Members of the FIA High Performance Programme for Officials (HPP) were given the opportunity to grow their knowledge and build their experience during the third running of the FIA Motorsport Games last month.
Ronnie Andersen, Benoît Dupont, Janette Tan and Zhou Xiaoxu were on duty at the event as part of their ongoing participation in the FIA HPP, which was initiated by motor sport’s world governing body to identify, train and support the next generation of race directors and stewards.
“The dream has always been to be a race director in an FIA shirt some day and I work any role I can because anything you do, whether it’s scrutineering or marshalling, stewarding as I did at the Motorsport Games, you learn something, you take in and better yourself,” said Andersen (pictured below), who was appointed as a Drifting Steward at the FIA Motorsport Games and won the 2022 Charlie Whiting Award, handed to clerks of the course who demonstrate the level of potential required to become race directors in the future. “I also try to do my best to bring that knowledge back to my ASN and I show that all that knowledge that I’m given I can share with anybody else, both stewards, marshals and race directors.”
Serving as the International Steward in GT and GT Sprint, Xiaoxu believes the practical experience offered by HPP not only helps him to progress, but it also brings benefits to the Federation of Automobile Sports of China, his FIA Member Club.
“I am very proud to be part of this programme and to go to some events to learn from experts and enrich our experience in real life is very important,” said Xiaoxu. “I’m very happy with how the FIA is supporting us, especially because I am from China, which is an emerging motor sport country. But the programme is not only focused on paperwork, but also on bringing us to real motor sport events to see what’s going on. The Motorsport Games allows me to join a different category and expand my vision.”
Like Andersen, FIA Electric and New Energy Championships Commission President Xiaoxu (pictured above) is determined to utilise the experience he gains from the FIA HPP to help his FIA Member Club.
“Motor sport keeps developing and we need to learn and know what is changing in the FIA motorsport regulations then we need to deliver that knowledge nationally,” said Xiaoxu, who called time on his career as an aerodynamicist for Caterham Formula 1 team to work for his FIA Member Club and give something back. “I have a responsibility to share and transfer my knowledge and what I am learning to help China develop its motor sport. HPP is definitely helping motor sport in China and hopefully more young people join programmes like this.”
Benoît Dupont, the FIA Head of Circuit Operations and WEC Sporting Matters (pictured below), was the Race Director in GT Single Make for Ferrari Challenge car during the FIA Motorsport Games.
“The variety of series you could potentially attend through HPP and being up to date with what’s happening in Formula 1 but also in WEC, Formula E and other important championships is so important,” said Dupont. “You are no longer doing things your own way, but you are following the best practice from FIA championships from the top to the bottom. It’s important for the FIA to be sure they have the next [Formula 1 Race Director] Niels Wittich when they need the next Niels Wittich but the ASNs benefit by consequence of having in their ranks a race director who is at the international level that could manage the top of their international competition with the latest regulation, the latest best practice.”
Janette Tan, the Formula 4 Race Director at FIA Motorsport Games (pictured top), relies on the FIA HPP and her mentor, the former Formula 1 Race Director Herbie Blash, to learn and improve.
“Because he has a lot more experience we talk through some of the incidents from my races and the management of those so that really helps me in thinking and evaluating how the session was and how I could have done better,” Tan said.
“In terms of preparation it starts weeks beforehand, all the regulations I read, all the starting procedures, I put them down into notebooks. At the FIA Motorsport Games we talked about track limits a lot, so we knew we needed a lot more help with more cameras, more people. That really helps in easing the load so we can focus more on race management.
“It was looking like it was going to rain before the Formula 4 race started so we were looking at the starting procedure and how we would change it if we needed to, how we delay so it’s important to start the preparation beforehand.
“Events are always different. At permanent tracks you have more experienced people. At street tracks, where you have more incidents, you are working with volunteers who might only have one race per year so it’s important we give them a lot more simulation, a lot more talking through incidents, so they know what to expect and what we expect. At Valencia we talked through the safety car process a lot and that really helped also.”
Tan, who has also highlighted the guidance provided by FIA World Endurance Championship Race Director Eduardo Freitas and was the first Charlie Whiting Award recipient in 2020, continued: “In my country, Singapore, we only have one race a year but the experience I have, particularly from F2 and F3 helps me for the Formula 1 Grand Prix to know what Niels neds before he asks for it, I know how the set up should be like, about the safety car deployment, etc, so it makes life easier for me when it comes to training the marshals for the Singapore Grand Prix. HPP is really helping me with that.”
Andersen, Dupont, Tan and Xiaoxu were joined at the FIA Motorsport Games by fellow FIA HPP participants Mohammed Al Hashmi (GT and Touring Car Steward), Natalie Corsmit and Tanja Geilhausen (Rally Stewards), David Fuentes (GT Single Make Steward), Simon Gnana Pragasam (GT and GT Sprint Deputy Race Director) and Pauline Schoofs (Deputy Race Director Formula 4 and Touring Car).
Source : Fia
