Photo: KSP
Karting champion Enzo Valente has secured a 2019 French Formula 4 campaign after winning the inaugural Richard Mille Young Talent Academy shootout at Le Mans.
The two-day event, devised by Formula 1 driver manager Nicolas Todt with long-time sponsor Mille, was contested by 18 drivers, selected from those racing Birel ART karts around the world.
Valente, this year’s French KZ2 champion, went up against Italian Luigi Coluccio – who finished third in this year’s OK world championship – and American Nicky Hays in the final stage of the assessment.
The process included physical and mental evaluations conducted by the Formula Medicine concern of?Dr. Riccardo?Ceccarelli, before the drivers took the Le Mans Bugatti circuit in the Mygale F4 cars like those used in the French series.
Candidates also faced interviews with a panel made up of Birel ART president Ronni Sala, Todt’s right-hand man at All Road Management Morgan Caron, and Richard Mille representative Debbie Gourdon.
Birel ART described 17-year-old Valente as “fast and consistent” and added that his “evaluations?by Formula Medicine were very positive and his?overall attitude had made a very good impression” with Gourdon.