Karting day for seven FDA students

The Ferrari Driver Academy took to the track for the first time this year at the South Garda Karting track, at Lonato (Italy.) It’s part of the pre-season preparation for the students who will be racing in four different categories. The FDA organised this session in conjunction with Tony Kart, which also works as a talent scout for the Maranello marque in the field of karting. Today, the drivers were all at the wheel of their Racer 401R kart.

Two versions. After seat and pedal fitting, the seven FDA youngsters were soon out on track to get in as many laps as possible. Giuliano Alesi, Arthur Leclerc, Enzo Fittipaldi and Marcus Armstrong, the latter being the first driver to join the Academy through the efforts of Tony Kart, drove a geared kart, while Callum Ilott, Gianluca Petecof and Dino Beganovic, these last two also Tony Kart finds, drove the single-geared version.

Programme. There are nine FDA students in total, they have at least a month of preparation to go until their first races of what looks like being a very busy 2020. The first to race will be the five competing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship – that’s Alesi, Armstrong and Ilott as well as Mick Schumacher and Robert Shwartzman, with Enzo Fittipaldi racing in the FIA Formula 3 series. They all race in Bahrain from 21 to 22 March, with all six of them attending a test session at the same Sakhir circuit from 1 to 3 March. A month later, Arthur Leclerc and Gianluca Petecof start their Formula Regional programme at Paul Ricard from 25-26 April. As for 16 year old Dino Beganovic, he makes his debut in the Italian Formula 4 championship on 16-17 May at Monza.