASCAR racing.
“I was scouted. But it’s never easy – going from Formula to touring to NASCAR. I had to teach myself to drive smoothly and not be too aggressive on the steering wheel,” he said.
“It was a lucky break being invited. And I consider myself lucky throughout the years since I went international in 2002,” added Pastor.
And at the time of his death, Pastor was busy running and racing in the Asian V8 Championship Series which he and his father had introduced to the country.
Questions were flying in from both sides of the table.
The STAR asked Pastor how it felt like being stuck in traffic in the streets of Manila when he’s used to running as fast as 280 kph on the track.
He smiled and said, “When you’re stuck in traffic, just stick to your lane.”
That brought some laughter around the table.
Someone asked Pastor about his ultimate dream. He needed a couple of seconds to think about it.
“Racing in Le Mans in France is my dream – those endurance races,” Pastor said.
“If the opportunity comes,” he added.
Sadly, it never will.
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