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Mohamed Al Mutawaa, 18, UAE
Despite only having raced since 2007, Al Mutawaa has already emerged as a leading young talent in his region, having been chosen from more than 700 drivers to represent the UAE in Europe. That meant a spell of racing in Europe, driving Formula Renault 1.6 during 2007-8. He has since raced extensively in the UAE and is currently sponsored by the Yas Marina Circuit, competing in the FG1000 championship. |
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Klaus Bachler, 20, Austria
Having finished third in the 2011 German Formula 3 championship, with two wins, seven podium finishes and a fastest lap, Bachler is planning to progress through the single-seater categories of European racing. A karter from 2000-2006, Bachler raced competitively in Formula Lista (winning the 2007 championship) and Germany's ADAC Formel Masters championships, before making the step to F3. |
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Andrea Bate, 22, South Africa
A relative late comer to motor sport, Andrea Bate did not begin racing until 2009. She started with South Africa's Western Cape GTi Challenge and won Rookie of the Year honours, as well as finishing second in class C and fifth overall. From there it was a leap to the national Goldwagen Challenge, taking her to race circuits all across her home country, regularly competing in a field of 44 cars. |
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Craig Breen, 21, Ireland
Waterford's Craig Breen has had an action-packed 2011, competing in the WRC Academy, the British Rally Championship, the Irish National Rally Championship, as well as several one-off rally entries. He won his first WRC Academy event at the 2011 Rally Deutschland, having won the 2010 Ulster Rally – a round of the British Rally Championship. Although he started his motor sport career in karts in 1999, Breen switched to rallying in 2007, following in the wheeltracks of his father Ray Breen, an Irish national rally champion. In 2010 he won the Pirelli Star Driver global shootout. |
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Andrea Caldarelli, 21, Italy
This Italian racer from Pescara, the same home town as Formula One driver Jarno Trulli, has spent much of 2011 racing in Asia. He has competed in the GP2 Asia Series, in Formula Nippon (Japan) and in GP3. A former karter, Caldarelli progressed through single-seater categories via Formula Azzurra, Formula Renault 2.0 and in Italian Formula 3, before embarking on his busy 2011 programme. Caldarelli has already enjoyed Formula One tests with Toyota (2008) and Ferrari (2010). The Ferrari test came about as a result of his strong performances in the 2010 Italian Formula 3 championship, in which he finished third. |
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Gabriel Chaves, 18, Columbia
Gabby Chaves began karting at age 11 – a year in which he was also ranked in the top 10 tennis players in his age group. His first national kart title came in 2005 and he has swiftly progressed through car racing and the noted Skip Barber race school. Chaves spent 2011 racing in GP3, in Europe, finishing 19th out of 38 drivers in his first year in the championship. |
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Jonas Gelzinis, 23, Lithuania
Jonas Gelzinis last year became the first Porsche Carrera Cup GB driver to be crowned champion as he won the Pro-Am1 title. In the opening race of the Brands Hatch, UK meeting, Gelzinis, driving for Juta Racing, won his tenth Pro-Am1 race, giving him the class crown with three races to run. This year's title win followed a runner-up place in 2010 and he plans next year to race for the title in the more senior Pro category. Gelzinis' background is in karting (1998-2005), before his graduation to car racing for 2006. |
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Michael Klitgaard Christensen, 21, Denmark
Michael Klitgaard Christensen's 2011 season has been focused on the GP3 championship, in which he finished 11th driving for the RSC Mücke Motorsport team. A trained auto mechanic, Christensen, from Karslunde, began his racing career in karting and was twice German national kart champion, in 2006 and 2007. He raced competitively in Formula BMW in 2008-9, before making the step to GP3 for 2010. |
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Jack Le Brocq, 19, Australia
A 'Rising Star' of CAMS, Australia's National Sporting Authority, Jack Le Brocq has competed strongly in the 2011 Australian Formula Ford Championship, scoring seven podiums and four wins, and is currently second in the championship with a round to go. His next step is Europe with the UK-based Jamun racing team to compete in British Formula Ford. Melbournian le Brocq, who began karting in 1999 before moving to single-seaters in 2008, is a fan of many sports and a race mechanic when not behind the wheel. His career aim is to become Formula One World Champion. |
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Michael Lewis, 20, USA
