Taylor Barnard names Ayrton Senna as his idol, talks schooling and Italian skills

Taylor Barnard is now driving for DS Penske in his second season as a Formula E driver. He was previously a rookie with NEOM McLaren in his debut season last year. After wrapping up the Miami E-Prix, where he topped the second free practice but finished 14th, Barnard took some time to answer a few fan questions in which he talked about everything but racing. He answered questions ranging from his racing idol to his schooling and his favorite song.

Taylor Barnard answers fan questions about schooling, favorite song, and more

After the Miami E-Prix, Taylor Barnard shared some interesting fan questions on Instagram that revealed more about his off-track personality. The 21-year-old named the late F1 star Ayrton Senna as his idol.

When a fan asked him if he had completed schooling, the Briton replied, “That's a bit of a technicality because the year that I finished school was the year of COVID. My last school year got cut short by a couple of months, so technically no, but I did get some GCSEs, so I'll let you guys decide on that one.”


When another asked about his favorite song, Barnard shared, “I'm into house music, and I found a good one the other day. It's called Resurrection by Chris Dusty.”

A fan also asked about his go-to destination during the summer break. The busy Formula E driver replied, “Honestly, I've not had that many summer breaks throughout my career. I think this one will be the first. At the end of this season will be the first one where I can actually spend some time and go somewhere, and where that will be, I'm not sure. Maybe you guys will have to send me some recommendations.”

He also revealed how good he was at Italian during his karting days. “I could speak quite good Italian when I was with Kart Republic, which was my old karting team from 2018 to 2020. I couldn't speak very well, but I understood everything. I could probably get by, but that was a long time ago, so I've lost some of my Italian skills, that's for sure. Maybe I need to try and fire up Duolingo again,” he said.

Taylor Barnard’s new car

Last month, Taylor Barnard unveiled the custom-made DS Penske No. 4 Concept car. When asked how the car was different from others, the driver said, “First of all, the number four is a DS Automobiles car. The color is very different. I think the style is more futuristic. I've helped design some of the cars and put some of my own personal touches on them. There's a 77 on the back. It's called tailor-made, so there are some other niche touches on there, which was quite cool.”

Barnard has yet to find success this season. He finished 13th in Sao Paulo, missed out on the podium by a narrow margin with a fourth-place finish in Mexico City, and then finished 14th in Miami. He will now head to Jeddah for Round 4, which will be the first double-header of Season 12.

Also read: Deal honored: Jean-Eric Vergne shaves Nick Cassidy’s head after Mexico City E-Prix win


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