Áron Tábori takes charge of Formula 2 as race director for the first time this weekend at Viverone, stepping up after two seasons training under Luis Ribeiro, who directs the full UIM F2 World Championship.
He isn’t nervous about it.
Áron Tábori
I’m relaxed at this moment, because I have a very good experience in the previous races with the officials. I think I’m prepared to manage it. If everything starts, everything will be okay.
Tábori raced for years before turning to officiating, working up from small categories into Formula 4 and taking multiple world titles along the way.
Áron Tábori
I raced from the very beginning in small categories, GT250, S550, and so on, in Formula Four at the end. A few years ago I stopped racing, because after the Covid period there were some difficulties in my team. I saw it as a good possibility to give back what I got from the sport.
Asked about the highlight of his driving career, he doesn’t single out one moment.
Áron Tábori
I’m always result-oriented, so I was always fighting for the good result. I have four world championship titles in three different categories. I think this is the highlight.
Twice, he raced the Neva Marathon, a 24-hour endurance event held around an island in Saint Petersburg, driving a rigid inflatable rather than a catamaran.
Áron Tábori
It was a very good experience, even with the catamarans or the ribs, getting more experience from different classes and different feelings. It was quite fun. Going to Saint Petersburg and racing there, it was quite okay. And later I won the S550 World Championship, in 2013.
The step into officiating came two years ago, working alongside Ribeiro at the season finale in Portugal.
Áron Tábori
That was the first experience as an official. I try to be a sport commissioner, but that was a chance to jump in and learn from the best guys how to do it as a race director.
He’s candid about what the job demands beyond paperwork.
Áron Tábori
The experience is necessary to do this job. Until this time I’m still watching the race course as a driver, not as an official, and I always try to make my decision the right way. That is the best for the pilots, not only for the rules, but from the driver’s side too.
That driver’s-eye view extends to the field itself. Tábori raced against several of the current grid, including Edgaras Riabko, and says the relationships have carried over into his new role without friction.
Áron Tábori
I have a lot of good friends from the different categories, Edgaras, Nikita, everybody else I raced with. I think I’m okay with them.
It also means he has few illusions about what a driver might try.
Áron Tábori
Watching the field from the driver’s side, I think it’s the best way to be a successful race director. I hope for the best this weekend, without any big crash or any big infringement.
If it happened in powerboat racing during the last forty years the chances are that Chris Davies was there either photographing it or writing about it.
During that time, he has travelled the globe covering both offshore and circuit racing for series promotors, race teams, PR companies, and a whole raft of publications.
