JONES JOINS FIA ACADEMY ELITE

Final regional qualifier sees Australian driver come out on top

Australia's Macauley Jones has won the Asia-Pacific selection event for the 2015 FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy

Australia’s Macauley Jones has won the Asia-Pacific selection event for the 2015 FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy. The 20-year old saw off drivers from nine other countries, including India and New Zealand, to claim a place on the 2015 Academy programme.

Held in Beijing, China on 4-7 November, participants at the event faced a number of driving challenges, fitness tests and assessments of their off-track skills including safety knowledge. Over four days, they were pushed to their limits before a final day shoot-out saw the five best performing drivers go head-to-head on the track to post the quickest lap time. Jones was selected as the winner following a strong showing in the shoot-out, combined with his impressive performance across the entire event.

Jones, who competed in the Dunlop Development Series in Australia this year, will now go forward to participate in the 2015 Academy along with the five other regional winners. A number of wildcard spots will remain available to other drivers the Institute considers worthy of inclusion in the final group.

Jones said: “I am really excited that I have been able to come out on top and I am going to the Academy. I am going to take every opportunity that I can and learn as much as possible from the experiences. It was a really good competition with some strong drivers.”

Michael Smith, General Manager of Motor Sport from the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS), which co-hosted the event with China’s ASN the Federation of Automobile Sports of China (FASC), said: “The calibre of candidates was outstanding and all showed a real interest and willingness to learn and win this competition. It was tight, and congratulations to all, but in the end Macauley was the winner and congratulations go to him for this outstanding achievement.”

Wan Heping, FASC Secretary General, added: “The FASC, together with CAMS, was honoured to have hosted this selection event. I offer my fullest congratulations to Macauley who now has a coveted spot in the FIA Institute Academy and with it comes a great opportunity to realise his dreams and reach the pinnacle of motor sport. On behalf of everyone that was involved in this event, we wish him the very best of luck in the future.”

All participants will receive a fully-funded training programme, which actively promotes the principles of safety, fairness and responsibility on and off the track while helping drivers develop their motor sport careers.

Academy graduates will be required to also perform an important ambassadorial role (a career-long requirement) by promoting safety and other key FIA initiatives intended to help motor sport develop and thrive across the globe.

The winners of the six selection events are:

Americas: Kenton Koch (20, USA)
Asia-Pacific: Macauley Jones (20, Australia)
Middle-East, North Africa and Central Asia: Panikos Polykarpou (23, Cyprus)
North Eastern Europe: Jordan King (20, Great Britain)
South Western Europe: Tim Novak (20, Slovenia)
Sub-Saharan Africa: Jordan Pepper (18, South Africa)