Team Canada Racing - Announces the Winner of the Inaugural Scholarship for 2011!

Xavier Coupal from Quebec has been chosen as the very first winner of the inaugural Team Canada Racing Scholarship! Enjoying a superb season in the very competitive Formula Tour 1600 Series, Xavier has consistently shown great speed, race craft, and sportsmanship. His experience in karting internationally will be an asset as he takes on a whole new group of FF racers from around the world. Xavier will be contesting the 40th running of the Formula Ford Festival held at the famous Brands Hatch in the UK Oct 15-16, 2011. www.brscc.co.uk/formula-ford-festival.html

A quote from Xavier after being told he had won the 2011 Scholarship. “I still have no words to describe my joy this morning. I am so honoured to be the first one to represent my country with Team Canada in the UK next month, thank you to the selection committee and I would also like to congratulate all the participants, I am sure the decision was not an easy one to make with so many young talented drivers in Canada and thank you to Dupont Ford my sponsor whose support in the Formula Tour 1600 Series made this possible. I am looking forward to the 2 days of testing in UK next month so I can get settle in and feel comfortable with the car. I am looking forward to working with Team Canada, with Cliff Dempsey and his crew who will help me adapt to the car and the very historic Brands Hatch track! Again, thank you for choosing me and I will do everything I can to make Canada proud” .www.xaviercoupal.com

All 3 finalists had put in a tremendous amount of laps, contesting the OFFC, Ontario Formula Ford Championship, and the Formula Tour 1600 Series, against very tough competition, then sat through an intensive interview process with the Team Canada Scholarship Selection committee. All 3 candidates did very well in the interview process which made the final decision even more difficult.

"It has been an extremely difficult decision, but the six member panel is confident in their choice but also knows that anyone of the three fine young men would have been a great representative for Team Canada." commented one of the three founders of Team Canada Brian Graham.

While not being selected, the two runners up,  Michael Adams and Nathan Blok, certainly don't come away empty handed, they will both receive test days with the first half of the day in a Pro F2000 car and then move to a Pro Star Mazda for the second half of the day. “Michael and Nathan, we suspect, have at least another year in FF, as well, many of the original candidates selected will also be back for 2012.” Stated Dave Matkovich of Team Canada. “This scholarship is all about learning and developing as a driver who is hoping to make racing a career, not necessarily about Team Canada and our selected drivers going over to Brands Hatch with the sole focus of landing on the podium, sure, If that happens it’s a bonus, and yes, we’re going over there to try and win, but learning and developing is the key, and is why we were also very excited about putting together the consolation prize in the 2L and Star Mazda for the runners up!”

Gerry Merz of Team Canada was quoted “It may sound cliché, but we really wish we could take all 3 drivers, each one has a different set of skills, and each one has something unique to bring to the table at the Formula Ford Festival. At least for our first year, we can only take one driver, which made the entire selection process, from the start of the season to early August really tough!

Team Canada would like to thank our selection committee for their time and their sage advisement. Big thanks go to Norris McDonald, Ron Fellows, Kyle Marcelli, Ian Willis, Al Craighead, and Brian Graham!

Team Canada would also like to thank our Corporate Sponsors, Proud Supporters, and Corporate Partners. Brad Morris & Grote Industries of Canada, www.grote.com   Nick Majors and the newly created Race Driver’s Guild of Canada, www.racedriversguild.ca   Gen. Lewis Mackenzie(Ret.), Formula Tour 1600 Series, www.siteformulatour1600.com   Seabridge Bathing – Eastern Canada, www.seabridgebathing.ca   LSI Industries, www.lsi-industries.com   Britain West Motorsport, www.britainwestmotorsport.com   Rod Ends Mechanical www.rod-ends.com  Jim Hallman, KMM Medical, and our Corporate Partners, Niko Apparel Systems & their custom team apparel division Nine-0, www.nine-o.com   AIM Autosport,  www.aimautosport.com   EFCN,  www.eformulacarnews.com   Mosport Intl Raceway, www.mosport.com  BGR-Team Grote Racing, www.briangrahamracing.com

Team Canada will be driving a Cliff Dempsey Racing prepared RayFF1600 at the Formula Ford Festival this year and would like to send a big thanks to Cliff and his team for helping Team Canada get things prepared and organized over in the UK!

For more information on Team Canada Scholarship see www.teamcanadaracing.org

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