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By Cheryl Tay
DESPITE the uncertain status of Changi Motorsports Hub and the Formula One contract renewal, motor-racing opportunities are still available.
The latest event is the 235 Energy Singapore Race Driver Search, which offers the prize of driving in a single-seater race car with Eurasia Motorsport at the JK Racing Asia Series, a support race to the F1 Singapore Grand Prix.
Eurasia Motorsport is a professional racing team that has groomed drivers such as Toro Rosso F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo early in his career.
The only Singaporean who raced in a single-seater on the Marina Bay street circuit was Suriya Bala Kerishnan Thevar back in 2009, when the support race was still called Formula BMW Pacific.
The JK Racing Asia Series is a junior formula car series that serves as the first step, after go-karting, in progressing towards advanced levels of formula car racing.
At the moment, there are no Singaporeans racing in single-seaters, which is why Eurasia Motorsport team principal Martin Quick said: "There's someone out there in Singapore, with the natural ability and talent, waiting to be discovered.
"The search can give them the opportunity to shine; someone off the street could become a Grand Prix star, like an 'American Idol' of motorsports."
Quick also emphasised that this initiative does not end with the race at the Singapore GP in September, as there is the possibility of a full JK Racing Asia season next year, should the driver show great talent.
The plan is to make the search an annual campaign to form a 235 Energy Racing Team for Singapore, and also replicate this in other countries to eventually form a 235 Energy race series.
Said Dave Nair, project director of the Singapore Race Driver Search and the director of 235 Energy, an energy-drink company: "We know how tiring it is to find sponsors to go racing and we want our drivers to just focus on racing. So, we created 235 Energy as a sustainable platform to fund the racing programme."
The company will also be working with schools to introduce youths to the world of motorsports and educate them about the sport.
To take part in the search, participants need to buy eight cans of 235 Energy at FairPrice, FairPrice Xpress or Cheers, before submitting the entry form with proof of purchase.
Applicants will be put through a psychometric evaluation, whereby the successful ones go to the second phase, which consists of a go-karting simulator challenge.
Five finalists will be chosen for testing and evaluation in the formula car before the winner is decided.
The writer is a freelance motoring journalist and an established motorsports blogger.
For more my paper stories click here.
 
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