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The Hoosier Young Gun of the Round will be given at each season outing before the top three young drivers in the points will be further recognised at the end of the series.
“We are passionate about fostering new talent in the National Trans Am Series,” said Trans Am category manager Graham Sattler.
“Introducing the Young Gun Award further rewards the young drivers coming through, providing them with even more incentive. We have a fantastic crop of returning young drivers and look to have a fantastic crop of new young rookie drivers joining us ready to show what they can do. The future is bright in Trans Am.”
The category sees the battle between youth and experience as one of the biggest focal points across the first three seasons. Nathan Herne took out the 2021 and 2022 overall honours at just 20 years of age, before the experience James Moffat won in 2023 against young teammate Lochie Dalton.
Last year Dalton, Tom Hayman and Cody Gillis led the way for the young drivers. Hayman won four races, Dalton was next best with three and Gillis had five podium finishes. They finished second, fourth and seventh in the final points standings respectively.
“Trans Am is a great category for young drivers to come into, alongside all the big names as well,” said Hayman.
“The cars are great for learning your race craft, they move around a lot and have the big V8 motor in them which makes it big step up from some of the other feeder categories. The results so far have really shown how the cars are equal and that there is an opportunity for anyone to prove themselves.
“The new award for young drivers is a great step in promoting the series and introducing more young drivers moving forward. It’s a good incentive, to know that there’s that opportunity to be rewarded and show themselves against the more experienced drivers on the big stage.”
Gillis believes that coming straight out of karts to Trans Am has been a great stepping stone. “It teaches you how to drive a race car, and it wasn’t too daunting. It was easier to hop into one of these cars than some other categories.
“The Young Guns award should hopefully entice more young drivers to pursue Trans Am, I think the category is very underrated in that regard. People don’t realise you can hop in and figure it out quite quickly.
“Racing against the experienced guys like (James) Moffat, you’re always learning and having that experience against them speeds up your learning process quite quickly.
More information on a revised class structure is set to be announced shortly.
