The 30 pre-selected at the FIA ​​Academy

There will be 30 of them taking part in the four days of "tests", at the end of which the FIA ​​will establish the list of 18 drivers who will be part of the Young Driver Excellence Academy 2012, this program set up by the International Federation of the? Automobile offering certain hopefuls additional training to prepare for their career in motorsport. 26 nationalities are represented.

“To be selected into the Academy, they will have to show certain physical and mental skills, both in terms of safety and discipline., underlines Alexander Wurz, who will serve as professor alongside Robert Reid, as was the case this year. With the data collected during these four days, we will choose the most promising talents.” “It’s great to see that it’s generating so much interest, and from drivers coming from further and further afield, continues Reid. We want to help develop talent around the world, not just for competitive success, but for them to also be ambassadors of safety in this sport in their respective countries in the years to come? .

In this list, there is a Frenchman, in the person of Olivier Lombard. Aged 20, Olivier Lombard shone this year in Endurance. Driving a Nissan-powered Zytek competing in LMP2, he won four of the five races in which he took part, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The list of 30 drivers invited to the 4-day course which will take place in Melk, Austria, from November 15 to 18:

Marius Aasen, 19, Norway
Mohamed Al Mutawaa, 18, United Arab Emirates
Klaus Bachler, 20 years old, Austria
Andrea Bate, 22, South Africa
Craig Breen, 21 years old, Ireland
Andrea Caldarelli, 21, Italy
Gabriel Chaves, 18 years old, Colombia
Jonas Gelzinis, 23 years old, Lithuania
Joseph Ghanem, 21 years old, Lebanon
Parth Ghorpade, 18 years old, India
Samin Gomez, 19 years old, Venezuela
Richard Gonda, 17 years old, Slovakia
Ashley Haigh-Smith, 19, South Africa
Yazan Hamadeh, 18 years old, Syria
Muhammad Nabil Jan Al Jeffri, 17 years old, Malaysia
Michael Klitgaard Christensen, 21, Denmark
Jack Le Brocq, 19 years old, Austria
Michael Lewis, 20 years old, USA
Olivier Lombard, 20 years old, France
Alexander Lynn, 18, United Kingdom
Diego Menchaca, 17 years old, Mexico
Jose Andres Montalto, 21, Costa Rica
Thierry Neuville, 23 years old, Belgium
Andrea Nucita, 22 years old, Italy
Ramon Pineiro, 19 years old, Spain
Brendan Reeves, 23, Australia
Pontus Tidemand, 20 years old, Sweden
Timo van der Marel, 22 years old, Holland
Sepp Wiegand, 20 years old, Germany
Lewis Williamson, 21, United Kingdom