Co- drivers

[Grant_RSA]

Hi,

Just a general question about co-drivers.

Is there a large market for co-drivers in Europe? are they in good supply or do drivers struggle to find quality navs?

[tommeke_B]

It depends from country to country I think... In Belgium there are a lot of good codrivers, but some drivers (like Snijers, Duval sometimes, Debackere, Vanparijs etc.) have codrivers who take care of a (sometimes big) part of the funding. It doesn't mean those codrivers are not good, not at all, some are really good. But you'll understand that it takes away opportunities for talented codrivers who don't have any budget to invest (not even talking about people who try to make a living from it). Especially in smaller events it's common that a sponsor takes the co-seat. In The Netherlands, on the other hand, it's a completely different situation. In NL it's not easy to find a good co-driver there, and most "top national drivers" are quite rich. Many of the best Belgian codrivers have been codriving Dutch drivers already (thinking about De Jong-Weijs/Degandt, Van Eldik-Swaanen-Kuipers/Buysmans, Abbring/Vanneste, Van Merksteijn/Chevaillier, Kuipers-Abbring/Miclotte etc. etc.). In France there are plenty of good codrivers too. So that's how it is in The Netherlands, Belgium and France... The "demand for" is very different from country to country. Maybe there are people from other countries who can share their thought on how things look in their country?

[vino_93]

Well, there is a lot of british and italian codrivers who are going outside from their country to be pro, f.e. in Middle East.
In the last Jordan Rally, their was 4 brits (Scott Martin, Steve Lancaster, Stephen McAuley, Allan Harryman), 2 italians (Giovanni Bernachini and Nicola Arena), and two irishs (Killian Duffy and John Higgins). And of course, one of the most busy codriver of the world, Denis Giraudet :)

[Grant_RSA]

Interesting to see how each country differs.

In South Africa we tend to go through alot of ups and downs, but in general it is assumed that we have a lack of top class co-drivers.

Sadly we use a very different system and making a move to any foreign championships is very difficult as the experience of self written pace notes is lacking.

Thankfully of late drivers who try their hand at international competition are taking their SA co-drivers with instead of getting foreign guys that they do not know.

[br21]

In Poland there are more drivers than good codrivers. Similar situation in Baltic countries also I think.

[Majks21]

In slovenia there are a lot of good co-drivers :)

[electroliquid]

Reviving old thread.
Found very interesting article about co-drivers: https://www.autosport.com/performance/feature/7988/the-secrets-of-being-a-rally-codriver

Maybe some of you have co-driving experience and ready to share some tips/tricks/great stories or funny facts.

[Ucci]

In slovenia there are a lot of good co-drivers :)
Where are they hiding?? I'm a codriver, but just for one rallye/season (don't have any free time). And every season I recieve invitations from drivers because they struggle to get permanent co-drivers...

[dupanton]

I'm curious, are there a lot of (co)drivers here? I have a bit of experience, not much and no great results :p
Here you can find my profile: https://www.ewrc-results.com/coprofile/170644-anton-dupan/