Having finished only eighth in the teams’ standings last year, ART Grand Prix are aiming for a return to the top this year in Formula Regional Europe. Feeder Series was at Paul Ricard for pre-season testing, observing the new wave of optimism around the French squad.
By Perceval Wolff
From hero to zero.
This could have been the title of ART’s season story last year. Following multiple successes in the second and third tier, ART joined the level below in 2020 and immediately took both the 2020 Formula Renault Eurocup teams’ title and the drivers’ title with Victor Martins. They then secured second in the standings in 2021, led by runaway drivers’ champion Grégoire Saucy, before finishing third in 2022, led by drivers’ championship runner-up Gabriele Minì.
After this run of form, no one could have predicted that the French team would finish only eighth in the teams’ standings, with multiple rounds without any points.
This could have meant the beginning of a negative spiral, as bad results can make the signing of competitive drivers for the upcoming season more difficult. However, ART decided to invest in two highly rated yet underfunded drivers in FRECA race winner Alessandro Giusti and reigning French F4 champion Evan Giltaire.
“We’re very happy to have these two drivers with us,” team principal Mathieu Zangarelli told Feeder Series. “Both drivers have the same background. They went through the FFSA French F4 championship. They are both part of the FFSA French Circuit Team.”
Zangarelli, the 1999 French Formula Renault runner-up, was also fairly confident about the good cooperation between two drivers of the same age who are nearly at the same point of their career. Giusti is two months older than GIltaire.
“They get along quite well, and they have very constructive feedback. That really helps us to push in the right direction. Of course, in testing, there is no reason to have any tension. We all want to bring back the team to the top,” he said.
“We are in a phase of restructuration after last year. We are starting out on new foundations. Here in testing, it’s the occasion to test things that we haven’t dared to test before.”
Giusti suggested that the biggest problems for ART last year concerned the engines, telling Feeder Series that “last year at Paul Ricard, [Laurens] Van Hoepen was fastest overall in sector three, the sector with nearly zero straights.”
Giusti: A natural team leader?
Because of his experience, Giusti was quickly tipped as the natural team leader for ART. After finishing sixth with three race wins for G4 Racing, the 17-year-old Frenchman has high hopes for this year.
“We have to aim for the title. It’s the only objective to have. But we will see how the season turns out,” he said. “It’s my second year, and I know I have more experience, but I don’t feel any pressure around the team leader role because I already had this role at G4 Racing for a big part of the season last year.”
The latest addition to the Williams Driver Academy will not race with Williams’ blue livery but with ART’s new black-and-red colour scheme.
“I won’t have any Williams livery this year because we are not on F1 meetings, but Williams will be bringing me much more this year, with a simulator, a physiotherapist, medical and mental tests,” he explained. “This will clearly help me.”
Giltaire: A rookie with lofty ambitions
However, Giusti may have very strong opposition, not only from the other teams but from within the ART garage with rookie teammateGiltaire, who raced as a guest with the team in the last two FRECA rounds in 2023.
“It’s really good Evan joined the team. It’s an excellent benchmark to compare, to improve,” Giusti said to Feeder Series at the start of the tests at Paul Ricard.
There, Giltaire captured the attention of many with some positive test performances. He was often quicker than his teammate, notably in all three sectors of the track at Paul Ricard. How has this sharpened Giltaire’s ambitions?
“My objective is to win. I’m giving myself the means to win this championship, but of course I know it will be very hard.”
Giltaire will also know many of his rivals this year as he has already finished in front of the likes of Ugo Ugochukwu, Tuukka Taponen, Brando Badoer and James Wharton in the FIA Karting European Championship.
“They are rivals that I’ve known for ages, since karting. I know how competitive this championship is, especially this year.”
ART will also be running two other drivers in Sauber junior Léna Bühler, who was the F1 Academy runner-up with the team last year, and Ukrainian drift champion Yaroslav Veselaho. However, both drivers have been very quiet in pre-season testing and will have fewer expectations around them.
ART Grand Prix will be starting their FRECA season at Hockenheim next weekend, on 11 and 12 May.
Header photo credit: Eric Alonso / Dutch Photo Agency
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