Congratulations to Carlos Sainz Junior for securing a Formula 1 drive next year with Scuderia Toro Rosso. The well-deserved drive comes following a championship-winning season in World Series by Renault, and a few days sliding the Tuthill Porsche Below Zero Ice Driving cars, which Junior’s dad and two-time World Rally Champion, Carlos Senior, decided would boost his son’s speed in tricky conditions.

“Carlos Jr. is fully focused on his racing career, so of course we are here mostly for fun,” said Carlos Sr. (below) at the Below Zero Ice Driving campus, “but the experience should still help him understand the feel of a car a bit when grip is reduced, such as when it is raining.”

Carlos Sainz Jr Porsche Ice Driving

Arriving straight from Rally Sweden, the Sainz family enjoyed Tuthill’s Below Zero Ice Driving on the frozen lakes around Åre, one of Scandinavia’s premier winter sports resorts. Carlos and his brother Antonio are popular faces in the Tuthill Porsche camp. Antonio runs rally Porsches in Spain which Carlos employs to great effect, and the cars feature many Tuthill Porsche rally parts.

While discussing the impending engine rebuild on my 1976 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 with Tuthill’s engine guru last Friday, another engine arrived from Spain with Antonio’s name on it. A great relationship exists between the rally families, and Tuthills are also gearing up for some WRC R-GT filming with Carlos Junior’s Red Bull sponsors this winter. Hopefully we’ll see some of that before Rallye Monte Carlo, where the 997 R-GT will be back to rallying action.

Following the warmer temperatures Sweden has experienced in the last few winters, Below Zero has a shortened season on the frozen lakes next year. The team has set just six weeks aside for ice driving in 2015, from the 14th of  January to the start of March.

Almost 150 car days have already sold out, so the team is looking forward to its most successful season yet. Those interested in joining an increasingly prestigious list of participants (including Mr Adrian Newey!) should email Belo Zero. Tell them we sent you, of course.