NEWS // PROFESSIONAL MOTORSPORT WORLD EXPO AWARDS

The award season got into full swing earlier this month as the annual Professional MotorSport World Expo Awards took place in Cologne, Germany with over 700 guests from the motorsport world attending a gala dinner.

The awards, which form part of central Europe's leading trade-only motorsport exhibition, are given annually for outstanding achievement in various categories.

Chairman of the judging panel Graham Heeps, who is Editor of Professional Motorsport World Magazine explains... "The awards have become established as one of the industry's leading annual events that gives deserved recognition to exceptional personal and technological achievement in motorpsort. " With industry experts such as Michael Andretti, Trevor Carlin, and Armin Schwarz amongst the judges, these awards set the bar very high and only reward the sport's top achievers."

The evening saw the following awards announced... [read more]

Vehicle Development of the Year

Winner: Brawn BGP 001

With the Ross Brawn and his team of designers gaining an early season march over their rivals, the award went to the Brawn BGP 001 which was developed around ultimate aerodynamic performance rather than the KERS system.

Even when faced with the extra challenge of accommodating at very short notice a Mercedes-Benz power plant that would compromise ideal weight distribution the design was clearly a race winner straight out of the box.

Nominations:

• Audi R8 LMS
• Brawn BGP 001
• Chevrolet Cruze WTC
• Corvette GT2

Motorsport Facility of the Year

Winner: Autodromo do Algarve

Last winter the all new 4.7km-long Portuguese track hosted F1 tests for all the front running teams. The venue also proved popular with test teams and competitors from FIA GT, GP2,WSR and the Le Mans Series, all of which raced there in 2009. The circuit is widely acknowledged to be one of the best of the "New" European facillities and provides a wide ranging challenge for both drivers and engineers alike.

Nominations:

• Autodromo do Algarve
• Nürburgring
• Rally Finland
• zMax Dragway

Safety Innovation of the Year:

Winner: F1 Marshalling System - EM Motorsport

The safety signalling system that is now used in F1 developed by EM Motorsport has put an end to forever the claim "I didn't See The Flag". With remote operation and lighting systems within each cars cockpit the system which was launced back in 2007 has become a major safety improvement.

Nominations:

• EM Motorsport – F1 Marshalling System
• FIA Institute – Motor Sport Medicine book
• Stilo – ST4 F1 8860 helmet

Other awards went to Ross Brawn who quite unsurprisingly collected both "Design Engineer" and "Team Principal" of The Year

Photo: Brawn GP/Audi Media
Editorial: Neil Tozer