Team Canada Scholarship hopefuls continue to impress

The search for the first driver to win the inaugural Team Canada Scholarship to the Festival is heating up. For the principals of BGR Sports and Entertainment, (BGR S & E), Gerry Merz, Dave Matkovich, and Brian Graham, founders of Team Canada Scholarship, the task of selecting the driver to represent Canada at the 2011 Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch is in full swing.

Eligible drivers have been putting in some impressive performances in the Ontario Formula Ford Championships, (OFFC), and the Quebec based Formula Tour 1600 Series, (FTour). Both series are in action this weekend, Mosport International Raceway will host the OFFC for rounds 7 and 8 while the Formula Tour 1600 drivers tackle the Grand Prix of Trois-Rivières.  Three finalist will be announced late August with the winner of the 2011 scholarship selected mid-September.

The eligible drivers for the 2011 Scholarship are:

Michael Adams - 16  OFFC, Nathan Blok - 17  FTour, Mackenzie Clare - 16 OFFC, Xavier Coupal - 20  FTour, Matthew DiLeo - 17  OFFC, Garett Grist - 16  OFFC/FTour, JP Jodion - 16  FTour, Dalton Kellett - 17  OFFC, Charles Leclerc - 20  FTour, Aaron  McCauley - 18  FTour, Ayrton Triolo - 17  OFFC

Currently two of the drivers are leading their respective championships, Nathan Blok leads the Formula Tour 1600 points and Garett Grist leads the way in the OFFC.

In the meantime, corporate and personal support for the Team Canada Scholarship program has been very encouraging. Stepping up to the plate as Primary Corporate Sponsor is Grote Industries of Canada, see, www.grote.com Grote has been a driving force in support of junior formula car development and has been the primary sponsor of BGR Team Grote Racing since 2006. Quoting Brad Morris, GM of Grote Industries of Canada, “Supporting Team Canada Scholarship is a natural fit and progression for Grote of Canada. Being intimately involved in regional and national junior development is very rewarding, but now, to be able to help put one of our country’s best young up and coming racers, in front of a much larger, more global audience and event, will truly be an exciting and rewarding opportunity for our company and Canadian junior formula car development in general!”

As well, Nick Majors, and his newly created Race Driver’s Guild of Canada, has also weighed in with generous support as a Corporate Partner see, www.racedriversguild.ca Quoting Majors, “The Race Drivers Guild is committed to the growth of motorsports in Canada and the development of driver talent to increase competitiveness at all levels.  The program is a wonderful example of our investment in young, up and coming drivers, who are destined to become future champions.  We are proud to be supporters of the Team Canada effort!”

Key supplier/partners have also stepped up to support the program such as media partner  www.eformulacarnews.com and official SWAG partner Niko Apparel Systems, www.nikoapparel.ca

Other generous proud supporters, companies, and veteran racers, who’s support are making it all happen are; Formula Tour 1600 Series www.siteformulatour1600.com ; Major Gen. Lewis MacKenzie (Ret); LSI INTERNATIONAL, www.lsi-industries.com ; Britain West Racing; Jim Hallman; BGR-Team Grote Racing, www.briangrahamracing.com ;  The Merz Family; Teresa & David Matkovich; and Brian Graham.

“The support and momentum that Team Canada Scholarship has been gathering, both corporate and personal, has been really encouraging”, stated BGR S & E principal Gerry Merz. “Although this is the inaugural year, we know that the drivers who come through this program will move on and up into higher level series, and will always pay homage to the program and most important, those companies and individuals who help make it happen! “The racing world needs to see how much talent there is in junior formula car development coming from Canada and that our best get the opportunity to display those talents in front of a much larger global audience”. “Our funding and support is moving along well, but given that this is going to be an annual program, we can use as much corporate and personal support as possible to build financial momentum”

For information on supporting Team Canada Scholarship please contact Gerry Merz gmerz@bgrse.com or via cell 416-708-1278 // For more information about Team Canada Scholarship see www.teamcanadaracing.org.