Breen selected for FIA Young Driver Excellence Academy chance

Top Irish World Rally Championship driver Craig Breen has been selected by the FIA from the world's best young drivers to compete for a place at their Young Driver Excellence Academy for 2012. Breen is one of 30 drivers chosen to take part in the four day shoot-out in Melk, Austria from the 15th - 18th November to decide on the 18 who will make the Academy.

The 21-year-old Waterford native has been in top form this season in the World Rally Championship Academy and is currently in second position in the Championship ahead of the last round at Rally GB next month. A win in Wales could see Breen win the Academy after some impressive performances across the season. In 2010 Breen won the Pirelli Star Driver Global Shootout to secure a sponsored place in the WRC for 2011, an experience that will stand by him in Austria.

Alex Sinclair, Chief Executive of Motorsport Ireland, said: "I am delighted that we are represented at the upcoming selection event for the FIA Institute Academy. It has already proven to be an important development ground for young drivers, not just helping their careers but turning them into ambassadors for our sport."

Only 18 of the shortlisted drivers will be chosen to join the Academy programme. To succeed they will have to demonstrate their ability over four days of driving and non-driving assessments, with the selection announced at the end of the last day.

Of the final list of drivers chosen to take part, at least three will be selected from each of the FIA Institute's five funding areas: North, Central and South America; Western and Northern Europe; Central and Eastern Europe; Middle East and Africa; and Asia and Oceania.

Once again, the selection process and training programme will be led by former Formula One driver and two-time Le Mans winner Alex Wurz and former World Rally Champion co-driver Robert Reid. At the Selection Event in Melk, Austria, they will lead exercises designed to evaluate fitness and performance, media techniques, teamwork and psychology.

Those that succeed will receive a place on the Academy's fully-funded training programme, which aims to help drivers develop their motor sport careers, whilst increasing safety skills and actively promoting the principles of safety, fairness and responsibility on and off the track