Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Josh Mason will make his second appearance in Formula 2 this weekend as he stays with the PHM Racing by Charouz team he debuted with last time out at Spa-Francorchamps.
The 21-year-old Briton will be team-mate to Roy Nissany once again at Zandvoort, and will be looking to improve on his tricky first weekend in the second tier of single-seater racing.
His first F2 mileage came in a wet practice session at Spa, and initially he way off the pace as he tried to get used to the Dallara F2 2019. Although he improved his laptimes, late in the session he come to a stop at the exit of the circuit’s Formula 1 pitlane and it brought out red flags. He ended up 7.046 seconds off the fastest driver.
Qualifying also took place on a wet track, and less than three minutes ito the session Mason lost control of his car at the exit of turn nine and got stuck in the gravel trap. He was unable to return to track and set a laptime, meaning he qualified last.
Saturday’s sprint race began badly for Mason too, as the race start was delayed after he stalled on the formation lap and then drove all the way around to the pits once pushed away by the marshals. He was given a drive-through penalty for the infringement, not that it impacted his 20th place finish. By the chequered flag he was 44.966s behind 19th place.
The feature race on Sunday went better, with Mason rising up to finish 15th and several safety car periods meant he was only 7.616s away from the points places.
Mason started this year by winning a race in Formula Regional Oceania, and he already had plenty of experience in the level above that having won three races across two seasons in Euroformula. He has contested two rounds of that series in 2023 as well and picked up another win and two further podiums from six races.