Switzerland has three new racers
YOUNG DRIVER CHALLENGE The three finalists from the last ten candidates were selected on Monday at the Cupra Race Days in Alsace for the young talent promotion program launched by AutoScout24 and Seat Switzerland. They will soon be competing in their first car race. The "AutoScout24 Young Driver Challenge powered by SEAT" was launched at the beginning of the year. With the project [...]
The "AutoScout24 Young Driver Challenge powered by SEAT" was launched at the beginning of the year. With the project, the two partners AutoScout24 and SEAT Switzerland set out to find young racing drivers.
In total, more than 1250 young people registered for the multi-stage elimination. In regional and national competitions, nine male and one female rider had qualified for the final elimination on the Anneau du Rhin.
On the Rhine Ring in Alsace, the ten finalists competed with touring cars for the first time. First with the new Seat Leon Cupra, as it may be driven sportily in everyday life. All were allowed to complete five laps each, plus an introductory lap and a run-out lap.
The top five then experienced real racing feeling for the first time at the wheel of the Seat Leon TCR, a touring car with around 350 hp designed only for the competition. After two rounds of five and seven respectively, this final and most important elimination was hereby concluded.
In almost "brutal heat", as race driver and event manager Fredy Barth put it, it was a real challenge for all finalists. The following three young men mastered it best:
Oliver Holdener (20) from Bennau
Orhan Vouilloz (21) from Chardonne
Gustavo Xavier (20) from Oetwil am See
Everyone is allowed to participate in one event of the ADAC TCR Germany
The trio will complete the license course on July 11 as part of Track Days at the Circuit de Dijon-Prenois in Burgundy. Fredy Barth is himself authorized to take the license.
After that, each will be allowed to contest one race (two rounds each) of the ADAC TCR Germany. One at the Nürburgring (August 6 to 8), one at the Sachsenring (September 15 to 17) and one at the season finale at the Hockenheimring (September 22 to 24).
The Seat Leon TCR is entered by Topcar Motorsport from Uetendorf. Ronny Jost, who runs the company and the team together with his father Ruedi, drives in this fiercely competitive championship himself and took a brilliant third place at the 2016 finale in Hockenheim.
"You quickly saw who had already reached their performance limits and who still had potential," Fredy Barth concludes. "The last ones showed a good increase. If you lose less than a second per lap to Ronny Jost's reference time the first time you drive such a car, then that speaks for the level."
www.autoscout24.ch/ydchallenge
