Australian drivers Brendan Reeves (left) and Molly Taylor will compete as part of the Pirelli Star Driver scheme this weekend. They are among other young drivers chosen for a programme in 2011 to be selected at a Global Shoot-Out held on roads close to Salou, Spain.
Sixteen drivers from around the world will arrive at the home of the Rally RACC 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 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 Rallye Antibes, the penultimate round of the FIA European Rally Championship.
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, October 24 at the Rally RACC Catalunya-Costa Daurada-Rally de España.
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