Five young drivers have been selected to compete for the inaugural Hyundai NZ Young Driver Shootout and Scholarship, a programme developed by Kiwi world rally star Hayden Paddon and Hyundai New Zealand.
The collaboration aims to give a young New Zealand rally driver a major step-up with their motorsport career aspirations as well as providing the scholarship winner with the opportunity to drive the Hyundai NZ AP4 i20 rally car run by Paddon Rallysport in two rounds of the 2017 New Zealand Rally Championship, testing and training with Paddon, plus the potential for an expanded programme in 2018.
From more than 180 applicants, the following five drivers were selected as finalists for the December shootout weekend where they will participate with the co-driver of their choice:
- Max Bayley, 20, Hawke’s Bay
- Sloan Cox, 24, Rotorua
- Job Quantock, 22, Ashburton
- Matt Summerfield, 24, Rangiora
- Dylan Thomson, 21, Waiuku
The Young Driver Shootout includes lessons and assessments on fitness, how to identify and look after sponsors, nutrition, media presence, career planning, writing pace notes and car set-up. The finalists also get a day in the forest where they will be writing and driving to their own pace notes in the Hyundai AP4 car.
