ÖAMTC names Best Young Driver 2024”

ÖAMTC names Best Young Driver 2024”

The Best Young Driver Contest was launched as a road safety competition in cooperation with European, African and Middle Eastern mobility clubs in FIA Region I to introduce young drivers to safe driving. In the first step, the participating partner clubs use preliminary decisions to determine the safest young drivers in their country, who will compete in the FIA ​​contest as part of the team for the respective organization. On competition day, participants can demonstrate their skills behind the wheel - this includes, above all, safe handling of the vehicle in extreme situations. The young drivers have to demonstrate at various stations that they can take the right measures in an emergency on the road.

Raffael Kraus from the 22nd district of Vienna and the Lower Austrian Nico Klimt from the Wolfsgraben district won the Austrian preliminary round of the Best Young Driver Contest on September 7th, 2024 and are thus moving into the international final of the FIA ​​Region I Best Young Driver Contest, which will take place this year from October 4th to 6th in Nivelles, Belgium. Overall, the two under 30 participants, aged 18 and 26, were able to prevail and demonstrate their skills in various disciplines - including braking and evasive maneuvers on slippery roads, stabilizing the vehicle after driving over the skid plate, completing a timed slalom on different road surfaces and off-road driving. In recent years, the Austrian participants have always been able to be at the forefront of the international finals. In 2023, the then 22-year-old Timo Svetina from Dornbirn secured first place. In 2022, Lower Austrian Stefan Trimmel won and in 2021, Upper Austrian Simon Seiberl brought victory to Austria.