Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Nikita Bedrin will stay on the Formula Regional European Championship grid after debuting last weekend, but will change teams for his second outing.
The 17-year-old Russian drove for Italian team Monolite Racing at Zandvoort, qualifying 12th for his debut race and finishing it in ninth place. The next day he qualified fourth, going second fastest in his group, and converted that starting position into a fifth place to earn the team’s best results of the year. However he was ineligible for points as a guest driver.
At this weekend’s Hockenheim season finale he will be driving for Dutch squad Van Amersfoort Racing, taking the place of Niels Koolen. According to the team, Koolen “will be embarking on a new challenge in the United States”. His best results from 18 races this season in FREC are two 19th places.
“I am happy to be back with VAR,’’ said Bedrin. “The team and I have some great memories together, and I am excited to be racing with them this weekend in FREC.”
Back in 2021, Bedrin raced for VAR in the ADAC and Italian Formula 4 championships. He took a win apiece in each, and came fifth in the German-based ADAC F4 and eighth in the standings in Italian F4.
“It’s great welcoming back Nikita to the team,” VAR’s CEO Rob Niessink said. “He has been performing well in several championships already this year and we look forward to having him in one of our FREC cars at Hockenheim.”
Last year he switched to PHM Racing, wining once in ADAC F4 and taking two wins in F4 United Arab Emirates. Bedrin remained with the German team for the step up to FRegional at the start of 2023, and two victories helped him come seventh in the Middle Eastern championship.
After that he made another step up the single-seater ladder, joining PHM’s partner team Jenzer Motorsport in FIA Formula 3 and making the podium twice en route to 18th in the standings.