Lola Lovinfosse secures Campos seat in F1 Academy

Young French racer Lola Lovinfosse has secured the second Campos Racing seat for the inaugural F1 Academy championship.

Photo credits: Shameem Fahath

We already discovered the first six drivers that will be on the grid of the brand-new F1 Academy championship - as well as the calendar and the weekend format. With a little over one month now before the first collective test, new drivers are being announced, as we get a better outline of the starting grid.

Most teams have already confirmed at least one of their drivers: Léna Bühler was first announced at ART Grand Prix, followed by Carrie Schreiner. Bianca Bustamante landed the first seat at Prema, while two drivers are already officially announced at Rodin Carlin: W Series podium finisher Abbi Pulling and GB4 podium finisher Jessica Edgar. Today, Spanish team Campos Racing adds its second driver to the stable: Lola Lovinfosse will join Nerea Marti at the Valencia-based squad. “I’m very proud to be joining Campos Racing in the new F1 Academy", commented Lovinfosse, 17. "I’m so thankful and honored to take part of this category with such a professional and experimented team." "I want to thank Campos Racing for this amazing opportunity and for believing in me, I will do my best to put the colors of Campos Racing on top." The young Frenchwoman, born in Rouen in 2005, made her karting debut in 2018 and was soon considered one of the most exciting female talents in international karting, having raced in the European and World Karting championships, as well as WSK competitions in OKJ and OK classes before stepping up to single seaters. Lovinfosse, meanwhile, was part of the first FIA Girls On Track - Rising Stars selections, shortlisted in 2020. She would join Drivex School for her first season in formula cars, in the very competitive Spanish F4. At her second race event in the series, Lovinfosse secured her first top-20 result and had her best finish of the season with a P13 in Portimao, close to her first overall point-scoring result. Lola has also claimed 13 wins in the Spanish F4 Female Trophy and was 10th among the rookies' class in Algarve. A second campaign in F4 Spain was unfortunately cut short for funding issues, but Lovinfosse returned behind the wheel of a race car towards the end of 2022, when she joined the Indian Racing League. In the Wolf prototype, Lovinfosse showed great speed and claimed a podium in Chennai. With the creation of the new F1 Academy championship, she will have another opportunity to return to Formula 4 competitions, with experienced team Campos - the outfit that won the latest Spanish F4 championship at the second generation Tatuus debut. “We are pleased to have Lola with us for the very first season of F1 Academy", commented Adrián Campos, Team Principal of Campos Racing. "Lola has already proved to be a strong Formula 4 contender and no doubt she is ready to take a key role in this new category. She is an excellent driver and we can set ambitious goals together.” "I’m sure we will achieve great things together. We are more ready than ever for this season" - concluded the French driver, one of the youngest on the grid so far. The format of the new F1 Academy will grant increased track-time to the drivers, with a 7-event calendar featuring triple headers, as well as at least 15 official test days. The cars used for the inaugural season will be the Tatuus new generation F4, with Autotecnica engines and Pirelli tyres. The season is set to get underway at Red Bull Ring, Austria, on 28-29 April, after a 2-day pre-season test at Barcelona in mid-April.

Photo credits: Campos Racing