Pirelli Star Driver Global Shoot-Out
As part of the Pirelli Star Driver scheme, the young drivers chosen for a programme in 2011 will be selected at a Global Shoot-Out held on roads close to Salou, Spain, during the weekend 22-24 October. Sixteen drivers from around the world will arrive at the home of the RallyRACC Catalunya - Costa Daurada - Rally de España with high hopes of landing one of the potentially career-making slots that will provide up to six drivers with a fully-funded drive on selected rounds of next year’s FIA World Rally Championship.
The 16 drivers – including one young female nominated by the Women & Motor Sport Commission – will drive one asphalt and one gravel stage in order for the judging panel to assess their ability behind the wheel. The drivers will face the judges during a presentation, where they will also be asked about various aspects of the sport.
The day before the Shoot-Out, the drivers will be given training by ESP, the company which has run the training side of the Pirelli Star Driver scheme for the last two years. During Friday (22 October) the drivers will be given advice on all physical, mental and psychological elements of competing at the highest level. The day will be led by ESP co-founder and 2001 World Rally Champion co-driver Robert Reid.
The next day, Ford Fiesta R2s will be provided, with each car shared by two crews, and fitted with Pirelli Scorpion tyres for both asphalt and loose-surface stages. After completing their two-run recce of the stages, the first stage – the gravel test – will begin at 09:30 hrs. The second stage – the asphalt test – is expected to begin at 14:00 hrs.
The drivers
Africa
- Dudley Chase Attwell (Zimbabwe)
- Mohammed Essa (Zambia)
Asia-Pacific
- Brendan Reeves (Australia)
Europe
- Hermann Neubauer (Austria)
- Jan Cerny (Czech Republic)
- Murat Bostanci (Turkey)
- Vlad Cosma (Romania)
- Fredrik Ahlin (Sweden)
- Craig Breen (Ireland)
Latin America (north)
- Francisco Name (Mexico)
Latin America (south)
- Raul Martinez (Argentina)
Middle-East
- Sanad Shannak (Jordan)
- Khalid Al Suwaidi (Qatar)
Women & Motor Sport Commission
- Molly Taylor (United Kingdom)
In addition to the 14 drivers listed above, there will be two south-west Europe drivers selected from this weekend’s Rallye Antibes, the penultimate round of the FIA European Rally Championship. The identity of the drivers will be known after the event finishes on Sunday 17 October.
This year’s Shoot-Out is the first of a truly global nature, with all of the drivers from the FIA’s regions coming together to do battle in one exciting day of competition. Also making history is Molly Taylor, a 22-year-old Australian born driver who will become the first female to take part in a Pirelli Star Driver Shoot-Out. Taylor, a regular in the British Rally Championship, was nominated by the Women & Motor Sport Commission, a group headed up by four-time world rally winner Michèle Mouton.
The drivers selected will be announced on Sunday 24 October at the RallyRACC Catalunya-Costa Daurada-Rally de España.