Important results still to come for some young racers
Saturday, October 26, 2019
With most National, European and International race Series and Championships already at or very close to their conclusion for the 2019 season there seems little to look forward to over the winter months (with the exception of one or two bespoke stand alone racing events of course), but at least we still have the outcome of two driver talent selection processes to be decided.
Most recently and following the process ending track sessions of last week at Silverstone for the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year where the very capable young lady race car driver Jamie Chadwick makes up one quarter the four candidate driver list of possibilities for the top UK accolade.
Joining three other single seater specialists, Chadwick (already a GT4 and single seater Champion) have all been measured behind the scenes on simulators, had their physical and mental fitness assessed before finally making it out on track last week in machinery that included a Garage 59 supplied Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 for the ultimate driving comparison.
Hopefully, the guidance and instruction from her former driver coach Jonny Adam at Snetterton last week came in handy for her over the two day assessment ahead of the final reveal at the annual Autosport Awards night in early December.
We wish her well.
Then of course we have Aston Martin Racing's own 2019 Driver Academy that (we are told) should be coming to some kind on conclusion within the next few weeks.
Relaunched for 2019 for any driver between the ages of 17 and 25 and driving for any Aston Martin Racing Partner or Customer team this year saw a mighty twenty three driver entry confirmed by the team at the start of the year.
Many were AMR convertees, turning to GT racing for the first time as the next stepping stone in their motor racing ladder career path and mainly competing in Europe although a few did figure in series further afield in both China and the USA.
With what we have learned from the last winner of a similar process in 2015 (Ross Gunn) was that race results were not the sole solution to the questions being posed by the team as (like above) mental and physical abilities also came into play alongside their media relations capabilities as well as technical and engineering awareness.
What is clear is that most benefitted in some way from this process, having the likes of Andrew Watson, Charlie Eastwood, Ross Gunn, Jonny Adam, Maxime Martin, Darren Turner all on hand at some point in the process to help these young drivers develop.
There were also a few drivers from the Academy process who went on to be crowned as winners at the end of their respective seasons - these include Ollie Wilkinson who won the British GT Championship GT3 Silver Cup (and was the only candidate to drive a GT3), Tom Canning and Ash Hand who won the British GT GT4 Championship together with TF Sport and Clement Seyler who secured both the GT4 European Series Am Class title (with Pascal Bachmann) as well as the Sean Edwards Foundation Young Driver of the Year Award.
As with any season, there was some degree of 'natural wastage' as a few drivers became victims to both circumstance and the hugely competitive nature that is modern motor racing as more than five would not make it to the end of the season in the team/car in which they started.
The candidates
Patrick Kibble (UK) TF Sport British GT Vantage GT4
Tom Canning (UK) TF Sport British GT Vantage GT4
Ash Hand (UK) TF Sport British GT Vantage GT4
Josh Price (UK) TF Sport British GT Vantage GT4
Clement Seyler (LUX) Street Art Racing GT4 European Series Vantage GT4
Julien Darras (F) Street Art Racing GT4 European Series Vantage GT4
Jamie Vandenbalck (BEL) Street Art Racing GT4 European Series Vantage GT4
Matthew Cowley (UK) Academy GT4 European Series Vantage GT4
Alex Toth-Jones (UK) Academy British GT Vantage GT4
Micah Stanley (MON) Academy British GT Vantage GT4
Ben Hurst (CAN) Academy British GT Vantage GT4
Tom Wood (UK) Academy GT4 European Series Vantage GT4
Connor O’Brien (UK) Optimum British GT Vantage GT4
Jack Butel (UK) Optimum British GT Vantage GT4
Patrick Matthiesen (DEN) Optimum British GT Vantage GT4
Ollie Wilkinson (UK) Optimum British GT/GT Open Vantage GT3
Matthew George (UK) Generation AMR GT4 European Series Vantage GT4
Akhil Rabindra (IND) Propeak Performance GT4 European Series Vantage GT4
Jeremie Lesoudier (F) Propeak Performance GT4 European Series Vantage GT4
Florian Thoma (CH) Propeak Performance GT4 European Series Vantage GT4
David Griessner (A) Propeak Performance GT4 European Series Vantage GT4
Jeremy Sarhy (F) Propeak Performance GT4 European Series Vantage GT4
Yves Volte (GER) BSEM China GT
Beyond that, we know little more with everything being kept a closely guarded secret by those involved. Best let's see what the judges decide........................!!
Photo credits - TF Sport / Drivers social media / Autosport