Five new talents selected in Finland for the european final of the Pirelli Star Driver
The selections for the 2010 Pirelli Star Driver programme continue. Yesterday, on the eve of Neste Oil Rally Finland, five northern European young drivers have been selected who will take part into the European shoot-out scheduled in Austria on September 18 and 19. The selected drivers are: Maris Neiksans (Latvia - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX), Vytautas Svedas (Lithuania - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX), Anders Kjaer (Norway - Subaru Impreza WRX STi), Victor Henriksson (Sweden - Ford Fiesta) and Ott Tänak (Estonia - Subaru Impreza STI). The panel of judges was made of Ari Vatanen, Ken Rees (team manager), Reiner Kuhn (journalist), Mark Tapper (Pirelli Star Driver 2009) and Mario Isola (Pirelli) who have followed for two days the 8 contenders, evaluating the drivers for their driving capability and style, but also for their capacity to answer to an interview, their curriculum vitae, their ability to present themselves in front of the press and the TV channels following the WRC. The drivers excluded are Keith Cronin (Ireland), Kris Hall (UK) and Joonas Lindroos (Finland). Pirelli Star Driver is the programme created by Pirelli, in collaboration with the FIA, to support new young talents in rallying. In particular, the selection process takes place in four continents and involves 30 countries and give five young drivers the opportunity to compete in six selected events of the WRC.