John Bennett will continue with the Van Amersfoort Racing team in Formula 2 for 2025 after debuting in the final two rounds of the 2024 season.

Bennett stepped up to replace Enzo Fittapaldi before the penultimate round in Qatar, finishing 12th in the Sprint race before taking his first points in the series with an eighth-place finish in the Feature race.

The 2024 GB3 Championship runner-up has previous experience with the team taking part in a FIA Formula 3 post-season test back in October.

He made his debut in single-seater racing in 2022 with Elite Motorsport in the UK-based GB3 series, earning his first podium in the final round.

With Rodin the following year, he struggled to perform before making the switch to JHR Developments in 2024 – narrowly missing out on the title by 22 points, finishing second.

Soon after, he made his debut in the Formula Regional Middle East Championship and the Formula Regional European Championship.

Now the 21-year-old has a full-time seat in the feeder series F2, to which Bennett couldn’t hide his excitement ahead of the 2025 season.

“I am delighted to be racing with VAR in Formula 2 for 2025,” Bennett said in a statement on the VAR website.

“Since my first day testing in F3, it has been a great environment to work in.

“Thank you to the team for all their support, and I cannot wait to get started next year!”

Van Amersfoort Team Principal Brad Joyce added: “We are delighted to welcome John to our full-time Formula 2 line-up for 2025.

“His progression through the final rounds of the 2024 season demonstrated his ability to quickly adapt in challenging conditions.

“The team is certain that he is ready for this next step.

“We look forward to supporting him throughout the season as he continues to grow and compete at one of the highest levels of motorsport.”

READ MORE: Formula 2 CEO reflects on record season and F1 2025 graduates

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Van Amersfoort Racing has completed its driver line-up for the 2024 Formula 2 season with the announcement that Rafael Villagomez will drive for the team.

The 22-year-old graduates to the second tier after spending the last three campaigns competing in Formula 3, scoring two points last season to wind up 25th.

Villagomez will continue with Van Amersfoort for the fourth consecutive season, having also represented the Dutch squad in Euroformula Open Championship in 2021.

Van Amersfoort also fielded the Mexican in the post-season F2 test in Abu Dhabi last year, and he believes that progression will stand him in good stead for the step up.

“I am very excited to step up to F2,” said Villagómez. “I am ready for this next level up.

“The dynamics coming from an F2 car are overly impressive, but I grew great confidence after a successful post-season test in Abu Dhabi last year.

“The test has proven to both myself and the people around me that F2 is the right category for me to further develop myself as a driver.

The team and I know each other very well, which will only be of great benefit to all of us. I look very much forward to continuing our journey together and getting the season started.”

Villagomez will race alongside Red Bull Junior Team driver Enzo Fittipaldi, who has transferred to Van Amersfoort after becoming an F2 race winner last season.

Van Amersfoort CEO Rob Niessink added: “As a team, we always aim for long-term cooperation with our drivers.

“The benefits of such a long-term relationship are extremely valuable and will help Rafael to progress at a high pace, as his experience in F3 will do of course.

“As a result of his unparalleled determination, we’ve seen Rafael grow and mature strongly as a driver and he is ready for this next challenge.

“We are fully committed to offering him our continuous support, especially in this exciting next chapter of his racing career.”

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Sophia Floersch shall complete Van Amersfoort Racing’s 2024 FIA Formula 3 World Championship driver lineup, alongside Tommy Smith, and Noel León.

The German Alpine Academy driver competed in the 2023 FIA F3 campaign with PHM Racing, scoring her first points in the Feature Race at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium.

Floersch’s switch to VAR began with a post-season test, which she backed up with an 11th-place finish for the team at the highly competitive Macau Grand Prix.

Having been part of the VAR program earlier in her career, Floersch is happy to return to familiar surroundings.

“I am super excited to be back with Van Amersfoort Racing, it feels like coming home,” said Floersch.

“I have confidence in our ability to progress and deliver strong performances together in the upcoming FIA F3 season.”

VAR Team Principal Frits van Amersfoort is also delighted to welcome Floersch back to the squad.

“Obviously we are very pleased to have Sophia back with us,” he said.

“We did Macau together this year which has been great.

