Gianluca Petecof is the newest member of the Ferrari Driver Academy. The Sao Paulo-born driver contested his second season in the CIK-FIA European Championship in 2017.

Scuderia Ferrari has just announced the latest edition to its Driver Academy with 15-year-old Gianluca Petecof joining its ranks. The Brazilian driver partners fellow countryman Enzo Fittipaldi, grandson of Formula One world champion Emerson Fittipaldi, in the young driver development programme run by the Italian manufacturer to see the country’s two leading lights in the Ferrari fold.

Brazil is eager to uncover its next Formula 1 driver after Felipe Massa’s retirement which sees no Brazilian driver on the Formula One grid for the first time since 1969. The Sao Paulo-born driver contested his second season in the CIK-FIA European Championship in 2017 ending the year sixth in the final out of 34 drivers. The 15-year-old has recently tested an Italian Formula 4 car thanks to an invite from Ferrari as he aims to graduate into single-seater racing in 2018.

Gianluca Petecof joins Fittipaldi in the Ferrari junior set-up alongside current members Giuliano Alesi, Marcus Armstrong, Antonio Fuoco, Callum Ilott, Charles Leclerc, Robert Shwartzman and Guan Yu Zhou.