24 Hours of Le Mans racer and quadruple amputee, Frederic Sausset has launched; “Un Volant Pour Tous” – literally, ‘A Steering Wheel for All‘ – an academy that will select and train up similar amputee’s in order to compete at Le Mans. F4 British Championship driver Billy Monger is set to become one of the first members.
Monger was involved in a heavy accident at Donington Park earlier this year, in which the 18-year-old lost both his legs as his car smashed into the back of Patrik Pasma‘s stationary Carlin.
As for Sausset, he’s planning to commit to his new project, stating that he has no intention in returning to Le Mans anytime soon. The Frenchman will collect a team of 20-25 members, of which three will be selected and trained to race at the 24 Hour race in 2020.
“My priority is to make sure that a first driver line-up reaches Le Mans in 2020. Once this is done, I will consider returning to Le Mans as a driver in 2021 / 2022,” Sausset told DailySportscar.com.
“Of course we need to make sure that all these candidates are individually qualified to undertake such a program. We also need to make sure that their disabilities are complementary and compatible with our cars.”
15 candidates will be tested in two 3-day tests at the Le Mans Bugatti Circuit as early as November, before a jury announces the winning line-up. From there a car will be adapted by January 2018, before a two year testing program for the crew in order to get them ready for the race.
The academy will be endorsed by the FIA, SRO and the FFSA, France’s Motorsport governing body.
While Monger will look to be selected on par with the rest of the candidates, the former JHR Developments driver will compete alongside Sausset in the Ligier JS 53 CN at the coming V de V Festival in November at the Estoril round.
This will mark his first return to racing since his accident in April.
