Van Hoepen eyes podiums and wins as F2 resumes at Monza

Laurens van Hoepen says he wants to keep building on his Budapest momentum as Formula 2 (F2) returns from the summer break for Round 10 at Monza.

The TRIDENT driver headed into the break after a stronger weekend in Hungary, which helped him bounce back from a difficult round at Spa. Speaking ahead of the F2 Monza weekend, van Hoepen said his goal for the final part of the season was to keep working in the same direction and fight towards the front.

“So the goal for the rest of the season is just to continue working the right way, continue with the momentum that we had in Budapest. We bounced back from Spa really well and we just want to continue with that and keep fighting for podiums and wins.”

“So that would be the goal. And yeah, we just keep working hard and see what we can do.”

Van Hoepen says Budapest result helped him “set the record straight”

Van Hoepen also admitted that ending the first part of the season with a good result helped him mentally before the summer break.

After a challenging spell, the Dutchman said Budapest gave him reassurance and extra motivation for the final rounds.

“It’s always nice to go into the break with a good result, because it just, yeah, stops you from thinking about all the bad things that happened. Especially for me, I think it was really nice to be able to go on the break with kind of having set the record straight of, okay, I’m still able to drive, you know. So to be able to do that, it helps a lot.”

“And then also gives some extra motivation for the rounds to come. Like, ‘okay, I can do it’. Let’s make sure that we can be there every weekend.”

“So it’s been good. And now I’m just excited to be back, finally.”

Monza preparation still important despite past experience

Monza is one of the most familiar circuits on the junior single-seater calendar, and many drivers arrive with several years of experience at the Italian venue.

However, when asked by Pit Debrief where drivers can still find an edge at a circuit they know well, van Hoepen said there remained plenty to learn, especially in his first F2 season.

“Obviously, every driver in F2 has driven on Monza quite a bit, but there’s always room for improvement. So you look at what you’ve done previous years and kind of try to learn from that. Also for me and for Tas [Inthraphuvasak], it’s our first year in F2, so there’s plenty to learn from being just in a new car on this track.”

“So there’s just a lot of work that you can do behind the scenes to be as prepared as possible, having a lot of sim days and then just looking at previous years and discussing and speaking maybe with some drivers who drove here before to learn from their experience and just work in that kind of way to be as prepared as possible for this year.”

Van Hoepen hopes new F2 car keeps close racing

The Monza weekend will also feature the reveal of the next-generation FIA Formula 2 car on Saturday morning.

When asked by Pit Debrief what he hoped to see from the new car, Van Hoepen said he wanted it to retain the strong racing and demanding qualifying characteristics of the current machinery.

“Well, the racing has been really good in this car, but also, I think, on qualifying to really nail a lap, it’s very difficult in this car. And I think that’s something that is also fun about it, because it’s so difficult that you really have to make sure you do everything well. It’s something that gives a nice aspect to this car.

“And I’m hoping that the next car is going to bring some nice racing and some on-the-limit laps in qualifying.”