21-year-old American Jaden Conwright was due to be joining the 2020 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup grid this weekend in Austria, but due to travel restrictions has been forced to abandon the start of his season.
The rising star has been racing with Dinamic Motorsport in Italy, taking nine Porsche Carrera Cup Italy podium finishes with the team in his rookie year.
For 2020 he was due to be making the step up to Supercup with the same team, looking forward to heading to some of the worlds most iconic circuits, from Spa-Francorchamps to Silverstone.
Despite his best efforts and planning as soon as the revised schedule for the season was announced, Conwright was turned away by border police at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport while in transit to Italy in mid-June.
While he had all of the necessary information requested by the Dutch authorities, he was refused entry on grounds of his nationality, being deemed to be a threat to public security and health in the EU, based on the number of cases of Cornavirus currently in the United States.
“As the result of travel restrictions regarding COVID-19, I unfortunately have to announce that I won’t be starting the 2020 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup campaign this weekend in Austria,” confirmed Conwright.
“Hopefully, once the travel difficulties between the USA and the EU begin to smooth out, I’ll be able to join Dinamic Motorsport later on. After a strong season in the 2019 Porsche Carrera Cup Italia, 2020 was looking to be another mega year, competing in an international championship together for the first time.”
For the time being Conwright is back in America, with his only options are to take part in a series based in the US until travel restrictions ease.
“This pandemic has hurt the world and its people in many ways, and I’m hoping that we can once again unify together soon. I have to thank everyone from Dinamic Motorsport, Porsche Motorsport and the FIA for all their hard work these past two weeks in trying to help me gain entry to the EU, but with the current restrictions implemented, it was unfortunately not possible.
“We’ll re-evaluate career paths and opportunities for 2020 at my end and hopefully have some positive news in the coming weeks. Thank you to everyone for the continued support.”
Giacomo Sgarbossa, Athlete Representative for his management company WH Sports, added, “It is with great regret that, due to the current complications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Jaden will not be starting the 2020 Porsche Supercup championship this weekend. We remain hopeful that he will be able to enter a number of events with Dinamic Motorsport at a later date, once international travel for US citizens becomes more manageable.
“2020 was poised to be a big year in Jaden’s career following an impressive debut in GT racing last season. He and the team have a wonderful relationship, and neither party left anything on the table with regard to preparations for the forthcoming campaign.
“The pandemic has clearly had a huge impact on the world and, with motorsport by its very nature consisting of so many international events, it has caused many drivers a lot of difficulties. Together with Dinamic Motorsport, Porsche Motorsport and the FIA, we did everything we could to help Jaden to gain entry to the EU but with the current restrictions in-place, it was simply not possible.
“The past two weeks have been very intense for Jaden, however we will be regrouping and making every effort to ensure his promising career continues to move forward and his talent and potential are realised at the very highest level in the sport.”
With Conwright out of a drive, Dinamic have had to find a replacement driver at short notice, for Austria this will be Moritz Sager, son of Supercup regular Pro-Am driver Philipp Sager.
Join the Porsche Motorsport Community on: Twitter | Twitter Community | Instagram | Reddit | Discord
