Photo: James Gasperotti
David Beckmann will take the place of Amaury Cordeel in Van Amersfoort Racing’s Formula 2 line-up at Silverstone this weekend while Cordeel serves a race ban.
Cordeel’s suspension from the FIA comes after accumulating 12 penalty points in the first six rounds of the season, during which he has scored zero championship points.
Beckmann will be making his second appearance of 2022, after standing in for the injured Cem Bolukbasi with Charouz Racing System at Imola. He scored four points for eighth place in the feature race, and he is currently 20th in the standings.
Rob Niessink, VAR’s CEO, told Formula Scout: “Even though we clearly regret not having Amaury in the car this weekend, we are excited about David taking the wheel. We know David from the past and we look forward to seeing what he is able to accomplish at Silverstone.”
The 22-year-old German competed in six F2 rounds with Charouz in 2021, taking two podiums, before family business commitments forced him to give up his seat. He made a return to the series with Campos Racing for two further rounds before his run was again brought to a close for financial reasons.
Beckmann will be forgoing his Formula E reserve driver duties with Andretti Autosport at the Marrakesh E-Prix to make his F2 return this weekend.
Beckmann previously raced for VAR in the first three rounds of the European Formula 3 championship in 2017, taking a best result of 11th in Pau before driver and team parted ways.
VAR is in its first season in F2, and has endured mixed fortunes with lead driver Jake Hughes showing the team’s underlying pace but inexperience and errors contributing to a meagre points haul, with fourth in the Jeddah feature race being its best result so far.