Sims Presented with TW Steel Watch with McLaren Autosport BRDC Award Success

Amsterdam, The Netherlands December 11, 2008: Last Sunday’s prestigious 2008 Autosport Awards ceremony is celebrated in fitting style in this week’s edition of Autosport, available today – Thursday 11th December, with TW Steel having enjoyed its first participation in the event as ‘Official Watch Partner’.

Held in the stunning ‘Great Room’ at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, the Autosport Awards celebrated outstanding personal and team achievements with the guest list headlined by 2008 Formula One World Champion, Britain’s own Lewis Hamilton. Once again the most anticipated award on the evening was the announcement of the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year.

Throughout the night guests were treated to footage of the six finalists in action at their evaluation test at Snetterton last month, where they sampled a Mercedes C-Class DTM car, a Formula Three racer and finally an Aston Martin Vantage N24. Ultimately it was 20-year-old Alexander Sims who triumphed over his rivals, capping a stellar season having previously claimed runner-up honours in the Formula Renault UK Championship with a pair of victories and 12 podium finishes.

As winner of the 2008 McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award, Sims was presented with his own unique TW Steel watch along with a cheque for £50,000 and a McLaren F1 test drive, the British racer following in the footsteps of the previous 19 award winners including the likes of David Coulthard, Dario Franchitti and Jenson Button. Alexander now graduates to the fiercely competitive F3 Euro Series in 2009 with Mucke Motorsport.

“It’s a massive honour to win this award and you can’t help but be impressed with the benchmarks set by the previous recipients as they’ve progressed their careers,” stated Sims having had some more time to reflect on his triumph. “I’m now looking forward to both next year’s season in the F3 Euro Series and obviously the chance to test the McLaren F1 car in the future. I had a great time on Sunday and I love wearing my TW Steel watch, it’ll be an ever present reminder of what was a very special occasion in my life.”

Jordy Cobelens, Managing Director of TW Steel was equally pleased to see Sims proudly sport his new watch after the evening’s ceremonies had wrapped. “Alexander’s obviously a very worthy winner of the award considering his own on-track record and those of the drivers he edged out in the evaluation test. TW Steel was proud to be part of the night and we enjoyed some terrific exposure to further underline our commitment to motorsport as a brand platform!”