Indian driver Akhil Rabindra has won a place in the FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy after a three-day selection event in Sydney.

The evaluations at the FIA Institute Asia-Pacific Selection Event were conducted at Sydney Motorsport Park with the 17-year-old Rabindra winning a place on the full-funded Academy program.

Rabindra, who races in the Formula BMW series back in India, was selected based on a variety of criteria including his ability on the track, fitness and a grasp of safety and vehicle dynamics.

Lead driving instructor Cameron McConville, Gus Glover (FIA Institute) and Dr Tony Turner (Academy Instructor) headed up the judging panel.

“I am looking forward to taking on the other drivers from across the world. The Academy should be great and I hope to learn a lot,” Rabindra said.

Rabindra now has the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of previous participants in the Academy who have gone on to drive in Formula One and the World Rally Championship.

President of CAMS, Andrew Papadopoulos, which hosted the event on behalf of the FIA Institute, said that it was important to invest in future driving talent.

”Driver development is important in the Asia-Pacific region and we are happy to have helped raise the standard in this part of the world,” Papadopoulos said.

Rabindra, Petr Borodin (Kazakhstan) and Mark Gibson (New Zealand) were the three contenders from the 12 which started out going into the final day.

He now joins Venezuelan Diego Ferreira who won the Americas region selection event, South Africa’s Kelvin Van der Linde as the winner of the African regional event, Lithuania’s Ignas Gelzinis, the winner of the European regional event, and Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah Bamogaddam, winner of the Middle East and Mediterranean event, on the Academy program.

They in turn will join three additional wildcard entries to form the eight of the Academy.