2023-08-13 04:15:00
Just arrived from Portugal and with almost no time to assimilate his hard-earned sixth place in the Rali Vinho da Madeira, Diego Ruiloba (Pravia, 2000) left days ago for Valencia. The Praviano was thus back on the road, but in a quite different way and with different objectives and mentality.
If just seven days ago he was behind the wheel of the Citroën C3 Rally2 of the Sports&You team, this week he was in charge of one of the trucks of the small family business run by his parents. His adventure partner also changed. On Portuguese roads, his co-driver, Ángel Vela, accompanied him, while on national lands, his father, Javier Ruiloba, did the same.
And it is that the young promise of the Spanish rally never turns off the engine and does not get off all four wheels even in his rest periods. “My parents have a transport company and, in my free time, when we don’t have a rally, instead of resting I take the opportunity to help my family with the trucks”, explains the Pravian, acknowledging that this has already become “a routine” for him. And, although for many this “routine” that involves journeys of long hours or even days may be a disadvantage, for Diego Ruiloba it is the opposite.
Precisely, his work as a truck driver has taught him the value of effort and this, he assures, is one of the keys that give rise to the good sporting moment he is experiencing. “I think that working in my spare time serves as a lesson for life because the more effort you make and the more work you do, the better the results you will achieve. This mentality is the one that has always been instilled in me at home, and I believe that part of the The success and the situation we are in, sportingly speaking, is the result of all the work behind it, both in the rally world and in the truck world”, he indicates, referring to a “work” that began years ago.
Because Diego Ruiloba has been in a car since he was 4 years old and since he was 5 as an absolute enthusiast of the Spanish Rally Championship, which he followed with great admiration. “The love for the motor is something that comes in my blood. My parents always had a lot of fans. My father, for example, likes everything that has wheels and gasoline, so the love of rallies is something that I learned from a very young age. I started go-karting at the age of 4 and I followed the Spanish Championship from the age of 5 to 17, or what is the same, until I became a driver”, points out the young Praviano.
“As a child he pointed out ways. He only watched movies and cartoons if they were about cars or anything that had an engine and wheels. It was either to see ‘Cars’ or races of any type of vehicle,” adds his father, so delighted that his son to continue with the family passion, which he and his wife were the first to encourage him and show him their support.
“My family has been, is and will be the greatest support because they were the ones who pushed for me when I had absolutely no help. When I turned 18 I had the opportunity to start running because they, my parents, were the ones who bought me my It was the first car. It was a production car that was affordable for everyone. We started in a very humble way without having the vision of getting to where we are now, which is competing in a Spanish Championship with the support of an official brand and being a professional driver.” , remembers the young man.
To the unconditional support of his parents and the philosophy of life that they instilled in him since he was born, another determining factor was added: being at the right time and in the right place. “This is a very expensive sport that, unfortunately, is within the reach of very few people. Given how difficult it is to find a budget for this sport, I have had the great luck of being born just at a time when there was more aid than ever in Asturias. In addition, I was able to win promotion cups that allowed me to make the leap to a big championship”, confesses the Praviano, who acknowledges that, once the “dream shared with his family of being a professional pilot” and “being where I never thought I would go”, he hopes to continue dreaming and making rally fans dream for as long as possible.
“In this sport it is very difficult to predict the future because one day you can be very high and the next very low. But, in ten years, for example, I would like to be able to continue being a professional driver, living from rallies and being able to enjoy this sport that I love so much,” he says.
Something that he will surely do during the remainder of the season, for which he is very confident and prepared. “This second part of the season is the most anticipated by the team. Now the two Asturias rallies are coming up, we have much more experience with the car, and also many more kilometers. I think we will be able to fight and hopefully we can reach the end of the year with options to fight for the title”, he warns.
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