The 2024 season will see Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific implement adjustments to its young driver focused development programmes, starting with the first ever Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Talent Pool Assessment.
Initiated in 2017 the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Talent Pool has provided any driver under 26 in the series strong support. Drivers part of the Talent Pool benefit from coaching to develop their racing, financial support from Porsche, tyre support from Michelin, multiple training camps in a year and training on PR, marketing and press handling.
The upcoming Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Talent Pool assessment, set to take place on 6-8 December in Malaysia, will be an important step towards finding the next young professional drivers to enter the Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific pyramid. As they embark on their 2024 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia campaign, the Talent Pool members will have the career-defining opportunity to prove themselves on track.
After a recruitment period that saw applications coming from around the world, a final selection of 12 talented young drivers has been made to attend the assessment. The assessment will span 3 days and consists of a rigorous programme both on and off track to evaluate each driver from a multitude of angles. The first day sees the drivers going through brand and product training, a visit to a Porsche Centre, interviews and personal development assessments.
Days 2 and 3 will see the drivers head out onto the Sepang International Circuit in the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992). Over the two days, the young drivers will be put through a full race weekend simulation, with Porsche Carrera Cup Asia 2023 Talent Pool Driver, Luo Kailuo, setting reference lap times for the candidates to target. Day 2 will see all drivers doing Free Practice simulations while also spending time with the technical support to debrief and get coaching. Day 3 is the all-important qualifying and race simulation where the young drivers can put to practice what they learned the day before.
The PCCA Talent Pool Assessment will be judged by a jury made up of Alexandre Gibot, Managing Director of Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific Ltd, Sascha Maassen, Porsche Junior Coach, and Alexandre Imperatori, Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Talent Pool Coach.
The full list of candidates for the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Talent Pool assessment is below:
Hugo Allan, New Zealand
Rodrigo Almeida, Portugal/Mozambique
Pietro Armanni, Italy
Douglas Bolger, Japan/Great Britain
Antoine Doquin, France
Marco Giltrap, New Zealand
Mathys Jaubert, France
Adam Putera, Malaysia
Manuel Santo, Portugal
Hugo Schwarze, Germany
Jackson Walls, Australia
Dylan Yip, China
Following four successful years of the Selected Driver programme, Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific plans to use this Talent Pool to find future candidates, as part of the updates to the regional Driver Development programmes. Both inaugural Selected Driver Alessio Picariello and his successor, Yifei Ye, have enjoyed two fruitful seasons with the programme, developing as impressive and well-rounded drivers and translating that into strong results on track under Porsche’s tutelage. The scouting for the future drivers to bear the title will run through 2024 with Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific looking within the Carrera Cup Asia Talent Pool for potential candidates, and also throughout the region’s motorsport activities.
Alexandre Gibot, Managing Director Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific Ltd.: “We’re looking forward to seeing the 12 candidates in action at the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Talent Pool Assessment at Sepang next month. We received applications from 15 countries which shows that the commitment we make to developing young talent is both effective and recognised. For this upcoming assessment we’ve got some very talented drivers from a variety of backgrounds joining us in Malaysia, making it an exciting moment for the programme.”
