Photo: Fotospeedy
PHM Racing by Charouz has made a late change to its Formula 2 line-up for this weekend, with Brad Benavides being replaced by Josh Mason.
The announcement, made with less than a day before track action begins at Spa-Francorchamps, makes PHM the first team in F2 this year to alter its line-up.
Mason is a newcomer to F2, and steps up from Euroformula where he has four wins from 56 starts since debuting there in 2021. The 21-year-old Briton is also a Formula Regional Oceania and BRDC British Formula 3 race-winner, and came third in the 2019-20 MRF Challenge season. He has only been racing part-time so far this year.
“It’s a mix of emotions – excited, nervous and all the emotions are flowing through,” said Mason. “To jump into F2 around Spa in the wet means there’s quite a lot being thrown at me, but I’m looking forward to get started with PHM Racing by Charouz.”
Bob Vavrick, Charouz’s team manager said: “We are happy to welcome Josh in our team for Spa. It will be a tough wet weekend for him as rookie driver and the team in the current condition at this track. We are going through the whole process to prepare the driver for such a big step to FIA F2.”
Benavides had a best finish of 10th, but no points, from his 18 races with PHM by Charouz. He had graduated to F2 after coming 23rd in FIA F3 in 2022 and 29th in FRegional Middle East at the start of this year.