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Niall
Quinn has won the chance to join Belmayne
A1 Team Ireland at Eastern Creek, Sydney, Australia
on1 February 2008 to take part in
the rookie test as part of his prize for winning the prestigious
Dunlop Young Racing Driver of the Year award today.
Niall competed in the Formula BMW
UK Championship in 2006 and finished the season as the third placed rookie
driver. He then moved onto Formula BMW Germany
for 2007, scoring two podiums on his way to seventh in the overall standings.
The winner of Irish motorsport’s top award,
which also carries with it a total prize fund of €50,000 and
the legendary Sexton Trophy, was
announced earlier today at Motorsport
Ireland’s Dunlop Champions of Irish Motorsport Awards lunch in
Dublin.
The winner is now set to jet out to Sydney,
Australia to get behind the wheel of the A1 Team
Ireland car
on 1 February 2008.
After participating in the
rookie test session, the award winner will spend the whole weekend working with
A1 Team Ireland and with the support of regular driver, Portadown’s Adam
Carroll.
A1Team Ireland came on board to help the most
promising Irish talent to gain a vital foothold in
the international motorsport arena.
The A1GP test
will give the winner a unique opportunity to
impress leading names in the sport at Eastern Creek International Raceway in
Sydney.
The team scored its best ever
Sprint Race result when Adam came on board for Round 2 this year at Brno in the
Czech Republic. He finished third in his debut race before storming through the
field from 18th to sixth in the Feature Race.
The 25-year-old’s speed
combined with team’s experience is making Ireland one of the strongest teams in
A1GP this year. A1 Team Ireland was created to represent Ireland in the A1GP
series and under Chief Executive Mark Kershaw and Team Principal Mark
Gallagher, a formidable team has been assembled.
With 5-time GP2 race winner
Carroll on board for the 2007/08 season, the team have
mounted a strong challenge and are one of only four teams to have
scored points in every race so far this season.
With such strong competition, after only three
rounds a break-away group is forming at the head of the points table and Team
Ireland is proud to be among that front-running group. The
three young drivers vying for the chance to join A1 Team Ireland and fly
the flag for their nation in Australia were selected from the six
monthly winners of the Dunlop Young Racing Driver of the Month
awards, which ran from April to September.
The candidates then had to
demonstrate their skills before a panel of judges, one of whom was ex-F1 driver
Martin Donnelly, at Mondello Park Racing Circuit.
The Dunlop Young Racing Driver of the
Year scheme has been created by
Motorsport Ireland and
is being backed by the Irish Sports Council and
Irish Dunlop. The aim of the award is to promote
talented and committed young Irish drivers to help them progress to the highest
level of International competition.
Niall Quinn: “It’s a great honour to win the award as this is such a big
thing for Irish motorsport. Not only is it a big boost for my sponsors but the
major plus for me is getting the A1GP rookie test. It will be great to work
with the team in Australia and especially to work with Adam. I can't wait to
get out there and I just hope I can do a really good job for them”.
Mark Kershaw, Team Owner: “Niall will be a magnificent addition to the
team in Australia and we're really looking forward to it. It’s great for all
three of the finalists as its fantastic to see all the motorsport talent coming
out of Ireland at the moment; it would be great to get all of them in the car
at some point. It’s been good working with Motorsport Ireland to help promote
young Irish talent and we will be looking to work with them again in the not
too distant future.”
Alex Sinclair, Chief Executive, Motorsport Ireland: “Niall first came to
our attention in karting, but the outstanding thing about him is that he has
taken a completely different route to achieve success. He took the brave step
of going to Germany, competing at a high level in the very competitive Formula
BMW series. For him the gamble has paid off. Some would have been lost out
there but his success in Europe has worked a treat
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