Red Bull Rookies announce driver line-up for Sepang 1,000km 2011
The Red Bull Rookies Team for 2011 has been finalized with Mark Darwin, Siti Shahkirah Shaharul, Emmiline Ang and Fauziah Binti Hj Haziz being confirmed as the four drivers to lead the team’s charge in this year’s Sepang 1,000km race to be held in December.
Selection of Malaysians Siti Shahkirah, 17 and Darwin, 21 were already announced in March, but it was only today that Singaporean lass Emmiline, 23 and Bruneian Fauziah, 26 were unveiled as members of the team. They were both among the top 3 “Red Bull Female Driver Search” candidates from their respective countries.
The line-up was announced by the team manager, Mr Kenvin Low after their final evaluation session today at Sepang Circuit assisted by the Pentagon Racing Team. Commenting on their selection, Kenvin said, “Our main goal was to search for talents with steely determination, enduring physicality, strength of mind, and dynamic personality to be part of our multinational team. Those who have been selected today will take on the considerable responsibility of working towards, and sharing, the aspirations of their homeland”.
Continuing on their long standing partnership, planning for this year’s team by Red Bull Malaysia and Asia Advanced Driving Academy (AADA) already began in December 2010. In addition to their basic driving techniques and technical knowledge, the drivers were also evaluated on their teamwork and fitness levels. This year, the team’s long serving Honda Integra DC5 will be pulled out of the firing line, being replaced by a Proton Satria Neo.
“There are some vast skills, some raw talent and a lot of passion in all 5 finalists from Singapore and Brunei. They were all equally good and so we decided to do a final shoot out to determine the best driver. I can now say that we are very happy with our current driver line-up; not only will we be able to take part in the race, but there is a great shot at exceeding the benchmark set previously. In addition to that, we will be racing with a new car this year and I believe that Satria Neo is a competitive car, and we are incredibly enthusiastic about the team’s performance on race day,” Kenvin added.
Since their being announced as members of the team in March, the Malaysian duo has been intensively trained and tested, having participated in trial races at the Formula One Support Race, Malaysian Super Series (MSS) and also the recent High Performance Challenge Race by Motorsports Association of Malaysia.
Meanwhile, for the Singaporean and Bruneian candidates, they were put through a one-day theory-plus-practical defensive driving course last Sunday, where they went through intensive training modules in learning the critical and essential aspects of racing – advanced driving, defensive driving, physical training, team dynamics and racing techniques.
Pictures: Official Red Bull Rookies release.
