The scouting event organised by the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy and Motorsport Australia was won by a driver already known to the Maranello young driver programme, Costa Toparis, who thus goes forward to the 2024 World Scouting Camp that takes place at the Fiorano track from 14 to 17 October. Toparis, who has already been racing in Europe this year, was the outstanding candidate at the Sepang selection event in mid-September.
Four busy days. 13 drivers were under the spotlight at the Sepang track, nine from Australia, one from India, one from Japan, one from Azerbaijan and one from Macau. Over four days, the youngsters trained and tackled fitness tests as well as working in the classroom, trying their hand at marketing and media activities. On track they then simulated a race weekend at the wheel of a Formula 4 car, the first step on the single-seater ladder.
The selection process. For the final day, the original 13 were whittled down to six, based on their work up to that point. The remaining half dozen were Australians Toparis, Dante Vinci, Harrison Duske and Nicolas Stati, along with India’s Arjun Chheda and from Macau, Tiago Rodrigues. Toparis came out on top to move on to the World Scouting Camp in Fiorano next week. It will not be the first time for the Australian, who had already been selected in the event at the end of the 2021 season.
Good work. “Once again, we have seen the benefits of the collaboration between the SFDA and Motorsport Australia,” commented Jock Clear, the head of the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy. The Asia-Pacific selection event in Sepang was very well run, in the end highlighting the abilities of Costa Toparis, whom we look forward to seeing again in Fiorano. We are grateful to Motorsport Australia for their professionalism and enthusiastic support in the scouting process.”