Young Driver: Starting signal for the Challenge 2018
TALENT SIGHTING On March 22, the regional eliminations for the "AutoScout24 Young Driver Challenge 2018 powered by Seat" began. The three best finalists will once again each win a race in the ADAC TCR Germany with a Cupra TCR from Topcar Sport. The competition is aimed at young people aged 16 (born in 2001) to 21 (born in 1997) with [...]
The competition is aimed at young people aged 16 (born in 2001) to 21 (born in 1997) who are resident in Switzerland. They must not yet have an automobile racing license. Exceptions are licensed kart drivers.
The regional eliminations will take place from March 22 to May 6 at the indoor kart tracks of Bonaduz, Fimmelsberg, Payerne, Roggwil, Spreitenbach and Villeneuve as well as outside in Locarno-Magadino. Participation is free of charge. Everyone has as many qualification attempts as he or she wants after registration.
A free race weekend in the ADAC TCR Germany
The five fastest from each kart track will be invited to the national selection in Wohlen on May 22 and 23. Five racing karts will be available there.
The jury there will select ten people who will be allowed to prove their talent at the wheel of a Seat Leon Cupra on June 18 at Seat Race Day at the Anneau du Rhin in Alsace. The three best will then each receive a race weekend in the ADAC TCR Germany.
As in the previous year, the Topcar Sport team from Uetendorf will be responsible for the racing. The driver who, in the opinion of the jury, has the greatest potential based on his or her performance in the race debut at the Nürburgring, Sachsenring or Hockenheimring will be declared the overall winner and will be sponsored by AutoScout24 and Seat Switzerland in the 2019 season.
All three finalists from 2017 are preparing for the new racing season
In 2017, Oliver Holdener won this sponsorship package, which guarantees him four race weekends in the coming season. Since then, the man from Schwyz has been trying to find more sponsors so that he can contest the entire championship on a Cupra TCR from Wolf-Power Racing (where he works). At the moment, he is short of around 20,000 Swiss francs, which he now wants to raise via crowdfunding.
The other two finalists have realized their own projects: Gustavo Xavier is racing in the KTM X Bow Challenge and Orhan Vouilloz wants to enter the European Le Mans Series as a driver in an LMP3 team.
Even Nico Müller is amazed at the high level
The organization, running and judging of the Challenge is once again the responsibility of racing pro Fredy Barth's tried and tested company. Like Nico Müller, he is also an ambassador for AutoScout24.
But that's not the only reason why Audi factory driver Nico Müller is taking part in this event.
Nico Müller: "Last year, I had a bit of a queasy feeling at first. I wasn't sure whether we would manage to find three finalists without any racing experience who were up to the challenge at such a high level. The fact that we succeeded speaks for itself. It was an amazing performance by Oliver to finish in the middle of the field. With more experience, there's more to come."
Christoph Aebi, Director of AutoScout24, is also "happy and proud" about the success of this project to promote young talent in Switzerland.
Christoph Aebi: "Our goal is for a winner to establish itself in racing. Now that everyone has paid their dues, we can build on this successful starting year with conviction. And of course we hope that we can top the figure of 1250 entries in the regional eliminations that have now begun."
