Sophia Flörsch completes a challenging season opener at Le Castellet with an encouraging P5 in third race.
October 2018: Van Amersfoort Racing, one of the leading junior formula teams in Europe, is rejected the entry in the newly-merged FIA Formula 3.
The Dutch team announces its participation in the Formula European Masters (as confusing as it may seem, the former FIA F3 supporting DTM) and thus keeping the Dallara F3 car.
Fast forward to March 7th, 2019: four months after the terrifying crash in Macau, Sophia Flörsch climbs back into the Van Amersfoort F3 car in Monza, as she resumes preparations for the upcoming Formula European Masters.
March 22nd: Formel 3 Vermarktungs (Formula European Masters promoter) announces the cancellation of the series. Flörsch and Van Amersfoort are once again left without a racing program, as time runs fast.
March 27th: VAR and Flörsch join Formula Regional European Championship. The late switch leaves Van Amersfoort with two weeks of preparation before the first race weekend, and a totally new car to work with. The Dutch team decides to bring the Tatuus test car to Le Castellet.
And this brings us to the opening round of Formula Regional at Le Castellet, France.
Sophia Flörsch finds herself in an unknown car, on a circuit she has never driven before, under mixed weather conditions.
It surely was an eventful winter for the German superstar driver. But for someone that broke her spine and came back in a race car four months later, nothing is insurmountable.
The two practice sessions were defined by Prema Powerteam dominance and left VAR to face all the hurdles of understanding the new car and its tyre behaviour. The rapidly changing weather did not help the pursuit for the optimal car setup.
Flörsch clocked in consistent laptimes and throughout the races her performance and pace improved steadily. By the third race of the French round, Sophia managed to engage some entartaining on-track battles and crossed the finish line in fifth.
After all the challenges faced in the off-season, Sophia Flörsch comes home with 16 points in the bag and most importantly with some clear direction to work with in the next rounds. The progresses are tangible and race 3 at Paul Ricard cannot but leave every fan of the young German with high expectations for the rest of the 2019 season.
In her words:
“In the beginning we struggled a lot compared to the other teams but because of hard work we made the gap smaller and smaller over the weekend. In race 3 I finished P5, which is my best result in F3 ever. Tyres, setup and in general the car costs a lot of time and experience. We are learning and enjoying it."