Speedy Gonzalen

For the freaks of the Formula 1 races who grew up on Alan Frost, it is recommended to be informed, that there is an Alan in the local arena as well. Not Frost yet, but Alan Sedavnik has his rhythm and he really isn't going to slow down. Meet the network manager from genie, who has already managed to make his own little history on the track, after only one competition.

When the flag was raised at the track in Arad for the start of the official and historic race of the PEUGEOT RACING CUP208 Israel Championship - the first official race car championship in Israel, at the opening it took the lead and the attention on the broadcast - the Peugeot 208 car #39 - driven by the youngest of the participants, 21 years old All, who already pressed the pedal at the start to set the fastest lap time among the participants in his first foray into the professional field.

He will finish the race itself standing on the podium: third place. Surprise, respect. Just don't tell Alan Sedevnik that third place is an achievement. "For racing drivers - if it's not first place, it's actually losing" - he reminds.

When you take into account that Alan Sedvnik was photographed with toy cars from the age of two, his achievement should not really surprise anyone close to him. "Where did the Jock come in? Since I was born. I don't know, I just had some kind of attraction to cars from the age of two. I wouldn't want to hear about anything else" – declares Alan, and is ready for you to take him at his word: "In every video from the nineties, you will only see me With some kind of Ferrari toy."

Also motorcycles in the story?

"I'm scared on a motorcycle. Motorcycles are for the mentally ill..."

The one who currently works as a network manager at genie, even reached the championship through the preliminaries; Sorting of hundreds of drivers, where only the first finisher is guaranteed full funding and an entry ticket to the championship. Alan finished second, but the talent of the young man from Katzrin (now from Tel Aviv) who cut the cones on the track, did not go unnoticed by those in charge who recognized the potential, called him two days later and informed him that he was also in, with partial financing of the expensive cost of participating in both races. They probably knew there was a reason to insist.

And it's not like there weren't little butterflies in the stomach. With thousands of live viewers (about 100,000 views in total in the competition) and expensive cars that you are highly advised not to scratch (…), the butterflies also visited Alan. "The truth is that I expected that I would be stressed, but it felt the most right in the world to me. I don't know, I was very surprisingly calm. By nature I am a very stressed person, stressed by any nonsense, but there I was calm." In the second race it went a little less smoothly (Alan finished sixth, but here too he finished with the fastest lap in the race): "My mind was probably not in peak focus with all the cameras and the pressure around."

Is the championship a first stop on the way to other places? Maybe motorsport as a career?

"I'm looking for where I can compete. Maybe I'll get a future sponsor to help finance a race or two. The costs reach tens of thousands of dollars. For me, the races were a chance to impress. A career? Of course, as long as I have the option. Even if it doesn't develop into a career, to compete I will continue as long as I can. If a career opens, then we will continue to compete and participate in other leagues that do not cost tens of thousands of shekels. It is a story of the whole organization and the broadcasts and the equipment".

Until the sponsor arrives, Allen is in no rush. Just to clear the air, let's recall that the one who won the second round of the competitions (and the one who also preceded him in the selection races - JD) - Tom Tal, is 26 years old, so Alan, despite the significant gap in terms of his young age, is already there. He has been at genie for about two and a half years and is doing well. Speaking of genie, and if the name "Sedevnik" sounds familiar to veterans in the company, then of course Alan is the son of Gaston Sedevnik, Genie's director of technologies in the northern region. Did we mention Alan's car obsession from a young age? Gaston says that Alan "even preferred cars to candy." We bought him a carpet, when there were cars in the painting and he would play with his cars for a long time. In places like the amusement park, he always preferred facilities where he could drive them. Since there were always computers at home, he started playing games like: Need For Speed in the first versions on the computer from a kindergarten age." Working together - of course they succeed, but the political correctness is maintained "to maintain normal relations in the team" - explains Gaston.

The obvious question from this is, what goes through Alan's mind when his father asks him during work to give a little more gas...

Israel Doshi