The FFSA Academy (formerly known as La Filière, Volant Elf and Auto Sport Academy) was created in 1993 by

Elf Aquitaine Elf Aquitaine is a French brand of oils and other motor products (such as brake fluids) for automobiles and trucks. Elf is a former petroleum company which merged with TotalFina to form "TotalFinaElf". The new company changed its name to Total ...

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.

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 French Federation of Automobile Sport (, FFSA), founded in 1952, is one of the National Sports Associations affiliated to the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), with the aim of organising, regulating and developing motorsport in Fra ...

), 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 Sébastien Olivier Bourdais (; born 28 February 1979) is a French professional racing driver who currently races in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Cadillac Hertz Team Jota in the Hypercar category. He is one of the most successful dr ...

Franck Montagny Franck Montagny (born 5 January 1978) is a French former racing driver. He briefly raced for the Super Aguri Formula One team in 2006. Early career Born in Feurs, Loire, Montagny started racing karts there in 1988, winning the cadet class in th ...

Stéphane Sarrazin Stéphane Jean-Marc Sarrazin (born 2 November 1975) is a French racing and rally driver. He has won races across a number of single-seater, sportscar and rallying disciplines and competitions, was French Formula Renault champion in 1994, and Le ...

Narain Karthikeyan Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan (; born 14 January 1977) is an Indian former racing driver, who competed in Formula One between and . Early life and family background Karthikeyan was born on 14 January 1977 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu to Sheela ...

Pierre Gasly Pierre Jean-Jacques Gasly (; born 7 February 1996) is a French racing driver who competes in Formula One for Alpine. Gasly won the 2020 Italian Grand Prix with AlphaTauri. Born and raised in Normandy, Gasly began competitive kart racing age ...

Anthoine Hubert Anthoine Gérard Pol Hubert (; 22 September 1996 – 31 August 2019) was a French professional racing driver. He was the 2018 GP3 Series champion and a member of the Renault Sport Academy. He died following an accident during the feature rac ...

Jules Bianchi Jules Lucien André Bianchi (; 3 August 1989 – 17 July 2015) was a French racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Born and raised in Nice, Bianchi was the grandson of endurance racing driver Mauro Bianchi and the great-nephew ...

Theo Pourchaire Theo is a given name and a hypocorism. Greek origin Many names beginning with the root ''Theo-'' derive from the Ancient Greek word (), which means God, for example: *Feminine names: Thea, Theodora, Theodosia, Theophania, Theophano and The ...

, and

Ryo Fukuda Ryo may refer to: * Ryō, a gold currency unit in pre-Meiji Japan Shakkanhō system * Ryō (actress) (born 1973), Japanese model, actress, and singer * Ryō (given name), a unisex Japanese given name * Ryo, Georgia, an unincorporated community in G ...

. It was renamed Auto Sport Academy in 2007, and then FFSA Academy in 2016.

Current drivers

French F4 Championship

The Academy currently governs the

French F4 Championship French F4 Championship, formerly known as Formula Renault Campus France, Formula Campus, Formul'Academy Euro Series, F4 Eurocup 1.6 is a form of open wheel racing founded in 1993 by Louis Drouet. It is based in France and aims at karting gradua ...

and supports their drivers. They are:

Other

The drivers currently supported by the FFSA are:

References

External links

* {{Driver development programs Racing schools TotalEnergies French Formula 3 teams British Formula Three teams FIA Sportscar Championship entrants 24 Hours of Le Mans teams