“We believe that her experience in FIA F3 plus her familiarity with the team can benefit us next season.”

At 23 years of age, Floersch has competed in several single-seater campaigns and other motorsport disciplines.

Her single-seater journey goes back to campaigns in ADAC Formula 4 and European Formula 3, before finishing seventh in the standings racing for VAR in the 2019 Formula Regional European Championship.

Floersch graduated to FIA F3 in 2020, before making the switch to Sportscar racing the following year, competing three times at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the German driver has also competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship, European Le Mans Series and the DTM, before returning to F3 this year with PHM.

The Dutch-based VAR outfit was founded in 1975 by Team Principal Frits and is a highly recognised name in junior single-seater racing, having previously fielded the likes of Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.

In 2023, VAR fielded Caio Collet of Brazil, Mexican Rafael Villagómez and Australian Tommy Smith who combined for 75 points, placing VAR seventh in the 2023 F3 Teams’ Standings.

Collet scored all of the team’s four podiums and a single Sprint win in 2023.

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Enzo Fittipaldi has made the switch to Van Amersfoort Racing for the 2024 FIA Formula 2 season for his third full season in the series.

The Brazillian driver, a member of the Red Bull Junior Team, joins the Dutch outfit, having enjoyed his best season to date in 2023 with the Rodin Carlin squad.

Fittipaldi secured a maiden F2 victory in the Spa-Francorchamps Sprint race and secured a further four podiums to finish seventh overall in the Drivers’ Standings.

After getting his first taste of working within the VAR setup during the post-season Abu Dhabi test, Fittipaldi is delighted to work with the team during the 2024 season.

“I am very excited to be a part of Van Amersfoort Racing,” said Fittipaldi in a VAR statement.

“The team and I had a positive first experience working together during the F2 post-season test in Abu Dhabi last week.

“Right now, I am looking forward to next season, which will be a new challenge for all.

“Racing in the new 2024 F2 cars will be exciting, and I am confident that the team and I will have a great season together.”

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Team Principal Frits van Amersfoort also expressed his delight with the new signing to the outfit.

“During the F2 post-season test, we have experienced that Enzo is a great character to work with,” van Amersfoort added.

“He is a great fit for our team, and his experience in F2 will be beneficial as we head into a new era of Formula 2. We’re thrilled to have him on board and look forward to the upcoming season together.”

Fittipaldi’s racing career began in 2016 and he experienced his first title success in 2018, with Championship victories in the Italian F4 series to go along with third in the ADAC F4 Championship.

In 2019, Fittipaldi secured second in the standings in the Formula Regional European Championship, before making the jump to the FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2020.

Partway through 2021, Fittipaldi progressed up to Formula 2 with Charouz Racing System, before committing to full seasons in the series in 2022 and ’23.

Fittipaldi and VAR’s 2024 F2 14-round campaign will get underway in Bahrain on February 29 – March 02.

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Formula 2 driver Amaury Cordeel has escaped a race ban after he received multiple penalties at the Imola round last weekend.

Cordeel entered the event with four penalty points on his licence, which he picked up in Saudi Arabia after failing to slow sufficiently when passing Logan Sargeant, who had crashed during qualifying.

The Van Amersfoort Racing driver endured a nightmare Feature Race on Sunday in Imola, where he collected five more penalty points in the race alone.

After exceeding track limits three times during the race, Cordeel was issued a warning, before being dished a five-second time penalty and one penalty point for the fourth infringement.

Another track limits violation saw him handed a 10-second time penalty and a further two penalty points, before his sixth infringement landed him a drive-through penalty and another two points, bringing his total up to nine.

Any driver that receives 12 penalty points throughout a season will be handed a ban for the remainder of a race weekend, or the next applicable event.

In 2019, former F2 driver Mahaveer Raghunathan served a ban at the round in Austria after picking up nine penalty points in France, which took him over the threshold. He also tallied up enough points later in the season to serve a second ban, but raced anyway due to a regulation loophole.

Although Cordeel’s track limit violations racked up his penalty points, they weren’t the only rule breaches he was found guilty of during the Feature Race.

