Scottish teenager Chloe Grant has landed a prestigious drive in the brand new F1 Academy with the multi-championship winning ART Grand Prix team for this year.
Grant, from Perth, who celebrates her 17th birthday next Monday (20 Mar), contests the inaugural season in the all-women series which gets underway in Austria next month (28-29 Apr).
The series founded by Formula One features seven events all staged on famous Grand Prix tracks, 21 races in total, and includes a season finale alongside F1’s United States Grand Prix in Texas in October. The series is aimed at developing and preparing young drivers to progress to higher levels of competition while Oban’s Susie Wolff is the managing director.
Chloe began karting in 2013 at The East of Scotland Kart Club at Crail in Fife and became the youngest driver to gain a Motorsport UK Junior Racing Driver License in Scotland in 2020 at Knockhill. The ambitious Scot won a scholarship to contest the Junior Saloon Car Championship in 2021 before competing in the GB4 Championship last year.
ART Grand Prix was established by current Ferrari F1 Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur in 1996 and has recorded 22 Driver titles and 20 Team titles, achieving over 200 race wins. They guided Lewis Hamilton and George Russell to title success along with Bathgate’s Paul Di Resta, while six other drivers currently competing in F1 have raced for the ultra-successful outfit based in Ile-de-France.
The Loughborough College student, completing a two-year Enhanced Diploma in Sporting Excellence (DiSE) course provided by Motorsport UK Academy, will test for the team for the first time next month in Spain and France, when the 15-car grid come together prior to the first race. Her season will be supported by Laser Tools, John Clark Motor Group, Kevin Cuthbert PT and Fierce Racing.
Chloe was recently selected as a Ecurie Ecosse “driver”, Scotland’s very own national racing team that has nurtured young Scottish talent like David Coulthard, Dario Franchitti and Allan McNish.
The 150mph cars are Tatuus F4-T421 chassis used in Formula 4 championships globally powered by turbocharged engines delivering 165bhp.
Chloe remarked: “I’m really excited to contest the forthcoming 2023 F1 Academy season to continue my single-seater racing career on a competitive grid and with the best support I could wish for with ART Grand Prix.
“They have tremendous history and I look forward to seeing what we can achieve together. It’s a privilege to join their long list of successful and talented drivers.
“F1 Academy presents a great opportunity for us female drivers to develop our careers in this new F1 supported championship with the season finale in front of the F1 grid at the US F1 GP.
“I recently visited ART’s ultra-impressive facility, completing sim work with ART, so I know I couldn’t be in better hands. I’ll be using this fantastic piece of technology that aids driver development to prepare in advance for each of the tracks we’ll be racing at this year.”
