Bridgestone e-reporter finalist Bonn student Alan NG24/07/2008 (original page)
Bridgestone, exclusive tyre supplier to the GP2 Series, announced the nine finalists of the 2008 Bridgestone e-reporter young journalists’ competition at the beginning of the GP2 season. In 2008, the e-reporter contest celebrates its fifth anniversary and Alan NG, a student living in Bonn, Germany, attended the German Grand Prix (19-20 July) to report on the GP2 Series as one of the finalists in this year’s pan-European contest, for students aged 18-30.
Each of the nine e-reporter finalists, who have aspirations to be professional journalists, are given the opportunity during the year to attend and report on a GP2 Series race weekend for the Bridgestone website, www.bridgestone.eu/e-reporter. Alan was the fifth e-reporter to submit race reports, working over the race weekend in Hockenheim.
Bridgestone e-reporter is strongly linked to the GP2 Series, the feeder series to Formula One. While GP2 was created to provide gifted young drivers with the chance to make their way to the pinnacle of motorsport, e-reporter was brought to life to support the talented young journalists of tomorrow. During the German Grand Prix weekend Alan interviewed star drivers in the GP2 paddock, including Sunday’s sprint race winner Karun Chandhok (iSport International) and current championship leader Giorgio Pantano (Racing Engineering).
Commenting on his invaluable experience, Alan said, “These few days have been a dream come true for me. The opportunity to attend a grand prix weekend has been such an amazing experience. Being a journalist for the weekend meant I could approach numerous drivers and team members, interviewing them for my various daily reports. The buzz that goes around in the GP2 paddock is just so unbelievable. You really have to be there to know what it’s like.
“I also got to see the hard work that’s been put in by countless people each time the cars go out to race. For example, the Bridgestone support team for GP2 works through late nights just to get the tyres and data ready for the teams so that come race day, everyone is ready to give their best in entertaining the massive crowds.
“I really need to thank Bridgestone for giving me this opportunity which is a chance of a lifetime. I also want to thank the GP2 Series organisers and teams for their patience and openness in interviews.”
Entrants for this year’s Bridgestone e-reporter competition were asked to demonstrate their ability to write topical interview questions and a newsworthy story when applying for the competition. The high standard of entries from students writing in English as their second language was highlighted by this year’s judging panel, which includes high-profile international journalists from four different countries. This year the popularity of the competition has been shown by a 50 per cent increase in entries compared with 2007. Entrants also represented a wider range of European countries than ever before.
All Bridgestone e-reporter finalists announced for this year attended the official GP2 Series launch event in Barcelona (on 24 April), appearing on stage to mark the beginning of the season. All drivers making up the GP2 grid for 2008 were at the event along with Formula One personalities Lewis Hamilton, Heikki Kovalainen, Mark Webber, Nelson Piquet and Lucas di Grassi.
The next Bridgestone e-reporter finalist to attend a race will be Guillaume Navarro (from Erquy, France), who will be at the Hungarian Grand Prix from 2-3 August. The overall winner of the 2008 Bridgestone e-reporter contest, due to be selected in September, will continue their work on Bridgestone-backed events and will be offered work experience as part of the competition prize.
For further information on the 2008 Bridgestone e-reporter competition, and to view race reports throughout the season from this year’s finalists, visit www.bridgestone.eu/e-reporter
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