First inaugural IMSA Diverse Driver Development Scholarship

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) today announced that 10 finalists have been selected to vie for the inaugural IMSA Diverse Driver Development Scholarship.

Four women and six men were selected from 35 applicants to contend for the scholarship worth upwards of a quarter million dollars in value toward a full season of competition in either the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge or IMSA Prototype Challenge next year. The inaugural recipient of the IMSA Diverse Driver Development Scholarship will be named during Motul Petit Le Mans week at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

“The response we received after announcing the IMSA Diverse Driver Development Scholarship in August was fantastic,” said IMSA President John Doonan. “There were so many talented applicants, and it was extraordinarily difficult to select our 10 finalists. It will be even more difficult to choose one recipient, as all of our finalists have what it takes to succeed long term in IMSA.”

To be eligible for the scholarship that was introduced on Aug. 10, drivers must have a strong desire to compete in IMSA, outstanding previous race results and/or proven on-track potential in junior racing categories and the ability to build a compelling business plan for securing the remaining funding needed to compete in a full season in 2022.

The IMSA Diverse Driver Development Scholarship recipient will receive substantial support from IMSA and partners such as Michelin, VP Racing Fuels, OMP, RECARO and LAT Photo USA in 2022. Some scholarship benefits will extend toward a second season for the recipient in 2023.

2022 IMSA Diverse Driver Development Scholarship Finalists (in alphabetical order):

Carazo is currently competing in the Porsche Carrera Cup North America presented by the Cayman Islands as a Porsche Junior Driver. He won the 2019 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama Gold Cup championship.

Conwright made his IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship debut in the 2021 Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, finishing fourth in the GT Daytona (GTD) class in the No. 42 NTe Sport Audi R8 LMS GT3 after qualifying third.

Cook is the only American to qualifying for the W Series in 2021. She finished third in her Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama debut in May at Circuit of The Americas, becoming the first woman in series history to finish on the podium.

Crone is the 2021 recipient of the Gorsline Scholarship for Young Racers has been racing for more than three-quarters of her life in a variety of disciplines. She is competing in her first season of IMSA Prototype Challenge in 2021 and opened the year by competing in the prestigious Chili Bowl Nationals.

Dalton brings previous racing experience from the F4 United States Championship powered by Honda and the Lucas Oil Formula Car Race Series, earning a victory in the latter series’ race at National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park in 2019.

Lam is an experienced driver coach with Hi-Speed Motorsports and Skip Barber Racing School. Earlier this year, she co-founded the Hi-Speed Motorsports race team with Honda Performance Development to field Civic race cars in a variety of championships.

Llarena won his first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship pole in the LMP3 class in qualifying for July’s WeatherTech 240 at Watkins Glen International, becoming the youngest pole-winner in series history. He also is a Lamborghini GT3 Junior driver.

Loh currently leads the Formula Pro USA Western Championships point standings with four races remaining. He finished third in the 2019 Formula Pro USA F4 West Coast Series and also is currently a driving instructor at Allen Berg Racing Schools.

Montgomery is currently competing in the World Racing League (WRL) GTO class driving a Porsche Cayman S 3.8 for Round 3 Racing. She earned three poles, seven podiums and a victory in the 2020 WRL season, and was the first woman to score a podium result in Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich ND1 class – earning four in the 2019 season en route to fourth in the class championship standings.

Reger won the 2018 Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich championship. He also has competed in IMSA Prototype Challenge and SRO in recent years.

Comments

APEowner GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
10/1/21 11:20 a.m.

Hey! That's our very own Christina Lam! (Not that she'd want to admit to being one of us) Congratulations Christina .

Link to the first of a series of articals that Christian wrote for GRM

Junghole SuperDork
10/1/21 8:57 p.m.

Only four women, and less women than men? There'll be a riot in the streets about this...

Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
10/1/21 9:59 p.m.

Good luck Sabre! She's a top engineer who's done a stint with the Renault F1 team as well as a pretty good shoe. A true grassroots racer.

APEowner GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
10/2/21 10:55 a.m.

Keith Tanner said:
Good luck Sabre! She's a top engineer who's done a stint with the Renault F1 team as well as a pretty good shoe. A true grassroots racer.

I wondered if you knew her.

hybridmomentspass Reader
10/2/21 12:38 p.m.

I dont know any of these folks, never heard their names before (I'll take blame for that, I usually only watch the upper classes of GTD/LM and Prototype), but Im pulling for Dalton as he's a NC man!

Good luck to all of them, even if they do not get this scholarship, hopefully this gains them more exposure to pursue their dreams.

Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
10/2/21 6:59 p.m.

APEowner said:
Keith Tanner said:
Good luck Sabre! She's a top engineer who's done a stint with the Renault F1 team as well as a pretty good shoe. A true grassroots racer.

I wondered if you knew her.

Her dad owns the dusty little kart track that is our "home" track, so I've been bumping into her for years. She's a good person, completely down to earth and more comfortable hiking in the red rocks than glammed up for a "girl racer" photoshoot. Tried to convince her dad to let me crew chief the little ratty open wheeler she was using to transfer from karts to cars, but he was too distracted by trying to rewire it as it was going on the trailer for a race 5 hours away.

Sabre was offered the chance to continue working with Renault when her apprenticeship was over but she put the engineering gig on hold to concentrate on driving. She has a tendency to end up near the back of the pack for whatever reason and then pass a whole bunch of people, which is pretty fun to watch. She'll be involved in motorsport in one way or another for a long time.