He was punished for speeding twice in the pit-lane, once going 39.2 km/h over the speed limit of 60 km/h, which resulted in a 10-second stop/go penalty. A separate incident, which saw him being issued a five-second time penalty, was when he went 3.2 km/h over the limit. No penalty points were handed out for either incident.

He was also investigated for not serving the 10-second stop/go penalty correctly, however the Stewards took no further action on the matter.

“The Stewards determined that upon review of the video and telemetry it was determined that Car 25 was already in the pit lane when the penalty of 10 second stop/go was issued for the excessive pit lane speeding,” read a statement. 

“This was an allowed pit stop. During the time of the pit stop the Safety Car was deployed and remained so until the end of the Feature Race, thus depriving him of the opportunity to serve the penalty during the race. Car 25 did not pit again.”

Van Amersfoort Racing was also fined €2,000 as Cordeel’s tyres were not laid flat in the pit lane when he was taking his pit stop, which is required by the regulations.

It also resulted in a suspended five-place grid penalty for the Belgian driver.

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Formula 2 has confirmed that Van Amersfoort Racing (VAR) will line up on the grid in 2022, replacing HWA RACELAB.

HWA confirmed earlier this year that it would cease its activities in F2 and Formula 3 at the end of the 2021 campaign.

Following the conclusion of this year’s F3 season, VAR announced that it would join the series next year in place of HWA.

The Dutch squad will do the same for F2, with the announcement coming one day after the 2021 season ended in Abu Dhabi.

“I am very pleased to welcome Van Amersfoort Racing to the Championship. I am certain that they will be a great addition to our grid, with them also competing in Formula 3 from next year,” said F2 CEO Bruno Michel.

“Joining F2 is always challenging, but their expertise and professionalism will undoubtably help them get to grips with the category quickly.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank HWA RACELAB for their collaboration for the past two seasons, and I wish them success for their next challenge.”

VAR will run F2 cars for the first time later this week at the post-season test at the Yas Marina Circuit.

The team has long been present in junior categories, and has enjoyed recent success in the Italian and ADAC Formula 4 Championships.

It competed in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship from 2012 to 2018, and provided Max Verstappen with his F3 car during the 2014 campaign prior to his leap to Formula 1 the following year.

Rob Niessink, CEO of Van Amersfoort Racing added: “After having recently announced our entry into the FIA F3 Championship, it now is an absolute pleasure to become part of the FIA F2 Championship as well. 

“We are simply proud and consider this step as an important milestone in the long history of our team. 

“It will be a challenge we don’t take lightly, and it might not come as a surprise that watching “our” F2 cars leave the pit-lane for the first time during the upcoming post-season test at Abu Dhabi will be a big moment for us. 

“I want to thank Bruno Michel and HWA RACELAB for their support in making this happen.”

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Van Amersfoort Racing will compete in the 2022 FIA Formula 3 Championship, the series has confirmed.

10 teams have signed up to race in through 2024, with HWA RACELAB departing the championship after three seasons.

All other nine teams who competed in the 2021 campaign will be present on the grid next year, fielding three cars each.

“For the next three-year cycle, we have decided to renew our trust in nine of our current teams,” said F3 CEO Bruno Michel. “They have been with us for many years now, and they have proven their value, expertise, and professionalism.

“I would like to welcome Van Amersfoort Racing to the list of selected teams. Their success in other categories make them a nice addition to our grid. I am confident that they will adapt quickly to the demands and challenges of our championship.

“Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank HWA RACELAB for their commitment to Formula 3 for the past three seasons, during which they claimed four wins and 10 podiums.”

Van Amersfoort Racing was founded in 1975 and has competed in a number of junior championships in recent years. 

It is perhaps most recognised for its involvement in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship, which merged with GP3 to form the current F3 series in 2019.

In 2015, it finished third in the Teams’ standings, while one year prior, Max Verstappen drove the VAR car to third in the Drivers’ Championship prior to his rookie season in Formula 1.

“Racing is our passion, so it’s no secret that our move into FIA F3 excites us very much!” said VAR founder and team principal, Frits van Amersfoort.

“We have a long track record of supporting young talented drivers on their way up the ladder. 

“With adding this step, we can now even more accommodate the development of their racing careers. This is something we are passionate about, and I am looking very much forward to the team being back on the FIA F3 grid.”

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