Dunlop and Evo Return with “Motorsport X-Factor”

Dunlop’s activities in the MSA British Touring Car Championship are not limited to being the title sponsor and tyre-supplier. The company is engaged in the hunt to find the Championship’s future stars with its Race Academy – dubbed by the manufacturer “the X-Factor of Motorsport”. The Academy will run a series of track-based events in which drivers new to racing will be able to show what they can do on the track. Playing Simon Cowell and his minions will be Evo Magazine, a BTCC driver and a Dunlop representative.

Two drivers who have already tasted success in previous editions of the Dunlop Race Academy are Simon Shaw and Ryan Bensley, the former having shown his class in 2009 with a victory in the national production saloon car Dunlop Sport Maxx Cup. “I could not have come this far without the backing and support of Dunlop Motorsport,” he said. “Their passion and enthusiasm for race driving, and the opportunities they have presented to me, allowed me to achieve my dream of winning a major national motor racing championship.”

The first Dunlop Race Academy event takes place at Bedford Aerodrome on 21 May 2010, where entrants will spend time receiving track handling skill training and technical advice before showing what they can do on the track.