Barum Czech Rally Zlín 

ERC Junior Experience kicks off with involving the Barum rally

16. 6. 2016 - Jakub Hofbauer

The result of the ERC junior championship is already two years of success with a high number of competitors: 25 in 2014, 27 in 2015 and already 17 in 2016. It pushed forward careers of talented drivers such as Stéphane Lefebvre, actual WRC driver, who won the first edition of ERC Junior, and Emil Bergkvist, 2015 champion, actually competing in WRC2 at the wheel of an R5 car.

In 2016, Eurosport Events wants to go further in the discovery of national young talents and in the training of future professional drivers at international level by creating the ERC Junior Experience.

The ERC Junior Experience is a training program focused on the most important skills to become a professional rally driver/co-driver or team manager: driving tarmac & gravel, recce pace notes & on board, safety, PR & Media, technic or sponsorship... First time ever in rallying there is a program providing a real and complete international training for young talents.

This training program takes place in 3 rallies of the ERC Junior championship:

• Kenotek Ypres rally (BEL) 23-25 June
• Rally Estonia (EST) 15-17 July
• Barum Czech rally Zlin (CZE) 26-28 August

The ERC Junior Experience is proposed to some young and talented national drivers who plan to drive in rally at an international level. For the first loop already six young drivers have registered. The training program is also open to 2016 ERC Junior competitors where two drivers have already registered

The 2016 session will be composed by maximum 10 national drivers (under 26) and maximum 10 ERC Junior drivers (under 27). The age limit for national driver allows them to take part in the ERC Junior as a competitor in 2017. Some free place for ERC Junior competitors are still available, we will close at 10 drivers, don't waste time to register before Ypres rally!

Program during Ypres Rally:
Tuesday 21/06:
• AM: arrival
• 14h30 – 15h00: welcoming with drink and finger foods (Eurosport Events & Future Stars rally academy )
• 15h00 – 17h00: workshop pace notes (Bjorn Degandt)
• 17h00 – 19h00: workshop car techniques (Yannick Willocx)

Wednesday 22/06 and Thursday 23/06
• Recce
• Analyses of pace notes

Friday 24/06
• Morning: workshop media training by Eurosport

Description of workshops:
1. Pace Notes (Coach Bjorn Degandt, co-driver of Hans Weijs)
Content of workshop:
• Practical exercise: Before the actual workshop, the Juniors will recce part of the old stage of Vleteren (where the Ypres rally ran before)
• Upgrade your own pace notes (Bjorn will also bring his notes of the same stage)
• During the workshop: watch the stage together on video
• Analyse the notes of each individual driver and adapt were needed
• The idea is to concentrate on the many pitfalls Ypres has ! We take Vleteren as an example for the other stages which they will recce on Wednesday and Thursday
• Rally preparation (what not to forget!! )

2) Car Techniques (Coach: Yannick Willocx, engineer at VW, Hyundai and Škoda Motorsport)
Content of workshops
• Advanced race car preparation
• Steering and suspension systems
• Fault diagnosis and braking system units
• Understanding car set-up and handling
• Maximizing tyre performance
• Clutch synchronisation

3) Recce
The juniors will follow the recce program on Wednesday and Thursday. After they finish we will look into their pace notes and give them feedback.

4) Media Training
• TV Interview
• Radio Interview
• Social Media

The entry fee to participate to this training program is 2250€ (VAT excl.) per trainee for the complete program on 3 events. This fee doesn't contain travel costs and accommodation. Thanks to the contribution of Eurosport Events, this entry fee is reduced to 500€ (VAT excl.) for 10 first ERC Junior competitors who want to follow this training.

For registration, please contact Evelien Deschuytter (evelien@allinmotion.be) at Future rally star Academy. The entry form is available HERE.