Photo: Ida Wood
The 2024 Euroformula grid now consists of two cars, as Motopark has made Brad Benavides its second signing.
“I’m grateful as always for the opportunity to race,” said the American-born 22-year-old, who also has Guetamalan and Spanish roots, adding he “can’t wait to get back on track to prove I’m ready to be the best”.
Motopark’s team principal Timo Rumpfkeil revealed that Benavides “did a good testing programme with us in winter 2023 where he adapted very well to the team and the car”, which has left him “confident that he will have great results with us”.
Benavides started his car racing career in Euroformula all the way back in 2018 when it was a series for Formula 3 cars. He finished ninth on his debut in the season-closing Barcelona round, and finished 13th in his second race. He had made a big step up to F3 from KZ2 shifter karts, having come fourth in that year’s WSK Champions Cup.
For 2019 he then stepped down to Formula Regional, joining Fernando Alonso’s FA Racing team in the Formula Renault Eurocup and coming 23rd in the standings with no points after missing a third of the season.
Benavides signed with the RP Motorsport-supported DR Formula team for a FRegional European Championship campaign in 2020, but his sole on-track appearance was an in-season test at Monza in October. DF Formula retained him for 2021, but Benavides failed to score before dropping out after doing half of the season.
He then stepped back up to Euroformula, which no longer used F3 cars but remained a third-tier single-seater series, for the final three rounds of its season and scored 39 points with a best finish of sixth. Those results put him 13th in the standings.
Benavides had driven for Carlin in those Euroformula outings, and remained with the team for a move across to the FIA F3 Championship for 2022. He managed to do the full season, and came 23rd in the standings with three points. Following that he signed with PHM Racing by Charouz to step up to Formula 2.
Before making that move, Benavides began 2023 by going back down the ladder to FRegional to race in the Middle East championship in a Hyderabad Blackbirds-branded entry run by MP Motorsport. He again managed to do a full season, but with just one point to his name languished down in 29th in the points table.
Benavides’ time in F2 lasted nine rounds, and a 10th place was his best result. By the end of the 13-round season he sat 22nd in the standings.