Mirko Bortolotti (top), who has just clinched the Italian F3 Championship title, will be joined by runner up Edoardo Piscopo (middle) and Salvatore Cicatelli (bottom) at the Fiorano test.

Ferrari is to evaluate potential young Italian racing talent, with the F1 team, along with the Italian motorsport governing body ACI-CSAI, are run a full day of intensive testing at the team's private test track at Fiorano reserved for the top three finishers in this year's Italian F3 Championship.

Mirko Bortolotti has just clinched the Italian F3 Championship title following an impressive double victory during the final round of the series held at Vallelunga last weekend. The driver from Trento dominated the meeting, and as well as winning both rounds of the double-header, he also set fastest lap in both races. "Bortolotti has always worked with great professionalism, also playing a crucial role outside racing weekends," commented his team manager Gabriele Lucidi after the second race. "During races he has always been fast and in practice he never committed any mistakes throughout the whole season." Edoardo Piscopo went into the Roman meeting with a shot at the title, but a fourth and fifth place from the two races saw him occupying the runners-up spot while third place in the final standings was secured by Salvatore Cicatelli.

The final points standings of the 2008 Italian F3 Championship see Bortolotti on 150 points, Piscopo next up on 127 points, and Cicatelli, in a very distant third, on 61 points. All three young drivers will get behind the wheel of this year's F2008 chassis and will be overseen by the Scuderia's engineering staff who will guide them through the workings of a normal test day.

"For every generation, Scuderia Ferrari is a symbol for all those who have a passion for racing," said Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo. "Looking to the youngsters and to the future, I hope this initiative can contribute to the development of young drivers and also to the regeneration of motorsport in our country," he added.

"One of the stated duties of the Federation is the development of this sport in Italy, and that includes promoting young drivers," added Gino Macaluso, ACI-CSAI President. "I am grateful to Ferrari and to Luca di Montezemolo for having shown such enthusiasm in offering the great opportunity to three promising hopes of Italian motorsport not only to realise their dream of driving a Ferrari Formula One car, but also of experiencing at firsthand what it is to work with a team that is the quintessential expression of motor racing at world level.