When Infiniti said its collaboration with Renault Sport Formula One Team is more than just a marketing ploy, it wasn’t kidding.
The Japanese manufacturer recently named Uxbridge, Mass., native Evan Sloan as the American winner of the 2017 Infiniti Engineering Academy, earning him a 12-month position in the U.K. with both Infiniti and Renault’s F1 outfit, according to a press release.
Infiniti Motorsport global director Tommaso Volpe said in November that Infiniti and Renault’s partnership is aimed at transferring technology from the track to the road, and vice versa. Sloan, as well as six other winners from outside the United States, reportedly will be directly involved in that process.
“With Formula One becoming more relevant to the automotive industry and with an increased focus of the placements this year being on-the-road car development, we are training a new generation of engineers who will play a key role in the crossover between the two industries,” Volpe said Aug. 4 in a statement.
The 21-year-old California Institute of Technology student will spend six months working with Renault F1’s Enstone, England, base beginning in October. The other six months of Sloan’s placement will be spent at Infiniti’s European Technical Center in Cranfield.
“It’s an incredible opportunity and I’m really looking forward to contributing to the Infiniti Motor Company and the Renault Formula One team,” Sloan said. “I can’t wait to be a part of it.”
Infiniti first launched its Engineering Academy in 2014, while Renault solely was involved in F1 as a power unit supplier, and has awarded positions to 15 individuals since the program began.
Thumbnail photo via Infiniti
