Rally driver Job Quantock is looking to learn from New Zealand’s best when he participates in the inaugural Hyundai NZ Young Driver Shootout taking place in Auckland this weekend.
Originally from Ashburton and now based Ohoka, north of Christchurch, 22-year-old Quantock is one of five young rally drivers selected to contest the shootout taking place on 9 and 10 December. The Hyundai NZ Young Driver Shootout is a mentoring programme developed by Kiwi world rally star Hayden Paddon in partnership with Hyundai New Zealand and the Hyundai-backed Pinnacle Programme for talented teens. The shootout winner will get a major step-up with their motorsport career aspirations and benefit from the opportunity to drive the Hyundai NZ AP4 i20 rally car run by Paddon Rallysport in two rounds of the 2017 New Zealand Rally Championship, testing and training with Paddon, plus the potential for an expanded programme in 2018.
An area manager for an irrigation company, Quantock is relatively new to rally competition, with 2016 his first full season, but he’s been around the sport for many years with father Dave also a rally driver. Like Paddon, he started in grass carts and since his switch to rallying last year, has quickly demonstrated some skill behind the wheel of his Mitsubishi Evo, finishing second overall in the 2016 Mainland Rally Series as well as taking second place at both the 2016 Hanmer and Spring rallies.
Quantock is aiming for his first rally win next year and knows the opportunity to learn during the shootout can only benefit his future rally aspirations.
“Hayden inspired us to enter the Hyundai NZ Young Driver Shootout as we have always looked up to him as a role model and want to follow in his footsteps,” Quantock says. “We saw the Hyundai NZ Young Driver Shootout as a great opportunity to be in an environment surrounded by people with years of knowledge to learn from. As we are still new to the sport this is a great opportunity for us to take on board advice and tips from someone who is one of the best in the world and has been down a similar path and made it to the top.”
Running near Auckland, the Hyundai NZ Young Driver Shootout includes lessons and assessments on fitness, how to identify and look after sponsors, nutrition, media presence, career planning, writing pace notes and car set-up. The finalists also get a day in the forest where they will be writing and driving to their own pace notes in the Hyundai AP4 car.
“We see the classroom day as a wonderful chance to learn information on nutrition, working with media, attracting sponsors (and keeping them), to name a few topics we’ll be covering. It will all be invaluable for us going forward. No matter the result we will gain a lot from this experience and will be a great aid to our future in the sport. We would like to thank Hayden and Hyundai for providing this amazing opportunity; we have already received lots of positive feedback and support.”
Quantock will be joined by Alan Steel as his co-driver for the in-car section. “We have been good friends since we studied together at Lincoln University and are working really well together in the car. Alan and I are really excited to drive the AP4 Hyundai as it will be our first taste of ‘the next generation cars’. Being able to drive a car which has been engineered to the latest specs and has the latest technology in it will be an amazing experience.”
Quantock joins four other finalists selected from more than 180 applicants:
· Max Bayley, 20, Hawke’s Bay
· Dylan Thomson, 21, Waiuku
· Sloan Cox, 25, Rotorua
· Matt Summerfield, 24, Rangiora
The Hyundai NZ Young Driver Shootout finalists will be assessed over the two days by Paddon, rally driver Reece Jones, talented teens Pinnacle Programme leader Bernice Mene, Newshub senior sports reporter Shaun Summerfield and former Rally New Zealand chairman Chris Carr.
“We want all finalists to take as much as they can away from the shootout weekend,” says Paddon. “We are not looking for the fastest driver – we are looking for someone with that X factor who has the ability to learn and develop into a leading rally driver, both nationally and internationally, while representing the Hyundai brand.”
Hyundai NZ Young Driver Shootout and Scholarship was open to drivers aged 16-25 with applicants having contested a minimum of 10 rallies, including four pace-noted rallies. Six more applicants – Jack Williamson, Max Tregilgas, Michael McLean, Chris McLean, Ari Pettigrew and Jack Hawkeswood – have been invited to participate in the classroom day.
The Hyundai NZ Young Driver Shootout and Scholarship winner will be announced on 11 December.
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