The youngest driver in the 2007 Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship, 19 year old Ulsterman Darren Gass, has become the first winner of the prestigious Pirelli Star Driver competition.

The competition was hosted at the home of the newly crowned WRC Manufacturer Champions, BP-Ford World Rally Team headquarters at M Sport in Cumbria. The five finalists endured a series of assessment tests over two days.

Finalists George Thomas, Phillip Morrow, James Wozencroft and Matt Beebe, together with Gass were put through their paces which included a gruelling one hour evaluation of their fitness, assessment of their media skills, TV interviews, testing their knowledge of FIA regulations and finally driving both a Group N3 Renault Clio and a top spec Subaru N12 on a forest special stage.

The finalist were being constantly assessed by the Pirelli Star Driver panel of expert judges, BP-Ford World Rally team boss Malcolm Wilson, Ex Suzuki JWRC team manager and Finland Rally manager Risto Laine, Mario Isola who is Pirelli Global Rally manager and WRC Rallies Editor from Autosport magazine, David Evans.

After a tense final interview with each driver, the panel unanimously agreed that newly crowned British Junior Rally Champion Darren Gass should receive this fantastic Pirelli prize. 

Before announcing the winner, Malcolm Wilson said “I just wish that there were opportunities like this when I was just starting out in my rallying career. This prize offered by Pirelli through the British Rally Championship is just phenomenal. All of the finalists were exceptional and whilst only one of you will walk away with the prize, with focused determination, you are all very capable of succeeding and I hope that you will all work tirelessly to be reselected next year for the 2008 final shootout.”

Darren who comes from County Armagh in Northern Ireland is only in his second season in rallying, having drove his first rally car in competition just a couple of weeks after passing his driving test. Sat beside Darren in the final competition was his regular co-driver Neil Shanks from Elgin in Scotland.

The final result seemed to come as a complete surprise to Darren Gass who said, “This is fantastic, I really can’t believe I have won. I put everything into each of the tests, it was the hardest thing that I have ever done in my life and to perform in front of four well respected judges has been a great experience.

I will commit 100% into this opportunity Pirelli is giving me. I know I have a lot more to learn but with Pirelli’s support my dream of one day becoming a World Rally Champion took a step forward today.”

Pirelli Tyres Motorsport Director, Paul Hembrey added, “Pirelli is committed to the world of rallying, from the top level at WRC down to the grass roots. We are actively seeking to promote and support young driver development throughout the world, and the BRC scheme is one of the first of many initiatives. We are delighted with Darren Gass, the first Pirelli Star driver winner who was unanimously selected by the judges. I wish Darren every success in his future career.”

You can see all of the drama of the Pirelli Shootout final on Sky Sports on Wednesday 19th December at 7.30pm. (please check the on-screen schedules)

For more information visit: www.rallybrc.co.uk