FFSA Academy

The FFSA Academy (formerly known as La Filière, Volant Elf and Auto Sport Academy) was created in 1993 by Elf Aquitaine to promote French drivers at the highest level, in line with its marketing approach and its commitment to Renault in F1. It is located at: Technoparc des 24 Heures, Chemin aux Boeufs, 72100 Le Mans, France.

A Courage-Porsche Le Mans Prototype campaigned by La Filière in 1997, with Henri Pescarolo

History

A variety of driving schools and motorsport talent searches operated across France throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and were all eventually merged to create the Auto Sport Academy in 1993. It was taken over in April 2001 by the FFSA (Fédération Française du Sport Automobile), becoming one of its subsidiaries.

Its main objective is to train young drivers and promote the best to give them access to a professional career; 40 to 50 drivers are trained every year in its two main disciplines, competition karting (Formula Kart) and single-seater racing (Formula Campus Renault Elf).

Its unique feature is that its concept includes the only motorsport "Pole Espoirs" (promising young drivers' section) in the world.

In effect, until its creation, budding drivers thought that they had to systematically choose between studies and motorsport. The Academy puts the situation in another light: in view of the few successful candidates in motorsport, it offers potential drivers the option of testing their sporting talents while continuing their studies.

It also provides free training for would be mechanics, in partnership with the State Education system. 87% of trainee mechanics work in the world of competition on completion of their training.

Since 2005, the Academy offers a new training center dedicated to the profession of instructor, with official recognition by a "Brevet Professionnel" (certificate of vocational competency).

Former graduates include Sébastien Bourdais, Franck Montagny, Stéphane Sarrazin, Narain Karthikeyan, Pierre Gasly, Anthoine Hubert, Jules Bianchi, Theo Pourchaire, and Ryo Fukuda.

It was renamed Auto Sport Academy in 2007, and then FFSA Academy in 2016.^[1]

Current drivers

French F4 Championship

The Academy currently governs the French F4 Championship and supports their drivers.^[2] They are:

Driver
Augustin Bernier
Édouard Borgna
Enzo Caldaras
Jules Caranta
Rayan Caretti
Arjun Chheda
Arthur Dorison
Gabriel Doyle-Parfait
Dylan Estre
Taito Kato
Chester Kieffer
Tom Le Brech
Jason Leung
Roméo Leurs
Montego Maassen
Leonardo Megna
Alexandre Munoz
Alex O'Grady
Mathilda Paatz
Frank Porte Ruiz
Paul Roques
Jules Roussel
Louis Schlesser
Karel Schulz
Yani Stevenheydens
Pacôme Weisenburger

Other

Other drivers supported by the FFSA currently are:

Driver	Years	Current series	Titles achieved as FFSA member
Evan Giltaire	2024–	Formula Regional European Championship	None
Alessandro Giusti	2023–	Formula Regional European Championship	None
Isack Hadjar	2019–	FIA Formula 2 Championship	None
Victor Martins	2016–	FIA Formula 2 Championship	Formula Renault Eurocup FIA Formula 3 Championship
Théophile Naël	2024–	Formula Regional Middle East Championship Formula Regional European Championship	None
Enzo Peugeot	2024–	Formula Regional Middle East Championship Formula Regional European Championship	None

References

^ "Historique – FFSA Academy". FFSA Academy (in French). Retrieved 30 April 2021.
^ "New - French F4 Championship". Auto Sport Academy. 14 October 2010. Archived from the original on 19 December 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2011.

External links

Official website

[1] "Historique – FFSA Academy". FFSA Academy (in French). Retrieved 30 April 2021.

[French_F4_Championship-2] "New - French F4 Championship". Auto Sport Academy. 14 October 2010. Archived from the original on 19 December 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2011.

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