It’s an absolute delight to see so much young talent viewing sportscar racing as a career path into elite motorsport. The current crop once again prove that the qualities of our young people both off track and on massively exceed society’s all-too-often low expectations.
Our nominated young drivers, all under 25, cover off GT3, GTE and LMP2 talent, with at least one looking assured for a Hypercar future.
Let’s start with 19-year-old Doriane Pin, part of the Iron Dames programme and placed in 2023 in a Prema Racing LMP2. Her pace seemed to somewhat rattle a couple of much bigger names.
2024 sets to see Doriane switch to single-seaters in the F1 Academy, a journey that’s already begun with race-winning success at Sepang in F4 Southeast Asia.
Malthe Jakobsen, quite simply, is one of the most exciting talents of his generation in motorsport. Blindingly fast, Jakobsen is a talent to draw the eye whenever he climbed in a race car this year. It was no surprise that Peugeot snapped him up as a Junior development driver.
A fighting finish, literally to the line, in LMP2 Pro/Am in the ELMS and race-winning form in the Asian Le Mans put a strong bid in for the Dane in this company.
Kyffin Simpson, another emerging star, took the ELMS LMP2 title and provided very significant punch to Algarve Pro’s effort. His 2024 season will see him step up to IndyCar full time with Ganassi, the Barbadian, Caymanian teenager is one to watch for the future.
The last honourable mention goes to Dan Harper. The young Northern Irishman continues to show speed and fighting spirit, both of which he displayed in taking the British GT Championship season finale by the scruff of the neck, in a drive that would see him take the title with Darren Leung. There is little doubt that Harper has a long future ahead of him as a factory-backed driver.
That leaves us with the winner in this category, Nico Varrone. The Argentinian, who told DSC at Le Mans that he was sure his career was over during the pandemic, has not just managed to put his foot in the door of top-level sportscar racing in 2023, but kick it down.
Driving for Corvette Racing alongside Nicky Catsburg and Ben Keating, Varrone still managed to attract the attention of many key observers, including the top brass at GM.
This season Varrone won his class at Daytona with AWA, the team he will race with next season, his class at Le Mans with Corvette and the GTE Am title, earning him a factory seat in the process.
We can’t wait to see what he can do next year in what looks set to be one of the most competitive GTD seasons in IMSA WeatherTech history.
