Formula Renault BARC Championship Leader Dino Zamparelli Is Amongst The Six In Contention - Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography
The six finalists for the 2011 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award have been announced.
Formula Renault UK championship leader Alex Lynn, Formula Ford GB champion Scott Malvern, Formula Renault BARC championship leader Dino Zamparelli, Formula Renault UK race winner Oliver Rowland, ADAC Formel Masters front-runner Emil Bernstorff and German Formula 3 racer Tom Blomqvist will fight it out for the prestigious award and will be assessed at a test at Silverstone in November.
Picking the winner will be a panel including BRDC president Derek Warwick, BRDC Director Jason Plato, 2002 award winner Jamie Green, McLaren’s head of vehicle engineering Mark Williams, veteran commentator Ian Titchmarsh, and AUTOSPORT’s Kevin Turner and Marcus Pye, with the driver that’s comes out on top winning £100,000, a McLaren F1 test drive, full BRDC membership, a supply of Puma racewear for 2012, and a TW Steel watch.
Blomqvist and Malvern were in the running for last year's award, while the others are competing for the first time. The winner will be announced at the Autosport Awards in London in December and join a prestigious list of winners including Dario Franchitti, Jenson Button and Paul Di Resta.
The chosen six:
Alex Lynn – 17 years old – The Fortec Motorsport driver has dominated the Formula Renault UK series this year, taking eleven wins in eighteen races so far as he heads into the series finale with a healthy championship lead.
Oliver Rowland – 19 years old – The Racing Steps Foundation-backed driver has showed great pace during his maiden Formula Renault UK season, sitting third in the points, leading the Graduate Cup class, after winning three of the last four races.
Dino Zamparelli – 19 years old – The 2008 Ginetta Junior champion has had his second crack at Formula Renault BARC this year and enjoyed real success, taking four wins so far as he heads into the season finale in the lead of the championship.
Tom Blomqvist – 17 years old – The 2010 Formula Renault UK champion has headed out to Germany this year and became an instant frontrunner in the native Formula 3 Cup, though ended up sixth in the points after breaking his back in an accident at Lausitz last month.
Emil Bernstorff – 18 years old – Competed in Formula Ford in the UK in 2010, then like Blomqvist, headed to Germany. A strong season in the Formel Masters series saw him come third in the championship, with four wins and eight other podiums.
Scott Malvern – 22 years old – After narrowly missing out on the 2010 Formula Ford GB crown, Malvern returned this year and has totally dominated the campaign, taking seventeen wins in twenty-one races and winning the inaugural Formula Ford Eurocup.