Californian Michael Lewis, who this year has been racing in Italian Formula 3 with the Prema team, is a product of the classic American racing ladder: he started in 1/4 midgets, aged 12, before moving to karting and then Ford Focus Midgets. The switch to single-seaters came in 2008 with a season in Formula BMW America – a category in which he continued through to 2010, in Europe and Asia. The 2011 highlight so far was a win from pole position at Spa-Francorchamps, a result backed up with a number of other strong results including a further win and multiple podium finishes, placing him second in the championship. In a busy season, Lewis has also competed this year in NASCAR Late Model races. |
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Alexander Lynn, 18, UK
In his first full season of formula circuit racing, Alexander Lynn, driving for Fortec Motorsport, won the 2010 Graduate Cup Trophy of the Formula Renault Series. He raced in the series again in 2011, winning a number of races to take the championship title. A karter since the age of 12 and a motocross rider before that, Lynn raced in New Zealand over the winter of 2010-2011 and was chosen as a BRDC SuperStar driver and a member of the MSA's Team UK on his return. |
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Jose Andres Montalto, 21, Costa Rica
Jose Andres Montalto has combined circuit racing and rallying since he started in motor sport. The multi-disciplinary approach was encouraged by Montalto's father, who backed his son in karting from age 11, while also employing him as a co-driver to his own rallying endeavours. Montalto's track career continued through Rotax karting in the USA and, in 2006-7, at the French Filiere Le Mans race school. This led directly to a season in Formula Renault 1600, before a return to Costa Rica for 2008 and a return to rallying. Latterly Montalto has competed in the regional N4 championship class and the NACAM Rally Championship, combining this with drives in the Central American GT3 Championship. |
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Ramon Pineiro, 19, Spain
Pineiro has spent 2011 racing in Formula 2 with the MotorSport Vision team, winning a hat-trick of races in the middle of the season, one from pole position and with one fastest lap. Other strong finishes made him a season-long title contender, ultimately finishing third in the championship. Pineiro broke into circuit racing with the Formula BMW Championship in 2008 and graduated to Formula Palmer Audi in 2009. Staying in the series for 2010, he finished third in the championship, with four wins. Pineiro is also studying engineering at the University of Hertfordshire. |
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Brendan Reeves, 23, Australia
Pirelli Star Driver Brendan Reeves started out racing karts in 1996, aged seven, but, by 2005, had switched to rallying and hasn't looked back since. He has enjoyed considerable success in domestic categories and in the Asia Pacific championship and this year has tackled the WRC Academy in a Ford Fiesta R2. Outside rallying, Reeves drives trucks for his family's earthmoving business and works as a driving instructor for an Australian rallying school. |
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Pontus Tidemand, 20, Sweden
Pontus Tidemand bought his first quad bike at the age of two and by age 12 he was racing 'Crosscarts'. A move to circuit racing came in 2008 in Sweden's Junior Touring Car Championship, but since 2009, it has been all rallying. The highlights of Tidemand's career to date are winning the 2010 Subaru Cup in Norway and finishing second overall in the national championship category of the Rally Sweden, driving a Super 2000 Ford Fiesta (winning his class). |
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Timo van der Marel, 22, Holland
Timo Van der Marel joined the WRC Academy for 2011 with the support of the Dutch National Sporting Authority KNAF's Talent First initiative. This has already helped current FIA Institute Academy graduate Kevin Abbring break onto the world stage. Van der Marel's rallying career started in 2008 and he made his debut at world championship level in Germany the same year, where he took victory in the N3 class driving a Renault Clio. |
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Sepp Wiegand, 20, Germany
Former motocrosser Sepp Wiegand is these days happier on four wheels rather than two. Having made his first forays into competitive rallying in 2010, Wiegand ran a full 2011 campaign in the German Rally Championship and ADAC rally masters, taking a number of class victories. Wiegand was raised in an automotive environment: his father has competed for more than 30 years and Sepp himself is a motor sport mechanic outside events. |
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Lewis Williamson, 21, UK
Scot Lewis Williamson, who this year has raced in GP3 with MW Arden (owned by Christian Horner and Mark Webber, of Red Bull Racing), has been racing since the age of eight, when he started in cadet karts. A successful 2010 campaign in the Formula Renault UK Championship, with five wins, five pole positions and four fastest laps, resulted in his winning the McLaren Autosport Young Driver of the Year Award. Outside motor sport, Williamson is working to complete an engineering apprenticeship. |