Four graduate at West Race Day in Brno.

The four drivers who will have a chance to drive a West McLaren-Mercedes Formula One car graduated to round two of the West Race Day contest at Brno in the Czech Republic today (Friday).

Tamas Foeldi of Hungary, Ivan Kelement from Slovakia, Gregor Hocevar from Slovenia and Richard Kaba from the Czech Republic were the heroes of the first day's contest, made doubly difficult by low cloud and rain.

The announcement of the finalists came at the end of a packed day for the seven contestants, all novice drivers who don't possess competition licences but who have come through a tough selection process in their home countries.

The candidates began the day under instruction as to how to lap the demanding 5.4 kilometer Brno circuit. Then they rode as passengers in AMG Mercedes driven by DTM drivers Peter Dumbreck, Bernd Schneider, Bernd Maylander and West McLaren Mercedes' third driver Alexander Wurz, before taking the wheel themselves. Finally, as the rain fell, they went out to set two flying laps, the aim being to set times as close as possible to one another, while at the same time being competitive.

Hocevar, who set the fastest time overall in a very competitive 2m 59s, admitted that he "enjoyed it very much. We trained in the dry, and it was very interesting in the wet, more exciting than in training. The car was sliding on the limit and I had to find my own limit."

Kaba admitted to "two little spins" and reckoned his performance was not good, so was delighted to have gone through. Kelement thought that he had done "fine - maybe" while Foeldi said that he thought his time was "not so good but I tried to be safe and consistent."

Sadly, the only lady in the contest, Christine Ahlsdorff of Germany plus Robert Zdanowicz from Poland and Kirill Samoylov from Russia will take no further part in the contest even though they acquitted themselves very well.

Tomorrow, the qualified candidates will come under the scrutiny of West McLaren Mercedes Grand Prix driver David Coulthard who joins the judges. The candidates will drive lower formula single seater cars in the morning, when only the two with the most consistent times will go through. They will then drive 300 horsepower two seater sports prototype cars after which the winner will be announced. And late in the afternoon, he will drive a West McLaren-Mercedes MP4/16 Formula One car - as the winner of the West Race Day.