Australian open-wheeler racing driver Dylan Young has targeted a move to Europe in the GP3 Series or Auto GP for the 2015 season.
Young tested the GP3 car for the first time back in November at the post season test held after the Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand Prix with the Sahara Force India F1 Team affiliated GP3 outfit run by Hilmer Motorsport.
Young was pleased with his performance at the test as he only managed to test for one of the three days available, leaving him as a rookie in the field when he jumped into the 400bhp machine for his debut outing. He lapped 1.6 seconds off the qualifying time from the Hilmer Motorsport regular lead GP3 driver. However, Young importantly lapped quicker than some of the regular full season GP3 drivers practice times in a car that wasn’t regarded as the quickest by any means in the field, leaving Young to rue that he didn’t get on top of the ultimate qualifying run pace of the tricky Pirelli tyres.
“The test was a fantastic experience and I was really happy with my progress during the day,” Young said. “You have very limited running and the Pirelli tyres are quite strange to get your head around as they limit the amount of laps you can really push. I would have loved to have had the opportunity to do the full 3 days and sleep on it as some of the other guys were finding 2 seconds in lap time by having the full 3 days to acclimatize.”
The test has led to Young receiving offers from a number of GP3 teams and Auto GP teams for the 2015 season. GP3 holds 18 races alongside 9 Formula 1 Grand Prix support events across Europe and Abu Dhabi whilst Auto GP, using 550bhp cars based off the former A1 GP cars will hold 14 races with support races alongside DTM and the overall Champion receiving a test with a top Formula 1 team.
“Both GP3 and Auto GP are the next logical step for me and obviously they both provide fantastic pathways with drivers now hopping directly from GP3 to Formula 1 and so I’m working extremely hard with my management team right now to sort out what options will be possible for this year because this step could be pivotal towards a future Formula 1 position or similar elite global racing series including the FIA World Endurance Championship which is a really exciting prospect.”
Young was under no illusions however as to how tight the time frames were with both Championships kicking off shortly.
“I’ll be having some meetings over the Australian F1 GP weekend this week and we’re hopeful that Melbourne will take notice of the opportunities available to leverage me on the international stage, especially in light with the hype around Daniel Ricciardo’s current success. We have some really unique branding and investment options with my career earnings and I’m really excited with some of the current talks going on.”
If Young were to miss out on a full season in GP3 or Auto GP, he was quick not to rule out a stint in either Championship by jumping in during the season alongside another campaign in the MRF Challenge Championship at Formula 3 level which will kick off later in 2015.
ENDS