The finalists have been announced for the 12 young British motor racing talents for the exciting new RX Talent Search initiative.
Confirming the growing appeal of rallycross, no fewer than 122 MSA competition licence-holders aged between 18 and 30 put their names forward for consideration.
The 12 finalists include some of the UK’s best young prospects from major circuit racing and rallying disciplines as well as junior rallycross. Several have already made their mark in winning events and titles, while others are strongly tipped for future success.
The chosen dozen will be given the opportunity to prove themselves behind the wheel of purpose-built rallycross cars, with the overall winner being awarded with a fully paid entry into the RX Lites Cup round being staged at the World RX of Turkey in Istanbul later in the year.
The nominated finalists are:
• Dan Cammish (2013 Formula Ford GB champion, 2015 Porsche Carrera Cup GB)
• Jack Clarke (FIA Formula Two race winner, 2014 British Touring Car Championship)
• Sennan Fielding (2013 RSF MSA Young Driver of the Year, 2014 BRDC Formula 4 race winner, 2015 MSA Formula, MSA Academy member)
• Freddie Hunt (Son of 1976 F1 world champion James Hunt, 2015 Renault UK Clio Cup)
• Chris Ingram (2015 European Rally Championship, MSA Team UK member)
• Tom Onslow-Cole (multiple British Touring Car Championship race winner, MSA Performance Manager)
• Ben Power (multiple winner in British Rallycross and National Legends Car Championship)
• Jason Pritchard (multiple class winner in British Rally Championship, MSA Rally Elite graduate)
• Dan Rooke (2015 British Rallycross Championship Super-national class winner)
• Rupert Svendsen-Cook (multiple British Formula 3 race winner and MSA Performance Manager)
• Jake Taylor (2015 Swift Sport Rallycross Championship, MSA Academy member)
• Euan Thorburn (2013 BTRDA Rally champion, 2014 Scottish Rally champion)
A special evaluation will now be staged at Lydden Hill on Thursday 21 May, acting as a curtain-raiser to the FIA Motorsport News World RX of Great Britain taking place at the famous Kent venue over the following Bank Holiday weekend (23-24 May).
Olsbergs MSE will be providing two RX Lites cars and the judging panel will include: Robert Reid, MSA Performance Director; Martin Anayi, World RX Managing Director for IMG Motorsport; Andreas Eriksson, Team Principal of World RX team Olsbergs MSE and Andrew Jordan, the 2013 British Touring Car Champion who finished a very commendable third in last year’s World RX of Great Britain as a ‘wild card’ entry.
The programme has been jointly set up by the Motor Sports Association, governing body of UK motor sport and IMG Motorsport, the rights-holder for the new FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy. It aims to provide potential competitors with a first-hand insight into the latest motor sport discipline to achieve FIA World Championship status alongside other premier league global series such as Formula One. Indeed, all 122 WRX Talent Search entrants have been offered a pair of free tickets to experience World RX in live action at Lydden.
Further support for the initiative has come from Lydden Hill, where the UK’s only round of the World RX Championship is staged and FirstCorner, the organisation behind the RX Lites Cup, a one-make championship for identical purpose-built, four-wheel-drive machines all propelled by similar mid-mounted 310bhp engines.
“The MSA is absolutely delighted that this initiative has received such tremendous interest – it further underlines just how far rallycross has come in the past couple of years,” said Reid. “Moreover, it wasn’t just the number of entrants that impressed but also the quality of those applying. It wasn’t easy to pick the 12 finalists and I’m sure it will be even harder to select the overall ‘prize drive’ winner.”
“We have been extremely impressed by the high calibre of drivers that entered our RX Lites Talent Search,” confirmed Martin Anayi, World RX Managing Director for IMG. “With candidates’ experience ranging from rally, circuit racing and several different international motoring series’, the level of competition was very high. Unfortunately we’re not able to accept everyone and we firmly believe that our final shortlist of 12 includes some of the most talented young drivers in Britain today. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who entered our talent search and hope that all of our entrants are able to accept complimentary tickets to our British World RX round at Lydden Hill next month. As for our 12 finalists, I would like to wish them the best of luck for Thursday 21 May and on behalf of IMG, we are looking forward to meeting some future rallycross stars.”
While the RX Talent Search will be held behind closed doors, fans wanting to experience World RX thrills – as vividly seen recently on BBC Top Gear – can take advantage of advanced tickets for the FIA Motorsport News World RX of Great Britain (23-24 May). These offer significant discounts, being priced at just £25 for Saturday and £30 for Sunday. Prices will rise to £30 and £35 for any remaining general admission tickets to be sold on the gate.