BALTAS IMPRESSES ON FIRST UK TEST
The Arden backed Young Racing Driver Academy (YRDA) are delighted to announce their first USA driver to be a part of their program. The fourteen year old from New York City, was selected in November 2015 by the founder of the YRDA, Jamie Horner.
Yves began his karting career from as young as four, where he consistently competed in a Kart and at the age of six, won his first Kid-Kart Championship. In 2012, Yves competed at various local and national Karting championships across the United States predominantly in the Mini Rotax Max class, which saw him finish on the podium with several top three finishes. Including winning the first three races at New Jersey’s Motorsport Park Championship. Throughout 2013 and 2014, Yves continued to compete both at local and national Karting Championship levels and took the move into Junior Rotax Max in 2014, claiming more top three finishes through the season.
2015 saw Yves become one of the youngest drivers to participate and test in the Skip Barber Formula Car at Lime Rock Park in the United States at the age of just thirteen years old. His first test being extremely successful, which resulted in the transition from Karting into Cars.
Yves’s first trip over to the UK in January 2016 consisted of a visit to the YRDA head quarter’s in Banbury to meet the team, simulator testing, physical performance testing at the impressive St George’s Park Perform facilities for the first YRDA training day of the year and his first impressive UK single-seater two day test. Yves plans to continue with simulator training and UK testing with Arden’s Senior MSA Formula Engineer, Mark Godwin throughout the rest of the 2016, preparing him for a smooth transition into a single-seater championship for 2017.
Yves Baltas commented: “I am really excited to being a part of the Young Racing Driver Academy this year. Coming over from the United States it was imperative to find a team with such high standards to best prepare me for the future in formula racing in the UK and beyond. I would like to thank the entire YRDA staff for all of their initial support. I am really looking forward to an exciting 2016!”
About the Young Racing Driver Academy:
The Young Racing Driver Academy was launched in April 2013 by The Business of Sport, (TBOS) a global sports management consultancy. The YRDA is a motorsport academy that is focused on identifying, mentoring and coaching young racing driver talent and providing a pathway from Karting into single-seater racing. YRDA delivers a specialist programme and provides tailored mentoring, marketing and management support to young racing drivers.
YRDA and its programme partners possess wide-ranging expertise and experience across the business of motorsport and are perfectly placed to encourage and assist a young racing driver in maximising his or her on and off track potential. YRDA’s aim is to identify talented young racing drivers and provide opportunities for those individuals to develop the necessary range of skills, knowledge and level of confidence to fully prepare them to compete to the best of their ability in their chosen feeder series and move towards their ultimate goal of racing in F1 or other categories of professional motorsport.
Jamie Horner Director of TBOS and Founder of the YRDA comments:“We are delighted that Yves is the first US driver to join the YRDA program. In the short space of time Yves has been with us, we have been impressed with his speed, application and focus towards his motorsport career and ambition. We are very much looking forward to working closely with him over the coming months as he aims for a smooth and successful transition into single seater racing.”
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