Rahul Mayer is the first Malaysian racing driver who has successfully completed his training at the McLaren Performance Academy year 2014 intake, with a qualification as a professional racing driver.
The newly designed MPA-14 programme delivered at McLaren’s UK headquarters in Woking, United Kingdom, introduces innovative processes and strategies to ensure racing drivers are in peak condition, both mentally and physically to cope with the demands of every race. The programme starts with an initial 3-day boot camp of intense training and assessments, followed by further support and workshop programmes throughout the year. It also offered expert advice from professionals within the McLaren Honda Formula 1 team. During the year, drivers also had individual fitness and evaluation sessions with a requirement to upload their progress in these areas to an online portal, which enabled ongoing development and improvement.
“We are trained on mental preparation and nutrition, and of course not forgetting the fitness regimes that a racing driver must adopt. I am really honoured to be the first Malaysian selected for this programme and it has taught me many things to improve my racing career. Specifically I would say that my aptitude and mental preparations before each race has improved,” said Rahul.
Rahul has completed two seasons in the BRDC Formula 4 championship where races were held at various racing circuits in UK. He will now venture into racing on European tracks which offer more challenges and a wider range of drivers from all over the world.
“I am pleased and very happy to announce that for next year they will see some reprieve as I am in the final discussions with a few international sponsors to support my 2015 racing plans. It is unfortunate that I was not able to get this support domestically. Malaysia has so few talented racing drivers, but the motorsport sponsors have not diversified their budgets to include more drivers,” he added.
In preparation for 2015, Rahul has completed 4 days of winter testing in Spain and will have more testing at the beginning of 2015. On his selected championship, Rahul said that he will decide based on the feedback received from the team on his potential and best series to drive his career goals.
