Leroux Named Latest Aston Martin Academy Graduate

Aston Martin Racing has named last year’s ADAC GT4 Germany runner-up Romain Leroux as the latest graduate from its AMR Driver Academy youth talent program.

The 20-year-old Frenchman was selected from a group of 22 candidates who were assessed by an Aston Martin panel including factory drivers and management figures.

Leroux won the 2021 FFSA French GT title in an AGS Events Aston Martin Vantage GT4 before switching to the German national series last year with Doerr Motorsport.

He will now make his GT3 debut as part of Bullitt Racing’s entry in Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup which was announced on Monday.

The AMR Driver Academy, which has been running in its current guise since 2019, awards each graduate with financial support towards their racing programs and career guidance from the British manufacturer.

Leroux follows Tom Canning, Valentin Hasse-Clot and Roman De Angelis as a graduate of the initiative, while Ross Gunn won the inaugural edition known as the Evolution Academy in 2015, which saw the British driver earn an Aston Martin factory contract.

“I am honored to be recognized by Aston Martin for my success over the past two seasons,” said Leroux.

“My objective when I enrolled in the AMR Academy in 2021 was to establish a relationship with a manufacturer. Being named the winner of the 2022 AMR Academy is a significant achievement that reflects my hard work and improvement as a driver.

“Now I’m looking forward to building on this with the Vantage GT3 this season.”

24 Candidates Up for Next Academy Prize

In addition to naming Leroux as its 2022 Academy graduate, Aston Martin has revealed an intake of 24 candidates for the next edition of the program that will run this year.

Per the Academy rules, all drivers are aged between 17 and 26 and will race full-time in Aston Martin Vantage machinery this season.

The three GTE-based candidates are FIA World Endurance Championship competitor Casper Stevenson and European Le Mans Series drivers Ben Tuck and Maxime Robin.

From the GT3 discipline, Leroux’s GTWC Europe Endurance Cup co-drivers Jacob Riegel and Jeff Kingsley are involved, as well as Hugo Sasse and Mike David Ortmann who are driving for PROSport Racing in NLS, and Italian GT racer Giovanni Maschio.

Most of the candidates will drive the GT4-spec Vantage this year, with 10 of them competing in the GT4 European Series.

They are Hugo Bac, Florian Briche, Vincent Bouteiller, Jamie Day, Alex Denning, Emil Heyerdahl, Konstantin Lachenauer, Ruben del Sarte, Kajus Siksnelis and Victor Weyrich.

The list is completed by GT4 drivers Jessica Backman (ADAC GT4 Germany), Seb Hopkins, Josh Miller (British GT), David Kullman, Matteo Villagomez (FFSA French GT) and Rory van der Steur (IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge).

AMR will hold a three-day seminar for the 24 candidates with media training, simulator driving, fitness assessments, commercial training and an engineering workshop.

The judging panel includes 24 Hours of Le Mans class winners Darren Turner and Jonny Adam, factory driver and 2020 Academy graduate Hasse-Clot, AMR Head of Performance Gustavo Beteli and Head of AMR Partner Racing Huw Tasker.

The usual prizes of financial and career support will remain in place, while AMR has also hinted at the possibility for this year’s graduate to receive a test in an Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

“We are delighted for Romain, who has produced two outstanding seasons of racing in Vantage and has shown all the qualities and characteristics that made his predecessors stand out as AMR Driver Academy graduates,” said Tasker.

“We’re certain that he will continue to flourish as a driver within our ranks through 2023 and beyond.

“As a mechanism for assessing and identifying outstanding talent within our partner ranks, the AMR Driver Academy remains instructive and essential, and looking at the list of candidates lined up for 2023 we’re certain that tradition is set to continue.”