The finalists for the third edition of the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission’s Ferrari Driver Academy-affiliated Girls on Track Rising Stars programme have been selected.
There are four finalists in the ‘Senior’ group, consisting of drivers born between 2006 and March 31, 2008, and they are competing to win a paid-for 2023 Italian Formula 4 seat with Iron Lynx and become a Formula 1 junior driver with Ferrari.
The ‘Junior’ group for younger drivers also has four finalists, and they are contending for a campaign in an international karting championship and with financial support from the FDA.
Recently the two groups have been undrgoing training camps at Paul Ricard with the Winfield Racing School, with the senior group focusing on performance in F4 tests while the juniors have done more running in karts.
Three of the four senior finalists are already experienced in cars, as the list consists of Scottish 16-year-old Chloe Grant who currently races in GB4, 15-year-old fellow F4 rookie Aurelia Nobels, Australia’s 14-year-old time attack regular Alice Buckley and then junior karter Chloe Chong who is part-Canadian, Chinese and British.
The junior finalists are all currently racing in junior karting, and are France’s Lisa Billard, Italo-Romanian Zoe Florescu Potolea, German talent Mathilda Paatz and Japanese 11-year-old Sara Mastui who was the youngest driver to make the Rising Stars longlist this year.
“This selection was carried out in the best possible way,” said FIA WiM Commission president Deborah Mayer. “It has been a great pleasure to meet these young women and to witness their passion, their talent and progress throughout the selection process.”
To choose the winner of each group, the FDA will host a further training camp and shootout in November at its Maranello headquarters.