This week you will find more race driver scholarship programs to consider, and I have all the details in my latest Driver Development Roundup. I also have news on why young drivers are going the IMSA route, how F1 teams work with F2 and F3 teams and how the F1 Academy is planning to spot and develop young talent.
It’s all in this week’s edition of the Driver Development Roundup on Motorsport Prospects. News that aspiring race drivers can use.
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The application process for the 2025-2026 IMSA Diverse Driver Development Scholarship is open. Apply HERE. The IMSA Diverse Driver Development Scholarship Program promotes and empowers drivers from a variety of backgrounds and experiences to participate in an IMSA-sanctioned series. The annual program includes substantial financial assistance from IMSA and several IMSA corporate partners, as well as other industry resources to elevate drivers from diverse backgrounds and experiences. This multi-dimensional scholarship will also work with awarded drivers to improve their interview, social media and overall professional skills for holistic success both on and off the track. One new scholarship will be awarded each year, with additional benefits extending to a second year for that selected recipient.
Applications must be completed and submitted by both the driver and their team in accordance with the deadline below. Drivers may only submit a single application with a single team. A team may submit separate applications with multiple drivers, if desired. Individual driver applicants must meet the following qualifications for consideration as a Scholarship candidate:
Full scholarship benefits available HERE. The scholarship recipient will be responsible for securing any additional funding required to compete in the full 2025 season of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge or IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge.
A Look at Previous Program Winners
You can see here who were the 2022 finalists. Courtney Crone won the 2023 season and is currently racing in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America series while paving the way for ladies in motorsport.
The 2023 finalists can be found here. Ken Fakuda won the 2024 scholarship, is a multiple podium placing driver and is currently Director of Driving Schools and Race Series Director of the Skip Barber Racing School.
Learn more about the 2024-25 IMSA Diverse Driver Development Scholarship candidates here.
APPLICATION TIMELINE:
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2024: IMSA Diverse Driver Development Scholarship application opens.
FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 2024 by 11:59:59 p.m. ET: All IMSA Diverse Driver Development Scholarship applications due. No applications will be accepted after this deadline.
FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2024: Applicants notified if they are chosen to move on as a candidate in the application process.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 2024 by 11:59:59 p.m. ET: If selected as a candidate, the second portion of the application is due by this date.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 2024: If chosen as the recipient of the 2025-2026 IMSA Diverse Driver Development Scholarship, candidate will be notified on or before this date.
The application process for the 2025-2026 IMSA Diverse Driver Development Scholarship is open. Apply HERE.
Speaking of IMSA, they have posted a great article on how youth is being served throughout the IMSA ranks.
Riley Dickinson: “My pathway was from go-karts straight off the deep end in the Porsche Cup,” he says. “Now I’m still with Porsche in the Michelin Pilot series. It’s cool to see IMSA’s partnership with Porsche but all told there’s (many) manufacturers in their ladder system. There are so many opportunities for young drivers such as myself to be able to come up through the ladder system and make a career.”
Details of the sixth annual Lucas Oil Formula Car Race Series, including the $250,000 Championship Scholarship have been announced.
About The Race Series
We run two championships concurrently at each race event. Our Championship Series is intended for drivers under-30 with aspirations of pursuing a career in motorsport, where the season champion will receive a partial scholarship to move forward in your racing career. Our Masters Series is for drivers 30-and-over, where they are able to accrue points for a separate driver’s championship. The Lucas Oil Formula Car Race Series is open to all drivers that have successfully completed our Basic and Advanced Racing Schools. Drivers with alternative experience are welcome to reach out to us with their relevant experience for a waiver.
About the Scholarship
Our Championship Formula Car Race Series represents the first step on your journey to begin your professional racing career. For the fortunate driver who claims the title of Champion at the end of season, they will be rewarded with a $250,000 scholarship to advance on to their choice of US F4, USF2000 or TCR – with more series pending approval. While only one driver will claim the title of champion, all of our competitors will receive an incomparable education helping to ensure their transition to professional motorsports is successful from the start.
Full details can be found at https://lucasraceschool.com/lucas-oil-formula-car-series/.
GP Blog looks at how F1 teams work with F2 and F3. “Prema’s Rene Rosin adds: “Each academy has a different way of working. Each academy has their own principles. Some are more involved with the drivers day by day, some are a bit less but each one has their own method and at the end it proved that all of them has been successful so far,” said the Prema owner, who has Mercedes talent Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman from Ferrari at his disposal in F2.”
In Jessica Hawkins will never race in F1. But she might find a woman who will, Matt Bishop looks at Hawkins role as F1 Academy’s Head of Racing. “Until it isn’t seen as a huge thing that a woman is racing in F1, we won’t have achieved our goal.”
Rob Smedley of the Global Karting League discusses his plans to get 1 million kids in 50 leagues internationally in 5 years racing at the grassroots level, He also explains how the GKL is implementing a revolutionary form of talent spotting. It’s all in Episode 46 of the Engine Braking Podcast. You can listen here.
Three-time W Series Champion and Indy NXT competitor Jamie Chadwick spoke to Motorsport Week regarding the launch of her all-new, all-female UK karting program. The year-long program, created in collaboration with Daytona Motorsport is designed to help improve female participation in motorsport at grassroots levels by mitigating financial barriers.
“It’s always been something that we’ve spoken about, and it was just trying to find time when I had capacity to kind of fill or do the best job with it,” Chadwick began. “When you look at all the initiatives that are in place for female talent in the sport, – it’s incredible to see how far it’s come in the last few years -but we’re really yet to tackle the grassroots level and I started in this kind of ‘Arrive and Drive’ style karting from no racing background. I was not aware of the pathway, how to progress through the sport and what opportunities there were. So really trying to tackle that and see, you know, what we can do with this kind of level and give them the opportunity to progress to the next step.”
Driver Snapshots
Learning from the experience of others is key to succeeding in any walk of life and racing is no different. In Driver Snapshots, I feature the experiences of various drivers where you can get some perspective on what they have gone through (and continue to go through) as they work to make their motorsport careers happen. I hope you can take some lessons from these experiences and apply them to your own motorsport careers.
Dystany Spurlock
MotorTrend’s Andrew Beckford profiles motorcycle drag racer and open wheel pilot Dystany Spurlock who is focused on victory on the track, not your opinion of her.
“When I was racing Skip Barber last year, I was walking around the pits right before we had our practice, and this guy comes up to me. He says, ‘Oh hey are you the flag girl?’ I laughed. He said, ‘What’s so funny?’ I said, ‘I’m actually a race driver. I’m not a flag girl.’ Just because you see a pretty girl at the racetrack doesn’t mean she’s a trophy girl, you know?“
Author: Mark Boudreau
Mark is the publisher of Motorsport Prospects. As a 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.
