Infiniti Engineering Academy: Matthew Crossan wins the 2017 edition in Canada

The fourth annual edition of the Infiniti Engineering Academy kicked off its recruitment activities in Montreal last night, and the Canadian winner is a young engineer from London, Ontario.

A group of journalists was invited to the Luciani Infiniti dealership in Montreal in order to meet the ten finalists gathered from across Canada. They had to present themselves in front of the journalists and talk about both their experience and motivations leading them to participate in the Engineering Academy. To make us journalists feel useful—for once—Infiniti’s representatives handed us an evaluation sheet and asked us to rate each finalist based their level of knowledge, confidence and eloquence.

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At our arrival, these finalists were split in two groups, and one of several challenges faces in the last few days was to build, with a time limit, a little electric car from scratch, picking through a bin filled with various parts. The two cars had to go head-to-head in an improvised race down the dealership floor, not only in speed, but staying within the track limits.

Matthew Crossan’s coronation was unveiled by no other than Renault F1 driver Nico Hülkenberg. “When my name was announced, I couldn't believe it!” said Matthew. “I met nine other very capable and strong candidates in the Final, who were all deserving of the opportunity, so I feel very fortunate to be selected as the winner. I can't wait to get started and I will give it all to prove I am a winner worthy of this amazing opportunity.”

The other Canadian finalists were Antonio Badea, Jackson Diebel Andrei Dragos, Samantha Flavel, Anthony-Jonathan Hokayem, Mathew Marzanek, Jason Soares, Garrett Thompson and Shaymus Veinotte.

The next legs of the Infiniti Engineering Academy will take place every two weeks, during which winners of six other regions will be crowned, including United States, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, China, Asia-Pacific and Europe (including Russia). These seven winners will work at Infiniti for a year; half of their time will be dedicated to the Renault-Nissan group’s efforts in F1, and the other half to the Japanese luxury brand’s road cars.

Félix Lamy, last year’s Canadian winner of the Infiniti Engineering Academy, will end his one-year tenure at Infiniti in September, and will complete his university studies that he already started before joining the Academy. After that, he plans to pursue his career in the world of F1.