Aspiring journalist Gavin Grace reports on the GP2 Series in Barcelona
Bridgestone, exclusive tyre supplier to the GP2 Series, took all nine finalists of the 2008 Bridgestone e-reporter young journalists’ competition to Barcelona to be part of the official GP2 Series launch event (on 24 April) ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix. In 2008, the Bridgestone e-reporter contest celebrates its fifth anniversary and Gavin Grace, from County Galway in Ireland, was recently announced as one of the finalists in this pan-European contest, for students aged 18-30.
Gavin, currently studying in Limerick, attended the GP2 launch in Barcelona and joined the other finalists on stage to mark the beginning of the fourth season for the GP2 Series. All drivers making up the GP2 grid for 2008 were at the event along with Formula One personalities Lewis Hamilton, Heikki Kovalainen, Mark Webber, Nelson Piquet Jr and Lucas di Grassi.
Each of the nine e-reporter finalists, who have aspirations to be professional journalists, are given the opportunity during the year to attend and report on a GP2 Series race weekend for the Bridgestone website, bridgestone.eu/e-reporter. Gavin was the first e-reporter to submit race reports, staying in Barcelona for all three days of the Spanish Grand Prix (25-27 April).
Bridgestone e-reporter is strongly linked to the GP2 Series, the feeder series to Formula One. While GP2 was created to provide gifted young drivers with the chance to make their way to the pinnacle of motorsport, e-reporter was brought to life to support the talented young journalists of tomorrow.
During the weekend Gavin interviewed star drivers in the GP2 paddock such as Bruno Senna, Kamui Kobayashi, Pastor Maldonado and Alvaro Parente, who won his first ever GP2 race in Barcelona on his GP2 debut.
Commenting on his invaluable experience at the Spanish Grand Prix, Gavin said, “It's a great honour to be selected as one of the nine finalists for the Bridgestone e-reporter competition. In the previous four years this competition has earned a proven track record for its ability to spot the best in journalism talent and it's great to be selected by journalists who are respected across the motorsport industry. I hope that my writing this weekend in Barcelona was of a high enough standard to warrant my selection.“I had a great time at the Spanish Grand Prix. I am indebted to the people at Bridgestone and GP2 for one of the best weekends of my life. As a fan I got to see some of my heroes and gain an insight into the sport that I could previously only dream about. As a student of media I am also very thankful to all the journalists and broadcasters who took time out from their busy schedules to give me some great advice on my future in the business.”
Entrants for this year’s Bridgestone e-reporter competition were asked to demonstrate their ability to write both a newsworthy story and topical interview questions when applying for the competition. The high standard of entries from students writing in English as their second language was highlighted by the judges, the judging panel including high-profile international journalists.
This year the popularity of the competition has been shown by a 50 per cent increase in entries compared with 2007. Entrants also represented a wider range of European countries than ever before.
The next Bridgestone e-reporter to attend a race out of the nine selected for this year will be Lorenzo Quolantoni (from Geneva, Switzerland), who will attend the Monaco Grand Prix from 23-25 May. The overall winner of the 2008 Bridgestone e-reporter contest, due to be selected in September, will continue their work on Bridgestone-backed events and will be offered work experience as part of the competition prize.
For further information on the 2008 Bridgestone e-reporter competition and to view race reports through out the season from this year’s finalists, visit bridgestone.eu/e-reporter.
