BRDC honours Carlin British F3 drivers
08 December 2009Two of Carlin's 2009 British F3 drivers were honoured by the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC) yesterday, in a prestigious ceremony hosted by BRDC President Damon Hill and attended by the Prime Minister Gordon Brown. 2009 British F3 champion Daniel Ricciardo was presented with the John Cooper and Henry Surtees trophies while Max Chilton received the Spencer Charrington Trophy.
At the annual BRDC Awards Ceremony held in London on Monday, current British F3 champion Ricciardo was presented with the John Cooper trophy by Red Bull racing team principal Christian Horner. Coming less than a week after Ricciardo's successful outing at the young driver's F1 test last week, the trophy - awarded to a competitor within the British F3 championship who has shown potential to become a future World Champion - could not have been more apt.
Ricciardo also received the Henry Surtees trophy, awarded for the first time this year to the most outstanding performance by a BRDC Rising Star.
Speaking about his awards, Ricciardo said, "It was an honour to receive the Henry Surtees trophy, but I accepted it with sadness. I was very touched to be the first person to ever receive this award in the memory of Henry, who will be sorely missed and had close links with Carlin.
"Winning the John Cooper Award was a great feeling and Christian Horner said some nice things when he presented it to me as well, which was quite humbling. It's been a fantastic year and one that I will look back on very fondly in the future."
Team mate Chilton meanwhile was awarded the Spencer Charrington Trophy, which is presented to the highest placed British driver in the British F3 International Series. 18 year -old Chilton took a British F3 class victory and an overall victory in 2009 and proved himself to be one of the fastest drivers in the field with more front row starts than any other driver throughout the season.
"It was a real honour to receive a BRDC trophy," said Chilton. "It's quite an exclusive thing and there aren't many of them, so I was very proud to be up there. It was a small room with a lot of big names, so I was really happy to receive a trophy in front of some of the most important people in the industry."