Ferdinand Habsburg, great-grandson of the final Austro-Hungarian emperor and one of the vital aristocratic names in motor racing, is looking for ‘rebels’ to assist fund drivers with out rich backers.

The Austrian — full title Ferdinand Zvonimir Maria Balthus Keith Michael Otto Antal Bahnam Leonhard von Habsburg-Lothringen — is the son of Karl von Habsburg and heiress Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza. The 26-year-old endurance racer, winner of the second tier LMP2 class eventually 12 months’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, says his newly-launched ‘Rebel Team’ is usually a “democratising influence” on international motorsport.

“I’m a lucky guy. I’m a professional racing driver who hasn’t had to struggle like crazy to get where I wanted to get to in my career in the way that many drivers do,” he mentioned in a press release on Thursday. “Young drivers almost always have to pay big money for their race drives, and very few of them are lucky enough to have family or backers with pockets deep enough.

“As a outcome, many critically gifted younger drivers don’t have any possibility apart from to surrender.” Habsburg said Rebel Team, which debuted at this month’s Le Mans 24 Hours, would help fund young drivers by a blockchain-based membership limited to 10,000 and costing $250 for the remainder of this season and 2024.

A fully-funded F3 drive would require around 5,000 memberships while a world endurance car would require some 7,500. For that fans would get “unparalleled entry and actual affect”, including competing against pro drivers in virtual races.

Members will also get to vote on what series to race in as well as car liveries and driver signings. “Within a few years we intend to be racing in a number of sequence, all of them run alongside the identical fan-focused democratic strains,” said Rebel Team managing director Merv Leslie.

“We wish to take a younger up-and-coming driver all over the feeder sequence to F1 and our Rebel Team members will probably be absolutely engaged in that journey.”

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