DRIVER PROFILES - DEVON GELLINGS
Congratulations Devon Gellings for being chosen to be featured on our Drivers Feature Blog!
Devon is an incredibly talented and dedicated young athlete.
What began as a casual hobby in 2018, for this Alberta Peace Country teenage girl has transpired into a life-inspired career aspiration. Devon can be found at the club practicing throughout the week, volunteering and supporting fellow racers improve their racing skills.
Devon focuses on racing competitively, her family and developing personally to be the best that she can be. Fellow racers best describe her as a mature young woman with a heart that beats racing. Her professional ambitions surpass more than just hitting her race lines; keeping in shape and fine-tuning setup skills is something she takes great pride in as a well-rounded athlete.
Devon aspires to go as far as she can in the fast world of Motorsport, and hopefully, one day, she will end up with a career in racing, being a racecar driver or team support.
There are now FIA women in Motorsport, and Devon’s goal is to work her way through stock cars, F4 and possibly the Mazda series to grow from there into the highest possible achievement in Motorsport.
Follow Devon Via These Social Channels
Q: How old are you?
Devon - "I am 17 years old."
Q: How old were you when you started karting?
Devon - "I was 14 years old."
Q: What do you love about racing karts and what got you into it?
Devon - "My favorite thing about racing karts is the speed that you can achieve, it’s so thrilling and exciting. My mom, Ilene, was actually the one who first exposed me to kart racing, she said she was going to the rookie school and asked if I wanted to try it too, now look where I am."
Q: What was your first kart? (brand/chassis/engine?)
Devon - "My first chassis was a CRG FS4 with a Briggs & Stratton engine package."
Q: What kind of kart do you race right now? (brand/chassis/engine?)
Devon - "Now I run a Tony Kart 401R (but upgrading to a 401RR for the 2022 season,) with the Rotax Engine package"
Q: What classes do you race in?
Devon - "I race on Wednesday nights in the DD2 lightweight class and on the weekends I mostly run Senior Max but I’m looking into racing more of the Senior Briggs maybe as well."
Q: What is your favourite kind of music or song to listen to before a race?
Devon - "My pre-race music kind of depends on the mood of the day, you can find me listening to anything from the 50’s to present day music and all different genres as well."
Q: What is your favourite food to eat on a race day?
Devon - "My favorite food to eat on race days is either white-sauce pasta or a simple salad."
Q: Who do you look up to in motorsport and why?
Devon - "Some big people I look up to are Hailie Deegan, Lewis Hamilton, and Max Verstappen. I look up to Hailie Deegan because she is a young woman and she’s doing well in a racing career. Then Hamilton and Verstappen are because they are both very young and they both have fantastic careers in Formula 1. I like to look up to these people because it proves that young people can be great in the racing sport. Some smaller people (but a big part of my life), I look up to are definitely the Dowlers and Rob Kozakowski. They’ve all helped me so much to achieve what I have so far to this day."
Q: What's something that you have learnt from the sport?
Devon - "To me, the biggest thing this sport has taught me is that nothing comes without hard work and determination."
Q: What is your karts racing # and why did you choose that number?
Devon - "My racing number is 34, 334 and 434 (for DD2). I picked 34 when I started racing because my favourite number is 7 but when I was picking numbers, all of the ones I liked with sevens in them were taken so I thought of the first two numbers that popped into my head to make 7 and 34 was decided."
Q: What is your best racing achievement?
Devon - "Race result wise, so far my best race ever was in the 2021 season at Mont Tremblant. I finished 16 out 36 and I bent my axle going over the only other girl in the field on lap 4. Other than results, I think my best achievement is being able to race at the Dowler’s pace and having only a quarter amount of the experience that they have, this is a big thanks to Griffin Dowler because he spent 5 weeks of the 2021 summer season working with me."
Q: Who supports you the most in your karting endeavors?
Devon - "First and foremost, my mom and Trevor, they support (and deal with) me the most, secondly, the Dowler family (Kev, Noel, Adam, and Griff) as well as Rob Kozakowski."
Q: What is your favorite corner at EDKRA?
Devon - "My favourite corner at EDRKA is either corner 1 or the combination of corners 8 and 9."
Q: What are your goals for the upcoming 2022 race season?
Devon - "My goal is to yet again, achieve more skill/experience and learn more. As well to do well in my expansion to cars in the RS1 Challenge series."
Q: Last but certainly not least. What piece(s) of advice would you give others that are starting out in karting?
Devon - "Racing is hard and it takes patience but once you’re able to put the effort in, there’s nothing like the feeling it gives you."
