INFINITI has announced the 2017 edition of the INFINITI Engineering Academy during a presentation at the Autosport International Show, with Tommaso Volpe, director, INFINITI Global Motorsport and Cyril Abiteboul, managing director, Renault Sport Formula One™ Team.
It will be the fourth successive year of this unique recruitment program, which provides a money-can’t-buy, life changing career opportunity for seven world-class students. Students will learn from leading engineers both at INFINITI Motor Company and the Renault Sport Formula One™ Team, thanks to the technical partnership and strong collaboration between the two companies.
Also present at the event, and proof of the extraordinary success of the Academy, were William Priest (2014 INFINITI Academy Engineer and now full-time engineer at INFINITI), Daniel Sanham (2015 INFINITI Academy Engineer who has just signed a full-time contract with the Renault Sport Formula One Team) and Caitlin Bunt (2016 Academy Engineer and first female winner).
“Thanks to our close Technical Partnership with the Renault Sport Formula One Team, we can offer seven engineers from all over the world a truly technically rich, multi-discipline and multi-cultural engineering placement,” said Volpe. “We are really proud to see this project growing year after year and our past Academy Engineers being so successful in their careers. The level of interest we are receiving from students all over the world is absolutely fantastic, so of course we are delighted to launch the fourth edition of this truly unique program today.”
A key pillar of the INFINITI Engineering Academy is exploring crossover opportunities and the sharing of technology between INFINITI road car and Renault Sport Formula One race car projects. With this added depth of knowledge transfer and the enhanced scope for collaboration that the Renault-Nissan Alliance brings, the Academy will provide an unmatched range of experiences and opportunities to the seven 2017 winners.
“INFINITI brings two key elements to the Renault Sport Formula One Team: expertise in the Energy Recovery Systems (ERS) through Performance Hybrid technology and an international diversity of young, fresh thinking engineering talent, thanks to the Academy,” said Abiteboul. “These globally sourced students not only bring fresh perspectives to the team but also the latest learnings from road car hybrid technology, of which INFINITI is a pioneer.”
Having launched the careers of previous winners, the INFINITI Engineering Academy is the technical recruitment initiative in Formula One. For the 2017 edition, the seven global regions participating will be: Asia & Oceania, Canada, China, Europe (including Russia), Mexico, Middle East and the United States.
“With Formula One more relevant to the automotive industry than ever and our Academy engineers at the cutting edge of both automotive and motorsport engineering, we are perfectly placed to explore, understand and encourage the crossover of technology between our two companies and disciplines,” said Volpe.
For more information on the INFINITI Engineering Academy or to register to be a part of the class of 2017, visit academy.infiniti.com (applications will be open in February 2017).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfKXQouUI_g
