Riding the confidence from his Monaco F3 Sprint Race podium, Laurens van Hoepen heads to the Barcelona F3 Round optimistic about securing valuable points for ART Grand Prix this weekend. After a difficult start to the 2025 season, van Hoepen secured a podium in the Monaco F3 Sprint Race last weekend and a 6th place finish in the Feature Race. With only 17 points in the drivers’ standings, van Hoepen looks to build on his recent turnaround at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Carrying momentum into Barcelona
“It’s good to have had a good weekend in Monaco before coming here. It’s good momentum going into this race so I’m looking forward to it.”
While he acknowledged that the Monaco F3 Round was not ideal, the Dutchman remained positive about last weekend’s result.
“It’s nice to have been on the podium, even if it was in the Sprint Race, it’s not where we wanted to be but it’s a good start at last. It’s been a really, really tough start to the year and that gives us a bit of momentum going into this weekend.”
Confidence reignited after a tough start
The young driver explained how his recent strong performance has significantly lifted his confidence, especially after the struggles he faced during the Bahrain weekend.
“But you feel a lot better after a weekend like that. You feel that you can fight more now. In Bahrain, I felt like I was just driving around and couldn’t do anything. Whereas I’m more in the fight and I think step-by-step, we’re getting there.”
A familiar circuit
Familiar with the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, van Hoepen hopes to recapture the strong car feeling he enjoyed during the tests in February. This knowledge provides the Dutchman with an added layer of confidence for the coming races.
“I can’t wait to get out on track again. The tests went quite well here, so I’m feeling confident. I think it’s the track I’ve driven the most in my career. I’ve done so many laps I don’t even know how many. Every pre-season test is here, and post-season.”
Qualifying could make or break the weekend
While he is familiar with the track, so are the other drivers. Van Hoepen therefore expects a very close Qualifying on Friday. With 30 drivers out on the track, track position will play a crucial role in the grid position pilots can secure for both races.
“I feel it makes it a lot more important to have a good lap in Qualifying and to really nail that final lap. Everybody knows this track well, so the times are going to be very close. If you do a little mistake, it’s going to drop you down the order beyond 12th.”
“We’ve also got 30 cars back out on track again which is a lot. It’s always really important to have good track position, even though it’s not quite as bad as Monaco, it’s still super important here.
“You don’t want to get hindered on a warm-up lap and you want to make sure you can start your lap with a proper gap to the car ahead.”
Barcelona’s unique challenges
On this extremely versatile Barcelona-Catalunya circuit, drivers need to excel not only in high-speed but also in medium and low-speed corners, explained the Dutchman.
“It’s important to be good in the high-speed. Also, in the medium and low-speed corners because this track has got it all. I think you just have to nail every corner and get to every apex like usual.”
With warm weather expected for the Barcelona F3 Round, drivers and teams will have to be especially mindful of their tyre management. The ART Grand Prix pilot anticipates tyre degradation as soon as Friday.
“It’s going to be so warm this weekend, so it’s going to be really important to manage the tyres in both races and even in Qualifying. I think we might even see some deg on Friday.”
Points, the priority for Van Hoepen
Although testing is not representative of teams’ performance, van Hoepen hopes that ART Grand Prix’s positive testing weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is a good omen for the coming races. Leveraging the data they gathered in February, van Hoepen is feeling optimistic.
“Testing is always so specific you never know where everyone’s at because everybody is doing different things. But it helps that we were quick. You also have all the data we can learn from, so it’s a nice thing to have.”
Hopeful, Laurens van Hoepen has a clear goal in mind for this Barcelona F3 Round: to score points for ART Grand Prix.
“It depends on where we start but I just want to score some good points again and be close in the Feature Race and to have a good round in general. Scoring in the Sprint, scoring in the Feature and taking quite a few points would be nice.”
