On track for life in the fast lane

A YOUNG man’s stars are aligning in the sport he chose when he was only a young boy.

Now aged 18, Dylan Simonis has left karting behind and is driving sprint cars.

The apprentice plumber, who lives in Ballan, began going to Winton Motor Raceway in 2016 with his dad, Rudi.

He joined the Junior Scholarship Program through the Raceway, in conjunction with the Pedder’s “No Bull” Sprint Series and hasn’t looked back.

In June this year Simonis attended the Aussie Drivers Search at Winton Raceway with Dad Rudi by his side, who captured the moment Dylan experienced his first drive in the Supercars, as well as a Toyota 86 and Aussie Ute.

Novices are judged by experienced race drivers, with the top handful progressing into elimination rounds.

Talented drivers are selected in various competitions and go onto receive further racing experience. They then progress at the finals and get further drives in racing categories.

Simonis’ exceptional driving has means he’s able to compete in the Aussie Drivers Search Competition and will race at the qualifying round at Wakefield, N.S.W., in December.

The Winton Scholarship Scheme Committee has been keeping a close eye on the young drivers coming through the ranks and Simonis’ rise in the Drivers Search was quite amazing to the driving fraternity, who are very excited to see how far this young man will reach in the sport.

Racing at Winton in December will be a real test for Simonis and the Aussie Drivers Search will be interested to see how he will emerge as a driver in the very competitive sport of car racing.

Dylan’s rise includes: 2017 – finishing 1st Place in the Juniors on 144 points for the Series, taking home 4 x 1st place and 1x 2nd place trophies at Winton; 2018 – driving in Sprints Round 1, and Round 2. Round 3 saw Dylan stepping up into the Modified Class, when he turned 18 in June.