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30-558: A variety of driving schools and motorsport talent searches operated across France throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and were all eventually merged to create the Auto Sport Academy in 1993. It was taken over in April 2001 by the FFSA ( Fédération Française du Sport Automobile ), becoming one of its subsidiaries. Its main objective is to train young drivers and promote the best to give them access to

60-656: A drive in F1, and had been linked with the Renault F1 team for the 2010 season, but Renault signed Vitaly Petrov . Montagny competed in the final Champ Car World Series race, held at the Long Beach circuit on April 20, 2008. He finished second in his first appearance in a race in the United States, five seconds behind Australian Will Power . In June, he drove the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP at

90-628: A mechanical failure. It was third time lucky for him at the Monaco Grand Prix , when he finished the 78-lap race in 16th place, three laps behind the leader. During the break between the British Grand Prix and the Canadian Grand Prix , Montagny was able to participate in the Le Mans 24 Hours , finishing second for Pescarolo Sport behind only the dominating Audi factory R10s . He was

120-460: A professional career; 40 to 50 drivers are trained every year in its two main disciplines, competition karting (Formula Kart) and single-seater racing (Formula Campus Renault Elf). Its unique feature is that its concept includes the only motorsport "Pole Espoirs" (promising young drivers' section) in the world. In effect, until its creation, budding drivers thought that they had to systematically choose between studies and motorsport. The Academy puts

150-543: A sixth-place finish for Oreca at the Le Mans 24 hours . Montagny returned to the World Series by Nissan in 2003 with Gabord Competicion, and secured his second championship title with nine victories, ahead of Heikki Kovalainen . This performance earned him a test with the Renault Formula One team , in which he impressed sufficiently to earn a contract as a test driver in 2003, moving up to become third driver during

180-591: Is an indoor sports arena and concert hall in the neighbourhood of Bercy , on the Boulevard de Bercy, in the 12th arrondissement of Paris , France. The closest Métro station is Bercy , which also serves the Finance Ministry . Designed by the architectural firm Andrault-Parat, Jean Prouvé and Aydin Guvan , the pyramidal arena's sloping walls are covered with a lawn. It can seat 7,000 to 20,300 people, depending on

210-601: The 1991 and 1996 FIBA EuroLeague Final Fours , and the FIBA EuroBasket championship in 1999 , among others. It also hosted the 2009–10 EuroLeague Final Four . It was co-host of the 2017 IIHF World Championship and the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2021 . The arena hosted the 2017 European League of Legends Championship Series Summer Finals and the 2019 League of Legends World Championship Finals. On January 24, 2020, it hosted an NBA regular season game between

240-532: The 2004 & 2005 seasons. He did an impressive one-off for Jordan as third driver on the Friday of the 2005 European Grand Prix , clocking a quicker time than Narain Karthikeyan and Tiago Monteiro , the official Jordan drivers. In mid-2004, as part of his Renault F1 testing duties, Montagny became the chief test and development driver for the new GP2 Series , which would be powered by Renault engines. Montagny

270-627: The 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans and finished in the third place with Ricardo Zonta and Christian Klien . Montagny made his debut in the American Le Mans Series with Andretti Green Racing at the 2008 Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park in July 2008, driving an Acura ARX-01 B. He made his IndyCar Series debut in 2009 at the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma at Infineon Raceway with Andretti Green Racing . Montagny has signed up to drive

300-683: The French F4 Championship and supports their drivers. They are: Other drivers supported by the FFSA currently are: Franck Montagny Franck Montagny (born 5 January 1978) is a French former racing driver. He briefly raced for the Super Aguri Formula One team in 2006 . Born in Feurs , Loire , Montagny started racing karts there in 1988, winning the cadet class in the French Karting Championship in 1992, and

330-749: The Girondins de Bordeaux entry in the Superleague Formula for the 2010 season . In May 2014, Andretti Autosport announced that Montagny would race for them in the inaugural season of the FIA Formula E Championship in 2014–15. He raced for the team in Beijing and Putrajaya , scoring a podium in Beijing and scoring 18 points overall in the two races. However, he was replaced in Punta del Este by Jean-Éric Vergne . It

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360-524: The Grand Slam Paris judo tournament. It is also used for many other sports events, such as table tennis , handball , basketball , boxing , gymnastics , track cycling and show jumping . Since 1985, the Accor Arena hosts the annual Festival des Arts Martiaux . The event was founded by Karaté Bushido and showcases martial arts masters from around the world. From 1993 to 2011, the arena hosted

390-561: The Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs on January 23 and 25, with the games coming after the Spurs signed French star Victor Wembanyama . The arena hosted France's first UFC event on 3 September 2022, for UFC Fight Night: Gane vs. Tuivasa . UFC returned to the arena on 2 September 2023 for UFC Fight Night: Gane vs. Spivak . The promotion returned to the arena in 2024 for UFC Fight Night: Moicano vs. Saint Denis . In May 2023,

420-515: The IndyCar Series after one race. ‡ Not Eligible for points ( key ) ( key ) ( key ) ( key ) ( key ) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy Accor Arena (originally known as the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy ), also known as Bercy Arena ,

450-840: The La Filière Martini team, debuting with another fourth place championship finish. Montagny had a breakthrough year in Formula Three in 1998, including a pole position at the Spa-Francorchamps race ahead of much more experienced drivers including Mark Webber , Luciano Burti , Enrique Bernoldi and Peter Dumbreck . He repeated the feat in the Zandvoort Masters in the Netherlands later that year, beating then German Formula Three champion Nick Heidfeld . He consistently outpaced long-time teammate Sébastien Bourdais and ended

