Photo: Diederick van der Laan
Laurens van Hoepen will stay with ART Grand Prix for his third year in Formula Regional, and his second in the European championship.
The 17-year-old Dutch racer – whose career has been advised by Formula E champion Nyck de Vries – debuted in single-seaters in the FRegional-spec Ultimate Cup Series Single-Seater Challenge in 2021.
He only contested the season’s second half, after turning 16, and took pole on his debut. From his nine races in the series he ended up taking six wins, going unbeaten in qualifying against FE race-winner Nico Prost and taking third in the standings.
After that he joined ART GP to spend 2022 in FREC, and came 21st in the points table with three eighth place finishes.
“I took a giant step in terms of learning with ART GP as well as in this complex championship,” said van Hoepen.
“The first winter tests allowed me to summarize everything I have learned and it was reflected in our approach and our results. I am therefore very eager to start again in 2023 with the same team and in the same championship. My objective will be to be consistent and as close as possible to the front of the field.”
Van Hoepen is ART GP’s first signing for 2023, and the sixth non-rookie to be announced as racing in the series this year.
“In 2022, coming from karting, the step up was very high for Laurens to perform in an international championship as complex as FREC,” said ART GP president Sebastien Philippe.
“But he didn’t shy away and made strong progress instead. Winter testing at the end of last year confirmed that he had learned all the lessons from his first single-seater season. Despite his young age, he has the mentality, the technical background and the speed to become a leader in the team and assume the ambitions of ART GP.”