Today students from the Ferrari Racing Academy (FDA) gathered in Maranello – six from the previous sets and two “freshmen”. In 2023, they are all waiting for a more than dense curriculum, in addition, seven will make their debut in various youth categories.
Six boys and two girls waited to meet not only with the head of the FDA, Marco Matassa, but also with the leadership of the Ferrari team, Frederic Vasseur and Laurent Mekis. Admittedly, Maya Voig was absent from classes, but only for good reason: the 18-year-old racer participates in the economic forum in Davos, which discusses issues of gender equality in motorsport, among other things.
As already mentioned, there are two newcomers: the Finn Tuukka Taponen and the Brazilian Aurelia Nobels, recognized last year as the best among the participants of the FIA Girls on Track – Rising Stars program (FIA Girls on Track – Rising Stars). Both will compete in Italian Formula 4 this year and Tuukka has already opened the season with two podiums in the VAE F4 winter series.
This week, all FDA students are waiting for training, physical and psychological training, as well as, of course, karting competitions, which are organized by the famous Italian company Tony Kart, an old partner of Ferrari.
During the year, each student will follow their own program, tailored to their individual characteristics, experience and race category in which they will compete.
There are four such categories: Oliver Berman and Arthur Leclerc will debut in Formula 2, Dino Beganovich – in F3, Rafael Camara and Maya Voig – in European Formula Regional. Finally, James Wharton, Taponen and Nobels will have to show what they can do in Formula 4.
Marco Matassa, head of the FDA: “The start of a new academic year is always a very important moment. It’s nice to meet our listeners again, and with even more pleasure we open the doors to newcomers. They all have a very busy season ahead of them as seven of the eight will be debuting in their category, so they will have a tough test ahead of them.
In 2022, our listeners won titles again, and now we’re ready to give them even more opportunities to help everyone achieve the results we know they are capable of. We look forward to working with our newcomers and all students in general, hoping that the year will be successful.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
