F1 tyro shoots for pole position
With just four days to go until the first race of the 2010 F1 season at the Bahrain Grand Prix, one racing star has been taking on the clays at the West London Shooting School as part of his pre-season training.
Nico Hülkenberg, the 22-year-old German driver who shot to fame in 2006 when he won the A1GP championship aged just 19, races for British team AT&T Williams.
Like many Formula One racing drivers, Hülkenberg expressed an interest in shooting and undertook an intensive session at the West London Shooting School with Alan Rose, one of the country’s most experienced and respected shooting instructors.
The session formed a part of the young racing driver’s varied pre-season training schedule, aiming to develop his hand-eye co-ordination.
Commenting on his clay shooting experience, Hülkenberg said: “This has been one of the most enjoyable aspects of all of my pre-season preparation and certainly far preferable to the work-outs I was put through in 40oC ambient temperatures and 90 per cent humidity in Malaysia!
“I found it to be a fascinating sport that requries intense concentration and mental discipline.
“By my own admition, I am a novice and need a lot of guidance to improve my abilities, but Alan was an excellent tutor, really first class.
“The West London Shooting School is also an amazing venue, an oasis of rural calm despite being a stone’s throw from central London. I will certainly be back again.”
The session was filmed by BBC Formula One, and will be broadcast in the coming weeks as part of their race-day coverage.
