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
France Paul Alberto
France Romain Andriolo
United States Garrett Berry
France Edouard Borgna
France Adrien Closmenil
Colombia Joao Paulo Diaz Balesteiro
United Kingdom Gabriel Doyle-Parfait
Romania Andrei Duna
Canada Kevin Foster
France Evan Giltaire
Germany Tom Kalender
Canada Jason Leung
Spain Pol López
Italy Leonardo Megna
France Enzo Peugeot
France Edgar Pierre
Andorra Frank Porte Ruiz
Germany Max Reis
France Enzo Richer
Romania Luca Savu
France Louis Schlesser
France Karel Shulz
Belgium Yani Stevenheydens
Ukraine Yaroslav Veselaho
Germany Finn Wiebelhaus
Japan Hiyu Yamakoshi

Other

Other drivers supported by the FFSA currently are:

Driver Years Current series Titles achieved as FFSA member
France Alessandro Giusti 2023– Formula Regional European Championship None
France Isack Hadjar 2019– FIA Formula 2 Championship None
France Victor Martins 2016– FIA Formula 2 Championship Formula Renault Eurocup
FIA Formula 3 Championship
France Théo Pourchaire 2018– FIA Formula 2 Championship ADAC Formula 4 Championship

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