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phone: +39.02.8535.4270
PRESS 2008
New Zealand - 17-10-2008Mark is the second to be named of five drivers who will benefit from the initiative, organised jointly by Pirelli and the FIA, to give young drivers a foot into the door of the FIA World Rally Championship.
The Pirelli Star Driver programme will give five young talents (one each from Africa, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific regions, plus two from Europe) the chance to contest six WRC events in a Group N or S2000 car prepared and run by a top team. The drivers who earn a place on the Pirelli Star Driver scheme next year will get a chance to strut their stuff in Portugal, Italy, Greece, Finland, Spain and Great Britain.
Mark Tapper was chosen to represent the Asia-Pacific region through two events on the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, the Whangarei Rally in New Zealand (which took place from June 7-8) and the Malaysia Rally (from October 11-12). A total of 10 young drivers fighting for the Pirelli Star Driver award took the start of this latter event. Despite the insidiously damp surfaces of the Malaysian stages, Tapper outclassed all his rivals from the Asia-Pacific region - which he and his co-driver Jeff Cress will now represent on the 2009 World Rally Championship.
"Being a rally driver was always my dream, since I first started to become interested in cars as a small kid," said Tapper.
"So winning the Pirelli Star Driver selection process is a satisfaction that I'm not able to put into words," he added.
Two more places on the Pirelli Star Driver programme will be allocated from October 23-25 in Freistadt (Austria). Several up-and-coming European stars, along with one driver from Central America and one from South America, will take part in a shoot-out to determine two more winners.
THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION SELECTS ITS "PIRELLI STAR DRIVER"
The Pirelli Star Driver programme will give five young talents (one each from Africa, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific regions, plus two from Europe) the chance to contest six WRC events in a Group N or S2000 car prepared and run by a top team. The drivers who earn a place on the Pirelli Star Driver scheme next year will get a chance to strut their stuff in Portugal, Italy, Greece, Finland, Spain and Great Britain.
Mark Tapper was chosen to represent the Asia-Pacific region through two events on the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, the Whangarei Rally in New Zealand (which took place from June 7-8) and the Malaysia Rally (from October 11-12). A total of 10 young drivers fighting for the Pirelli Star Driver award took the start of this latter event. Despite the insidiously damp surfaces of the Malaysian stages, Tapper outclassed all his rivals from the Asia-Pacific region - which he and his co-driver Jeff Cress will now represent on the 2009 World Rally Championship.
"Being a rally driver was always my dream, since I first started to become interested in cars as a small kid," said Tapper.
"So winning the Pirelli Star Driver selection process is a satisfaction that I'm not able to put into words," he added.
Two more places on the Pirelli Star Driver programme will be allocated from October 23-25 in Freistadt (Austria). Several up-and-coming European stars, along with one driver from Central America and one from South America, will take part in a shoot-out to determine two more winners.