480-557: The Masters of Paris-Bercy , a all-star kart racing competition frequently contested by Formula One drivers and world champions in other auto racing disciplines. The inaugural 1993 edition marked the last duel on the track between Formula One World Drivers' Champions Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna . POPB (Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy) hosted the European gymnastics championship in 2000,

510-630: The Milwaukee Bucks and Charlotte Hornets , who would be represented by Frenchman Nicolas Batum . The Chicago Bulls beat the Detroit Pistons 126–108 at the arena on January 19, 2023, during the 2022–23 NBA season . The 2023–24 NBA season saw the Cleveland Cavaliers defeat the Brooklyn Nets 111–102 at the arena on January 11, 2024. The 2024–25 NBA season will see two games between

540-621: The Turkish Grand Prix . Montagny tested for Toyota F1 in September 2006 at Silverstone . A month later, Toyota confirmed that he would join the team as test driver for the 2007 season , as Olivier Panis and Ricardo Zonta were leaving the team. After spending 2007 as a test driver, Montagny left the team after a test at the Circuit de Catalunya in November. He was still interested in gaining

570-482: The 2006 GP2 Series season, when Montagny was called in to test for the newly created FMS International team, to aid them and their drivers in understanding the complexities of the car, at Circuit Ricardo Tormo , Valencia, Spain , where Montagny had put in hundreds of testing laps in his time with Renault F1. For 2006, Super Aguri took Montagny on as third driver; however, he was promoted to full race driver in May after it

600-535: The Academy offers a new training center dedicated to the profession of instructor, with official recognition by a "Brevet Professionnel" (certificate of vocational competency). Former graduates include Sébastien Bourdais , Franck Montagny , Stéphane Sarrazin , Narain Karthikeyan , Pierre Gasly , Anthoine Hubert , Jules Bianchi , Theo Pourchaire , and Ryo Fukuda . It was renamed Auto Sport Academy in 2007, and then FFSA Academy in 2016. The Academy currently governs

630-580: The Elf Masters Karting at Paris-Bercy . A repeat of his unsuccessful year in Formula 3000 prompted a move to World Series by Nissan in 2001, signing for the Epsilon by Graff team. He won 8 races out of a possible 16, and beat Tomas Scheckter to the championship. He changed teams for 2002 to Racing Engineering, but was beaten into second place in the championship by Ricardo Zonta . He supplemented this with

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660-611: The National 1 class the following year. He made his debut in cars in 1994, aged 16, promptly winning the French Renault Campus championship. The next two years were spent in Formula Renault , with finishes in fourth (the highest-finishing rookie that year) and sixth (despite missing half the season with multiple fractures obtained in an accident at Le Mans) respectively, before transferring up to French Formula Three in 1997 with

690-512: The arena hosted the BLAST.tv Major for the video game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive , in what would be the final major played on Global Offensive before Counter-Strike 2 was released in September 2023. The arena was a venue for the 2024 Summer Olympics , hosting the artistic and trampoline gymnastics events, followed by the basketball bronze and gold medal games for both genders. Due to Olympic rules regarding naming rights of venues,

720-562: The event. The arena was renamed Bercy Arena after renovations on 1 January 2015, AccorHotels Arena in October 2015, and its current name in June 2020. Since 1985, the arena has hosted the annual Festival des Arts Martiaux . The Accor Arena was until 2024 the main venue for the Paris Masters ATP Tour tennis tournament, and hosts the annual LNB All-Star Game basketball event and

750-504: The first active Formula One driver to also participate at Le Mans in the same year since Mark Blundell in 1995. On 12 July, Super Aguri announced that Sakon Yamamoto would replace him from the German Grand Prix onwards. Montagny did not appear in his role as third driver for the next two weekends as only two Super Aguri SA06s were available but a third chassis was prepared during the summer break enabling him to reprise this role at

780-502: The season with 10 wins from 22 races, including 12 pole positions, finishing the championship as runner-up behind David Saelens. Montagny moved up to Formula 3000 in 1999, driving for the DAMS team which was falling from its peak by then. One podium finish at the Hungaroring was his main success; he totalled only 6 points and tenth place that season. He however ended the year with success in

810-460: The situation in another light: in view of the few successful candidates in motorsport, it offers potential drivers the option of testing their sporting talents while continuing their studies. It also provides free training for would be mechanics, in partnership with the State Education system. 87% of trainee mechanics work in the world of competition on completion of their training. Since 2005,

840-463: Was announced that Yuji Ide was to drop back into testing; Ide was demoted at the behest of the governing body who considered him insufficiently experienced for Formula One. Montagny hence competed in his first Grand Prix, the 2006 European Grand Prix on 7 May, qualifying last and retiring with a hydraulics problem. He did not finish his second race 2006 Spanish Grand Prix : after a great start, enabling him to gain 3 positions, he retired on lap 10 with

870-492: Was not immediately known why, but Montagny later admitted that he tested positive for benzoylecgonine , a cocaine derivative after the Putrajaya ePrix. In March 2015, Montagny was given a two-year ban from racing, and was also disqualified from the Putrajaya race, in which he initially placed fifteenth. Montagny now works as a pit lane summariser and expert for French television. ** Team standings † Championship merged into

900-455: Was the first driver to take the wheel of the car, and along with former F1 driver and ex-Renault F1 tester and Friday driver Allan McNish , divided testing duties between them, before the GP2 Series was officially launched in 2005. Much of the success of the championship and the drivability of the car has been placed on the development skills of Montagny. This was further evidenced at the start of

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