The six finalists for the 2015 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award have been announced, with three Formula Renault 2.0 front-runners joined by two MSA Formula stars and the newly-crowned BRDC Formula 4 champion.
FR2.0 star Ben Barnicoat has been selected for a second consecutive season, while fellow European FR stars Jake Hughes and Jack Aitken are also picked for a second time, having both been finalists in 2013.
Barnicoat has been a race-winner in the FR2.0 Eurocup this season, having won the FRNEC title last year, while Hughes and Aitken sit first and second in the FR2.0 Alps standings ahead of this weekend’s championship finale, while also both lie in the Eurocup top six alongside Barnicoat.
New BRDC F4 champion Will Palmer will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of George Russell, who won the Award last year after winning the BRDC F4 title and will complete his prize McLaren F1 test during the assessment days later this month.
Ricky Collard is a first time finalist, as he heads into next weekend’s MSA Formula season finale in title contention, while Toby Sowery has also been chosen for the first time as a MSA Formula podium finisher and MRF Challenge champion.
The finalists will take part in a two-day shootout at Silverstone later this month, driving Formula 2, DTM and GT3 machinery, as well as participating in fitness tests at the Porsche Human Performance Centre and simulator assessments.
BRDC President Derek Warwick chairs the judging panel, which includes former BTCC champion Jason Plato, McLaren’s Andrew Kirkaldy and Mark Williams, circuit commentator Ian Titchmarsh, Autosport features editor, and former TCF writer, Scott Mitchell and Motorsport News editor Kevin Turner.
The victorious driver will be announced at the Autosport Awards in December, winning a McLaren F1 test, £100,000, full BRDC membership and an Arai GP-6 RC carbon crash helmet.
