FDA | Ferrari announces Arthur Leclerc and Dino Beganovic inside the Academy

Ferrari Driver Academy is pleased to announce two new talents who join the group of students of the Maranello company's driver growth and training program, now in its eleventh year of activity. These are Arthur Leclerc and Dino Beganovic, two young people who showed during 2019 that they have the qualities to be able to participate in the Scuderia's training school.

In Formula Regional. Arthur Leclerc, younger brother of an extraordinary talented former student like Charles, current owner of Scuderia Ferrari, will be involved in Formula Regional. The Monegasque driver, who was born on 14 October 2000, started with single-seaters in 2018, in Formula 4 France, achieving his first victory in Nogaro, in the second race of his career, and repeating it in Magny-Cours later in the season. 'year.

He had already come into contact with the FDA that season, when he was the protagonist of one of the evaluation camps that the Academy periodically organizes to look for potential grafts. Last season Arthur remained in the same category but rose in level in terms of the competitiveness of the series: he moved to the German ADAC Formel 4 championship where he stood out for his consistency of results.

For him a victory, in Hockenheim, but also seven other podium placings which allowed him to achieve a positive fifth place in the overall classification. A change of category is therefore expected for Leclerc, which will take place with the colors of the Prema Powerteam. In Formula Regional, Arthur will find his rival of many duels Gianluca Petecof as a teammate. The Brazilian, in the FDA since 2018, by winning the title of Italian vice-champion in Formula 4, has in turn demonstrated that he is ready for the higher series.

From karting to Formula 4. The second FDA freshman is the very young Swede Dino Beganovic. Landeryd's talent was born on 19 January 2004 and so far he has shown his class on karts, with two Swedish championship titles already under his belt and a second place in the WSK Euro Series achieved in 2019. Dino arrives at the FDA thanks also to the indications of Tony Kart which carries out scouting activities in the world of karting for the Maranello programme.

Thanks to the collaboration with the Prevalle manufacturer, two talents have already arrived at the FDA: Marcus Armstrong and Gianluca Petecof. Beganovic is making his debut in single-seaters and therefore the natural step forward for him is Formula 4. Also in his case, the team that will accompany him in the new adventure will be the Prema Powerteam.

Academic year. The two new faces will be in Maranello in the second half of January to start the course season and on that occasion, in addition to the FDA contact people, they will also meet their academy classmates.

The FDA talents in 2020 will therefore be nine: in addition to Enzo Fittipaldi, involved in FIA Formula 3 with the HWA Racelab team, Petecof, Leclerc and Beganovic, there are in fact the five drivers who will battle in FIA Formula 2, as already announced at the end of November: Giuliano Alesi, Callum Ilott and Mick Schumacher joined by FIA Formula 3 graduates Marcus Armstrong and Robert Shwartzman, reigning champion.

Laurent Mekies, Scuderia Ferrari Sports Director
“The winter has been quite intense for the Ferrari Driver Academy: we have in fact worked hard to develop the best possible program for our drivers in view of the 2020 season, with a significant increase in activities and training to be carried out at the headquarters general of Maranello. We have also sought to identify the best new talent from the youth motorsport scene and are delighted to announce that Arthur and Dino are joining FDA for what promises to be a very interesting season. We will have drivers present in all FIA single-seater categories and we will be committed to supporting each of them as best as possible both from the point of view of driving skills and from a human and individual point of view. Here in Maranello we are all looking forward to seeing how our guys will behave in the coming months."

Marco Matassa, FDA Technical Area Manager
“We are very pleased to welcome two new talents to the 2020 Ferrari Driver Academy line-up. In F3, Formula Regional and F4 all FDA drivers will be making their debut in their respective categories: the season promises to be very interesting and extremely competitive. For each of them, FDA aims to continue contributing to their process of both technical and human growth, a necessary step to achieve our common goals."