INAUGURAL MSA BRITISH RACE ELITE CANDIDATES CHOSEN
There were 86 applications from which 20 were selected to
go forward for interview with an independent judging panel.
After a long day of interviews, deliberation and discussion
at the Motor Sports Association's headquarters on Thursday,
5th April, the final six candidates for the inaugural MSA
British Race Elite programme were chosen and are now announced.
The successful drivers and the Championships in which they
will be competing in 2007 are:
Henry Arundel: Formula BMW UK Championship
Sam Bird: British Formula 3 Championship
Andrew Jordan: Elf Renault Clio Cup/British Rallycross Championships
Adrian Quaife-Hobbs: Formula BMW UK Championship
Michael Meadows: British Formula 3 Championship (National
Class)
Colin Turkington: British Touring Car Championship
The elite driver training scheme is backed by the Motor Sports
Association - governing body of UK motor sport. It was launched
in January and reaffirms the MSA's commitment to developing
and promoting young, British, motor sport talent. Chief Executive,
Colin Hilton, spoke after he'd met with the judges on Thursday
evening. "I am very encouraged for the future of British
motor sport by what I've seen and heard today. The fact that
the judges found the final selection so difficult speaks volumes
about the level of talent on display. I congratulate the six
lucky finalists, who represent five different racing Championships,
and look forward to following their progress throughout the
MSA British Race Elite programme, as well as in their 2007
racing season."
The judging panel comprised Peter Briggs, a highly experienced
single-seater Team Owner/Manager; Oliver Gavin, former British
F3 Champion and current factory GM sportscar driver; Chris
Gorne, race engineer in GP2 and Renault World Series and engineer
to the winning A1 Team France; Matt James, Assistant Editor
of Motorsport News with particular responsibilities to BTCC
and national racing; David Leslie, one of Britain's most versatile
racing drivers having raced in single seaters, touring cars
and sportscars, now a commentator with Eurosport.
Speaking on behalf of the judges, Peter Briggs said, "It
was a very difficult decision as we saw 20 very talented young
drivers with great futures ahead of them. We have picked six
who we feel will not only represent the Motor Sports Association
well, but who will also greatly benefit from the planned programme.
We grilled them all on subjects as varied as team relationships,
car set up, their racing history, funding and how they handle
the media, and these six acquitted themselves extremely well
in the interviews."
The carefully devised scheme will offer these promising young
British racing drivers the opportunity to develop their skills
and give them the best possible chance of making the step
up to the highest levels. As well as working on track performance,
engineering skills and technical understanding, the drivers
will also be developing the vital additional areas such as
physical training, mind coaching, career management, sponsorship
generation, promotion and media presentation that complete
the all-round package of the modern motor racing driver.
The MSA British Race Elite programme will be operated by
Brabham Performance Clinic, fronted by one of the world's
renowned international racing drivers, David Brabham, and
leading mind coach and sponsorship guru, Don Macpherson. It
was these two experts who made the initial selection of 20
for interview.
Brabham, who met with all the applicants on Thursday, but
who was not part of the judging process, said, "I am
very happy with the selection as I believe they all have a
lot of potential. The group we will be working with have all
displayed incredible talent on the track, and great promise
off it. I'd also like to say that, while we are looking to
develop young talent, some of the applicants missed out because
they simply hadn't yet done enough racing. There were several
names from within the 20 whose progress we will be following
closely and we very much hope they will re-apply for a place
on the scheme in the future."
Now that the drivers have been chosen, and their racing schedules
are known, a detailed programme will be set out. One of the
first steps will be a visit to the University of Bath's Sports
Development Department for a physical fitness assessment and
advice on training, nutrition and injury prevention.
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