When he arrives at our interview Markus Mormels is dressed in a jacket and tie. He has just gotten back from a job interview at the local BMW dealership. If he lands the job it will be another checkered flag in a life full of cars. Mormels is a 20-year-old sophomore business and economics major at Guilford. He was born and raised in Costa Rica, where he spent much of his time racing modified cars.
“I started out when I was 15 years old doing street racing on a quarter mile drag,” Mormels said. “In Costa Rica there’s a place where you can go every Monday night and there’s legal drag racing.”
At one of these races Mormels met Ronnie Chavez, the owner of an auto shop who, Mormels said, “taught me everything I know.”
It was also at one of these street races that he was invited to join the Hyundai racing team. He accepted and his career as an amateur racer began.
“We race in two categories: Grand Turismo and Turismo series,” Mormels said. “Each category has three classes, from one to three. And it depends on the engine size. I have raced in GT3 and GT2. GT3 is a smaller engine – up to 1500 cubic centimeters. GT2 is 2000 cubic centimeters.”
The races take place on a road circuit (not to be confused with Nascar’s track circuits). This means there are curves, turns and straightaways throughout the race. Between 15 and 18 racers compete.
On the straight-aways the cars can hit between 160-180 miles per hour.
When Mormels first joined the Hyundai team, he was a backup driver. Initially, his role was to take the cars for test runs. As fate would have it, the team’s main driver’s wife suffered a difficult labor. He was forced to take the year off to care for his wife and child. The incident left Mormels with the chance to race for the team.
Mormels raced for Hyundai for one season. The next year he was picked up by Toyota.
Throughout this time Mormels was also working in Chavez’s shop. After the two met they became close friends. Within five months, Mormels began going to the shop every day after school. “I would just do my homework and at the same time learn about working on cars.”
His time in the shop clearly paid off. During Mormels’ season with Toyota he excelled. Last summer he was part of the team that went on the Pan American tour through all of Central America, save for Nicaragua.
Mormels’ greatest personal accomplishment came during this tour, in a race in Ecuador. He battled with one of his teammates throughout the race and, in the end, came out victorious. This was his first win outside of Costa Rica.
Later that summer he competed in the Costa Rican Championship and finished in second place.
Even with his success in the tour this summer, Toyota dropped Mormels’ contract because of “management issues.” Mormels said. “I decided to go to college and get my degree instead of racing, where I was offered a very nice contract.”
Mormels has not had a difficult time finding other work in the industry. He is currently on the payroll for Mitsubishi. He spent his winter break (which happens to coincide with the racing off season) testing four new cars the team had purchased.
Mormels does not see racing as a future profession. This may be, in part, due to his mother.
“My mom hates it,” he said. “My mom is terrified. We race every Sunday. My mom spends Sunday in church, praying for me.”
Although he sees racing as more of a hobby than a profession these days, Mormels does have career aspirations in the world of automotives: “my ultimate goal is to own and open a true performance tuning auto shop in Costa Rica with the right equipment and the right mechanics.”
Mormels’ passion for cars derives from the friendships that are built through them: “The best part of racing in Costa Rica is the pits area before the race. The camaraderie, the friendships and the joking around with different people is a great feeling.