Sophia Floersch joins theAlpine Academy

The announcements keep coming for Sophia Floersch. After his unexpected return to Formula 3 at PHM Racing by Charouz, the German was confirmed in theAlpine Academy. The 22-year-old pilot will benefit from a tailor-made sports training program.

A future in LMDh or in F1 ?

“His arrival within theAlpine Academy is part of the ambition toAlpine to develop new opportunities for young talents as well as to gain momentum for the World Championship ofEndurance et Le Mans 2024,” the press release states. Enough to guarantee him a place in the future LMDh at A arrow, scheduled for this same 2024 season? We had already considered the possibility of seeing Sophia in one of the French team's two LM P2s from 2023. The German is familiar with Philippe Sinault's Signatech structure, which takes care of operation and entry. cars Alpine en WEC after having evolved in the women's crew of the Richard Mille Racing Team in 2020 and 2021. Despite his return in car, Floersch therefore does not seem to have turned her back on Endurance, a discipline where she has stood out in recent years. The person also dreams of F1.

« Join theAlpine Academy is an honor and a major opportunity for my career. I have big ambitions and I am sure that putting into practice the knowledge and expertise ofAlpine, can only help me grow. I can't wait to start this new chapter and represent Alpine on the international scene ", declares the young woman. “ I will be the first female pilot to join the Rac(H)er programAlpine, which aims to ensure equal opportunities in the automobile industry and in the world of motor racing. The aim of the program is to train and develop female drivers and provide them with opportunities to reach the pinnacle of motorsport, whether in F1 or WEC. Participating in an FIA World Championship is in perfect alignment with my personal goals and ambitions. As you know, my aspiration has always been to race with the best of the best,” she adds.

 « Rac(H)er is key in our continued quest for performance and in building the future of our industry which requires structural changes so that opportunities exist for all talents, adds Laurent Red, CEO ofAlpine. Sophia and Abbi are great examples of these talents. I am thrilled to have Sophia join our program and it is an honor to promote Abbi to our Academy. They will, I am sure, bring a lot to Alpine ». Abbi Pulling will be the other spearhead of the Rac(H)er project, its program dedicated to inclusion in motorsport launched in July 2022. The 19-year-old Briton will compete for Rodin Carlin in the new women's single-seater championship, the F1 Academy.

Six young girls in karting

As part of the Rac(H)er program, six young girl pilots officially join the training program. karting byAlpine for young hopefuls: Aiva Anagnostiadis (15 years old, Australian pilot), Angélina Proenca (13 years old, French pilot), Chiara Battig (12 years old, Swiss pilot), Lisa Billard (13 years old, French pilot), Maria Chiara Nardelli (12 years old, Italian pilot) and Kaur Kera Sukhmani (10 years old, British pilot). Nicola Adams, double Olympic boxing champion in the -51 kg category in London in 2012 and in Rio in 2016, signed up with the French brand as a mentor. The Briton will coach the Academy drivers and host conferences at enstone on diversity.

To help these young women shine, Alpine has also announced the creation of the Human High-Performance Center (HHPC) in Enstone in order to place performance and drivers at the heart of its training program. The teams ofAlpine have designed a scientific protocol and a unique research program to measure the physical, physiological and cognitive characteristics of its drivers and teams. Thanks to mastery of very specific data, the HHPC will support A arrowed athletes in their progress regardless of their gender. These data will allow both Alpine to best understand the performance of its athletes as well as to contribute to the creation of tailor-made training programs designed by the director of theAlpine Academy, Julian Rouse and his team as well as supervised by the Team Principal ofAlpine, Otmar Szafnauer.

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