Ford has announced a Ford Performance Junior Program and in this week’s Driver Development Roundup I bring you the details. You will also learn about the 5 steps to becoming a professional race driver, learn about three very different driver development pathways taken by young drivers and understand the power of perseverance.
Becoming a Professional Race Driver
Do you want to be paid to race? In the video above, Enzo Mucci explains the 5 steps to becoming a professional race driver. “So you can to be a professional racing driver? Here are the global steps to achieving it.”
If you enjoy Enzo’s content, he was interviewed recently in Paddock Magazine in the article Enzo Mucci: The Driving Force Behind Rising Stars Bearman and Lawson.
Driver Development Program News
- Ford Performance has announced a dynamic new program called the Ford Performance Junior Program intended to unearth the next generation of racing talent. The Junior Team program will bring together some of the most exciting new drivers and guide them towards a possible career in sports car racing around the world as part of the extended Ford Performance sports car family. More details can be found here.
- Ean Eyckmans has won the seventh running of the Richard Mille Young Talent Academy shootout, earning himself a paid-for seat in Spanish Formula 4 for 2025. Six drivers contested the two-day shootout at Jerez, which was organised by the Nicolas Todt-led All Road Management firm. Todt is also the assistant director of the Birel ART team Eyckmans races for in karting. Check out Formula Scout for all the details.
- Brazilian Celso Neto has been a fan of IMSA racing since his early teen years. As the newest IMSA Diverse Driver Development Scholarship recipient, he’ll now get the chance to compete in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge in the TCR class. Neto, a native of Salvador, Brazil, and now living in Orlando, was awarded the IMSA Diverse Driver Development Scholarship for the 2025-’26 seasons. The program includes benefits of more than $250,000 to assist the recipient in competing in a full season in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge or IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge, with additional benefits extending to a second year of racing. You can find out more about the program here.
- The Gorsline Company announced three candidates for the 2025 Gorsline Scholarship in racing, which recognizes and rewards young drivers who display exceptional talent and a professional respect for motorsports. This crop of candidates are all young women: Kesley Pinkowski, Isabello Robusto and Lexy Barlow. See RACER for more details.
- The scouting event organized by the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy and Motorsport Australia was won by a driver already known to the Maranello young driver program, Costa Toparis, who thus goes forward to the 2024 World Scouting Camp that takes place at the Fiorano track from 14 to 17 October. Toparis, who has already been racing in Europe this year, was the outstanding candidate at the Sepang selection event in mid-September. Read more here.
- Callum Baxter and Antonio Costantino have won the Team Canada Scholarship for 2024, earning themselves seats at this weekend’s Formula Ford Festival. The pair will represent their nation while driving for Scottish team Graham Brunton Racing at Brands Hatch. Meanwhile the Team USA Scholarship is now putting less emphasis on sending drivers to the Formula Ford Festival and more emphasis on the USF Pro championship ladder. Read more at Formula Scout.
- Part of the reasoning for Toyota’s recently announced partnership with the Haas Formula 1 team is to create an improved pipeline to Formula 1 for Japanese drivers. “It has been harder for Toyota’s talents, particularly the home-grown ones, to break out of the domestic scene and into F1, although it has arranged for Ryo Hirakawa to test with McLaren after he moved from SF into its WEC roster.” Read more at Formula Scout.
- Finally, Motorsport Week looks at how the Red Bull F1 Junior program is what they call a melodrama of horror. “If RB is to continue being Red Bull’s junior team, it needs to utilise the driver talent and pool it has at its disposal. Its second seat resembles a musical chair with a fire lit underneath, as stability seems to be a taboo word to the Faenza outfit.”
Women in Motorsport
Here are two informative articles looking at the issue of women in motorsport and what needs to be done to grow their ranks. “Women don’t lack talent, they lack opportunity.”
- ‘Women don’t lack talent, they lack opportunity’: Why Formula E is running the first all-female test (BlackBook Motorsport)
- Why are there no female drivers in Formula One racing? (Marketplace)
Has Sim-Racing Defeated Karting?
Has sim racing replaced karting as the entry point in motorsport for a lot of people? That is the question asked by Alan Dove in a recent column of his in The Motorsport Saga by Alan Dove. “The rational mind might perceive sim racing as a gateway to real-life motorsport, but I posit that we’ve entered the realm of ‘instead of’ rather than ‘in addition to’.”
As part of ROKiT British F4’s 2024 end of season awards, there was the inaugural presentation of a new and very special award, the Jake Cook Memorial Award. The award is unique in British F4, as it is voted on by the Team Managers of the F4 paddock and awarded to a current season British F4 driver who has shown great improvement over the championship season; a driver with determination in adversity and who has demonstrated respect for their closest rivals both on and off track.
The inaugural Jake Cook Memorial Award was presented by Eve Lake-Grange to Martin Molnar, Virtuosi Racing.
Driver Development Pathways
There are many driver development paths to follow on your motorsport journey. Here are three drivers that have taken their own particular paths to get where they ultimately want to be.
- Gillian Henrion is a fine example of success in the Automobile Club de l’Ouest’s endurance pyramid, which starts with the Ligier European Series and leads all the way to the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). Champion in 2022 at the wheel of Team Virage’s #16 Ligier JS P4, he has since climbed the ranks and confirmed his talent at every stage of his career. The best proof of this is that he has now been selected for the WEC Rookie Test. Read more here.
- Meanwhile, Ryan Shehan, the 2023 Vice Champion in the Formula Regional Americas Championship (FR Americas), took a significant step in his racing career with his European and GT racing debut in the Ligier European Series at Mugello, in Italy, on September 27-28, 2024. The 18-year-old Texan driver competed in the #86 Ligier JS2 R for Les Deux Arbres, teaming up with Belgian driver Sita Vanmeert. This exciting opportunity was part of Shehan’s award for finishing Runner-Up in FR Americas, and it marked his first-ever experience racing both in Europe and in a GT car. You can read more here.
- Ethan Ayars is the latest competitor set for his Toyota GR Cup North America debut in 2025. Joining the Nitro Motorsports and Copeland Motorsports alliance program, Ayars will continue his upward path moving from the Spec Miata program into the national GR Cup North America program next season. “Ethan is a great driver, and one that has moved from karts to cars and is now looking for that next step,” explained Nitro Motorsports’ Nick Tucker. “He performed very well in Spec Miata, and we think his natural move is into GR Cup in 2025. Ethan will also train and compete in some Trans Am TA2 competition to keep his development curve moving along.” Read more here.
Finally, while realize that this is a Honda ad, it does a great job of explaining the power of perseverance. Enjoy.
Author: Mark Boudreau
Mark is the publisher of Motorsport Prospects. As a former lawyer, he applies his legal background and research skills to assist race drivers by showcasing the resources they need to make their motorsport careers happen.
