McLaren Autosport BRDC Award
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The McLaren Autosport BRDC Award is an award set up in 1989 to reward and recognise young racing drivers from the UK.[1] As its names suggests, the award is backed by Formula One team McLaren, motorsport magazine Autosport, and the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC). As well as the prestige of winning the award, winners receive £50,000 and a test drive in a McLaren Formula 1 car. The award winner is also presented with the Chris Bristow Trophy.[2]
[edit] Procedure
Members of the public are invited to nominate drivers for the award and a shortlist of six finalists is decided upon by the award's judging panel. The finalists then spend two or three days at a British circuit in mid-November driving different types of car to evaluate their performance as well as interview sessions with the panel. The winner is announced at the annual Autosport Awards in early December.
[edit] Past winners
| Year | Winner | Career highlights | Current status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 |  David Coulthard |
British FFord champion (1989) F3000 3rd place (1993) 13 F1 wins |
F1 with Red Bull Racing |
| 1990 |  Gareth Rees |
Marlboro Masters F3 winner (1994) British F2 winner (1996) |
Commentator with Eurosport |
| 1991 |  Oliver Gavin |
British F3 champion (1995) F1 test driver (Pacific, Benetton) 24 Hours of Le Mans GT1 class winner (2005) |
ALMS with Chevrolet |
| 1992 | Dario Franchitti |
British FVauxhall champion (1993) CART runner-up (1999) IRL race winner Indianapolis 500 Winner (2007) IRL Champion (2007) |
NASCAR with Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 1993 |  Ralph Firman |
British F3 champion (1996) Formula Nippon champion (2002) Jordan F1 driver (2003) |
Super GT |
| 1994 | Jamie Davies |
F3000 4th place (1996) Le Mans Series champion (2004) 2nd place at 2004 24 Hours of Le Mans |
ALMS and FIA GT with Maserati |
| 1995 |  Jonny Kane |
British FVauxhall champion (1996) British F3 champion (1997) |
FIA GT with Spyker |
| 1996 | Darren Turner |
Formula Renault UK runner-up (1996) DTM (2000-2001) |
ALMS/FIA GT with Aston Martin BTCC with SEAT |
| 1997 | Andrew Kirkaldy |
British FVauxhall runner-up (1997) British GT champion (2005) |
FIA GT with CR Scuderia |
| 1998 | Jenson Button |
British FFord champion (1998) F1 3rd overall (2004) 1 F1 win |
F1 with Honda |
| 1999 | Gary Paffett |
British FVauxhall champion (1999) German F3 champion (2002) DTM champion (2005) |
F1 test driver for McLaren and DTM driver for Mercedes. |
| 2000 | Anthony Davidson |
British FFord champion (2000) British F3 runner-up (2001) BAR/Honda F1 test driver (2001-2006) |
F1 with Super Aguri |
| 2001 | Steven Kane |
Northern Irish FFord champion (2000) British F3 Scholarship class runner-up (2002) Spanish F3 3rd place (2004) |
BTCC With Motorbase BMW |
| 2002 | Jamie Green |
British F3 runner-up (2003) Formula Three Euroseries champion (2004) |
DTM with Mercedes |
| 2003 | Alex Lloyd |
Formula Renault UK runner-up (2003) 12 overall IPS wins Indy Pro Series champion (2007) |
IRL with Target Chip Ginassi |
| 2004 | Paul di Resta |
Formula Renault UK, 3rd place (2004) Formula Three Euroseries champion (2006) |
DTM with Mercedes |
| 2005 | Oliver Jarvis |
Formula Renault UK champion (2005) British F3 runner-up (2006) |
A1 Grand Prix with A1 Team Great Britain 2007 Macau GP winner |
| 2006 | Oliver Turvey |
British Formula BMW runner-up (2006) | British F3 |
| 2007 | Stefan Wilson |
Formula Palmer Audi runner-up (2007) | British F3 |
