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A1 Team South Africa, one of more than 20 teams representing their countries in the A1GP World Cup of Nations, is conducting a selection process which sees four promising young South African drivers trying out for the position of rookie driver with the team.
The new A1GP season starts at Zandvoort in the Netherlands on September 30.
The four drivers will attempt to qualify in a test arranged at Phakisa Freeway in the Free State on Tuesday (August 7), where they will drive two high performance single seater race cars.
Two of these drivers will then be selected to travel to Great Britain to test in A1 Team South Africa’s Vulindlela at Snetterton in England on August 15. “We will probably announce a two-person rookie driver squad for the team this season,” said Mike Carroll, general manager of A1 Team South Africa.
“Each team competing in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport is allowed to run a rookie driver in the first practice session on the Friday of the race weekend,” explained Carroll.
“All of the drivers currently contracted to A1 Team South Africa no longer qualify for rookie status. To qualify as a rookie, a driver must be under 28 years of age and may not have competed in more than six A1GP races (sprint or feature) in any A1GP season.
“Rookie drivers play a key role for the teams as they are the ones who shake down the cars and need to identify as quickly and accurately as possible any problems with the car. They start the three-day race weekend set-up process and can have a direct impact on the qualifying performance of the team based on their ability to provide quality feedback to the engineers,” Carroll added.
“Importantly, we are investing valuable seat time in the individuals chosen for the role of rookie driver and they, in turn, gain invaluable experience in A1GP and can become candidates for race driver selection. What exactly makes an A1GP driver? Carroll explains that there are considerable physical and mental demands on an A1GP driver. A driver needs to have the requisite experience in appropriate formulas over a number of years to be able to perform competitively.
“Typically, this experience would include karting and then progressing through slicks and wings single seater categories of ever increasing downforce and horsepower levels that take the driver from 1.25G loadings all the way through to the 3.5G sometimes experienced in A1GP.
“We have monitored very closely the performance of those South African drivers who have current slicks and wings experience and we have selected our rookie candidates accordingly.” |
