Eight drivers set to do battle in next round of ‘FIA Girls on Track – Rising Stars’ initiative at Paul Ricard

Eight young female motorsport talents are set to compete against one another in the next stage of the FIA Girls on Track – Rising Stars initiative, which could ultimately lead to an FIA Formula 4 season funded by the Ferrari Driver Academy next year.

The eight drivers aged 12 to 16 will complete a training camp at the Circuit Paul Ricard in the south of France running from November 2-4, at the end of which a maximum of four will be selected to move on to the final training and assessment programme, due to be held at the Ferrari Driver Academy headquarters in Maranello, Italy.

READ MORE: Ferrari and FIA launch female driver search with 'Girls on Track – Rising Stars' initiative

The racers will take to the Paul Ricard track in Formula 4 machinery, with their performances measured against a benchmark set by Arthur Leclerc – Ferrari Driver Academy member and brother of current Ferrari F1 racer Charles – while the training camp will also comprise technical workshops with engineers from Ferrari and Pirelli, as well as an educational session run by the FIA Safety and Medical teams.

The drivers – who qualified from a group of 12 who participated in the first, karting-based FIA Girls on Track – Rising Stars training camp in October – are:

• Julia Ayoub
• Antonella Bassani
• Jessica Edgar
• Esmee Kosterman
• Toni Naude
• Juju Noda
• Doriane Pin
• Maya Weug

“This is another really important phase of the FIA Girls on Track – Rising Stars training and development programme,” said former World Rally Championship star and President of the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission Michele Mouton.

“Some of the drivers already have experience of Formula 4 and for others it will be a new experience. We are hoping to see speed and, equally importantly, on-going progression as well as a determination to become a complete racing driver in every aspect necessary to succeed at the highest levels of the sport.”

READ MORE: 'Women should be part of Ferrari Driver Academy', says Binotto

The ultimate winner of the competition could stand to be awarded with a one-year contract with the Ferrari Driver Academy for a season of FIA Formula 4 next year, with Ferrari’s F1 Team Principal Mattia Binotto having said earlier this year that he was keen to diversify the currently all-male Ferrari Driver Academy in the near-future.

“We need to look at the future generation of talent for Ferrari,” Binotto told the media in January. “The Academy [is also looking] for women in the future. Women should be part of the Ferrari Academy. That's something on which we are working right now to make sure that it may happen very soon.”