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GP2 News
Aspiring journalist Lorenzo Quolantoni reports on the GP2 Series in Monaco
28/05/2008
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 Lorenzo Quolantoni, from Geneva in Switzerland, attended the Monaco Grand Prix (23-24 May) 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. Lorenzo was the second e-reporter to submit race reports, working over the race weekend in Monte Carlo.
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 Monaco Grand Prix weekend Lorenzo interviewed star drivers in the GP2 paddock, including Saturday’s feature race winner Bruno Senna, and Pastor Maldonado who qualified on pole.
Commenting on his invaluable experience, Lorenzo said, “This weekend gave me a great opportunity to experience what it is like to be a motorsport journalist. Walking through the paddock, interviewing the drivers and being in Monaco was fantastic. There was always something happening, always someone to talk with. Managing my time was interesting, the need to schedule my days and organise my work was crucial in order to achieve all my objectives and get my reports in on time.
“Although it was a short experience, I have learnt a lot about journalism and had the opportunity to meet professional journalists who were kind enough to share with me the highlights and disadvantages of their job. All in all, thanks to e-reporter, I am able to understand what my future career in journalism will be like. The contest took place under very realistic conditions as I was asked to write a few reports each day. The unique thrill of seeing all my work published in such a short time gave me a tremendous amount of personal achievement. Now I definitely know I want to be a motorsport journalist!”
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 Olivier Cougard (from Lille, France), who will be at the French Grand Prix from 21-22 June. 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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