2016.08.26

PRAY FOR ITALY

Italy native drivers, Ronnie Quintarelli and Andrea Caldarelli, released their comments on the magnitude-6.2 earthquake that hit central Italy at 3:36AM local time (10:36AM JST) on August 24.

 

 

Ronnie Quintarelli (No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R)

“Be strong at heart and fight for Italian people.”

 

I was very shocked to hear that a huge earthquake occurred. At first, I received so many messages from my friends in Japan. I didn’t know about it yet and it surprised me. Then I found out about it by watching the news. Structure of buildings in Italy are different from Japan and, in addition, there are many stone-built houses in the area, and that made the damage even worth. It seems the number of victims are still increasing and there are still strong aftershocks.

There are so many people who lost their lives and who are going through difficult time from this disaster in the area. Although the difficult situation may continue for a while, I believe there will be many support from around the world in addition to the support from Italian government and I continue to pray for the people so that they can get back their original lives as soon as possible.

Like in Japan, earthquake can happen anywhere and it is not a surprising thing in Italy either. Human cannot do anything against natural disaster. To me, I think it will be a difficult weekend in many ways including about the heavy handicap weight. But, I need to be strong at heart first. And then fight hard for Italian people also.

 

 

Andrea Caldarelli (No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR RC F)

“I must show a good battle to give energy and encouragement.”

Affected area is only about 20 - 30km from my hometown. I arrived in Japan two days ago to come to Suzuka, and then after that when I saw Facebook there were so many comments like “How are you doing?” or “Are you OK?”... I came to know about the earthquake after that. I called my home right away, but I couldn’t get hold of anybody and that made me worried. Fortunately, they called me back in less than 30 minutes, and I was relieved after I found out they didn’t have a big problem. My friends nearby were also OK.

To be honest, the countermeasures against earthquake are not sufficient in Italy and if anything like this happens, the damage tends to be larger. Fortunately, it was good that there were not that much of affect to my family and friends, but the area that had a huge damage is a beautiful place with history and old town scenery, and I know the place very well, so that is very shocking to me. It’s a little town in mountain side, but all Italians know about it. Luckily, I heard there were not that many tourists since the summer holiday season was almost over.

Since I am long away from home in Japan to do my job, racing, I want to make sure that I will show a good battle this weekend. If that can give energy and encouragement to those people, then I will be more than happy.

 

 

 

Quintarelli called out and explained to all drivers to take a group photo before the driver briefing.

 

 

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