Canadian Scott Hargrove honored with invitation to third Annual Porsche Young Driver Academy

 Vancouver, BC, October 22, 2014 - Porsche is continuing its longstanding legacy of recognizing and developing young talent, as Scott and four additional standout North American drivers honed their skills on and off the track during the third annual Young Driver Academy Oct. 19-20 at Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham, Alabama presented by Porsche Motorsport North America (PMNA) and Porsche Cars North America (PCNA). The Young Driver Academy provides promising North American drivers with an opportunity to reap the numerous benefits of a program based on Porsche’s European Junior selection process. PMNA and PCNA emphasize evaluation and development of the young drivers during the Academy, with the goal of discovering and nurturing talent in the United States and Canada that can reach maximum potential. "We are now in our third year of the Porsche Young Driver Academy here in North America,” said PMNA president and CEO Jens Walther. “In that time, we have welcomed many of the sports' top young talents to Barber Motorsports Park, and we continue to witness their progress up the ladder of sports car racing. While those invited are part of a small sampling of the remarkable driving talent available in the United States and Canada, we are proud to see the graduates of this program competing worldwide. This is not a competition but an opportunity for these drivers to learn skills that will provide ongoing benefit to their racing career both on and off the racetrack. We have seen the results in the success of the first two years. This year's class promises to have that same level of impact on the future of motorsports.” The comprehensive Academy experience includes classroom training in racing technique and media/sponsor relations, as well as off-track driver skill evaluation. All five drivers also turned laps on the challenging 17-turn, 2.38-mile circuit at Barber Motorsports Park in identically prepared Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. Classroom and track instruction were led by Porsche racing legend and lead Porsche Sport Driving School instructor Hurley Haywood, Porsche factory driver Patrick Long and GT racing champion Andrew Davis. Owen Hayes, director of operations for Porsche Motorsports North America, Dave Engelman, media relations manager – Motorsports and Brand Heritage, and other Porsche representatives and industry professionals also provided training and evaluation. The first two classes from the Young Driver Academy have continued to advance their careers at a high level of performance, further emphasizing Porsche’s commitment to identifying and developing talent in North America. Scott expanded on this: “Having the opportunity to learn from talent like Hurley Haywood, Patrick Long and Andrew Davis does not happen every day. I’m very thankful to Porsche, as their training will allow me to be a better driver on the track and a better ambassador off the track. The skills learned at the third annual Porsche Young Driver Academy will have a huge impact on my career.”