Interest high for rallys Rising Stars programme
Tuesday 27 January 2009, 11:57AM
By Rally New Zealand
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More than 25 young rally hopefuls have expressed interest in Rally New Zealand’s new Rising Stars programme with the Rising Stars Scholarship attracting the greatest attention to date, according to RNZ general manager Paul Mallard.
The Rally New Zealand Rising Stars programme was launched in December last year and the three-part scheme aims to foster and develop the talents of young kiwi rally drivers. [See below for more detail.]
Mallard confirms the programme’s intentions: “In the first year, the Rising Star Scholarship and two categories of Rising Star Award offer aspiring and current rally drivers under the age of 26 significant opportunities to advance their rallying careers, locally and internationally. Our objective is to help find rallying’s equivalent of kiwi single-seater racing stars like Scott Dixon and Brendon Hartley, and these programmes have been developed specifically to help provide three talented individuals with considerable financial and practical assistance towards their long-term rallying careers.”
Entries for the Rising Stars Scholarship are currently open and Mallard reminds those interested in entering the scholarship that applications close on Monday 16 February. (Entries for the Development and International Awards will open in mid-February.)
“On Monday 23 February we will announce the 12 competitors selected to contest the scholarship shootout weekend, then the shootout runs from Friday 6 March to Sunday 8 March, so we’ll be moving things along pretty quickly to have our scholarship winner ready to start the 2009 rally season,” says Mallard.
The scholarship shootout is designed to find the best candidate with talents in all areas of rallying required to succeed at a high level. “The intention is that the scholarship winner should be someone who is capable of winning the 2009 Rising Stars Development Award and progress to 4WD in 2010,” explains Mallard. “A fee of $600 is payable to contest the shootout. As the experience levels of our 12 shootout contenders will vary, the very nature of being selected for the shootout will also provide these young drivers with a unique opportunity to participate in and learn from a professionally-developed rally programme.”
Before the shootout, the contestants submit a brief sponsorship proposal for review by judges. Throughout Saturday and Sunday morning, the contestants are split into groups to undertake both physical and mental testing, drive 2WD cars with a tutor alongside to judge their performance, make a brief verbal sponsorship presentation to a panel, be interviewed by media representatives and then go through another interview with the Rally New Zealand panel regarding their plans for the 2009 season. At lunchtime on Sunday the top four contestants are announced who then get one reconnaissance run and two timed runs through a Maramarua Forest rally stage with a professional co-driver alongside. A final interview with each of the top four contestants wraps up the programme with the winner announced Sunday afternoon.
“We’re very pleased to see interest from young drivers from all over New Zealand, with their ages ranging from mid-teens to near the cut-off point of being under 26 years of age on 1 January this year,” says Mallard. “It’s going to be a very exciting process over the next few months which will result in one aspiring rally driver winning a comprehensive support package to contest this year’s New Zealand Rally Championship and Rally New Zealand. That’s a prize well worth aiming for.”
Inquiries regarding the Rally New Zealand Rising Stars programme should be directed to Paul Mallard via email paul@rallynz.org.nz or telephone 09 276 0882.
The three elements of the Rally New Zealand Rising Stars programme include:
1. Rally New Zealand Rising Stars Scholarship is for drivers new to NZRC Group N and provides the winner with a $50,000 support package, including use of vehicle to contest the N3 class of the 2009 New Zealand Rally Championship. The scholarship is decided at a shootout weekend in the Maramarua Forest, 7-8 March 2009.
2. Rally New Zealand Rising Stars Development Award (N3) provides the winner with a $50,000 support package to contest the N4 class of the 2010 New Zealand Rally Championship. The development award is decided during specified qualifying events in the 2009 rally season and entrants simply need to register with Rally New Zealand before the first qualifying event.
3. Rally New Zealand Rising Stars International Award (N4) provides the winner with $50,000 package to contest an overseas WRC, APRC or Pirelli Star Driver final event in 2010. The international award is decided during specified qualifying events in the 2009 rally season and entrants simply need to register with Rally New Zealand before the first qualifying event.
Each of these three awards will run again in 2009, and a 2010 programme is being planned, which offers young rally drivers more than one opportunity to prove their talents to win one of the awards and benefit from the financial and career-focussed mentoring made available to them as a Rally New Zealand Rising Star.