Photo: Dutch Photo Agency
Roman Stanek believes he just needs a clean weekend at Imola to unlock his potential in Formula 2 with Invicta Racing.
After one year in FIA Formula 3 then two in F2 with Trident, Stanek switched to Invicta for this season after the team won both titles in 2024.
Though grateful for the support Trident and its team manager Giacomo Ricci gave him, saying “thanks to them, I am where I am now”, Stanek’s time in F2 had presistently been accompanied by budget concerns. He completed his first season, but could only strike a part-time deal last year that meant he missed the final three rounds.
Having a secure budget for 2025 has lessened the pressure, and he calls it his “best chance” to grow in F2 while being hesitant to consider it as his “last chance” to become more competitive in the championship.
Stanek has eight points from the first three rounds, earned from two fifth places in sprint races, and is 12th in the standings.
Having shown promise despite having fewer points than at this point in 2024, a visibly more relaxed Stanek is feeling “very positive”.
“It’s going well, but we need one clean weekend,” he recently told Formula Scout at Misano, where he was coaching Jan Koller in Italian Formula 4.
“The speed is there. The level in F2 is so high that every little mistake counts, for example, tyre warm-up or when you touch the wall slightly. In Jeddah, my steering wheel was not straight, so I didn’t have the confidence to push the car.”
Stanek admits to having been “a bit worried” about the switch going from an Italian to a British team, but immediately felt welcome at Invicta.
“My engineer is super, my mechanics are working very hard and it’s good. I’m happy. I feel like I have a team that is pushing me forward,” he said. “The style of driving Invicta’s car is a bit different to what I’m used to from the past two years. You have to be much more aggressive to extract the full potential from the car.”
He concedes that point has not been reached: “I’m getting there but we are not speaking about one or two tenths, so every detail counts.”
Being with the reigning champion team adds extra pressure, and team-mate Leonardo Fornaroli – the 2024 FIA F3 champion – sits third in the standings with a pole, two podiums and 40 points. Stanek’s favourite circuit Imola is up next this weekend, adding extra impetus “to perform and to deliver the results”.
“The level is so high that 15 or even 18 drivers can win, so it’s all about getting it there, being at the front in qualifying and then putting good races together. I know there’s a lot of potential in the car and myself. We just need to extract it and show it. Imola’s a great track so I’m really looking forward to it.”