Laurens Van Hoepen reflects positively after achieving a P2 in the Saturday Sprint Race at the Miami International Autodrome. It’s his best finish in his FIA Formula 2 career, but hopes that he can achieve more as the weekend and season progresses.
The main highlight of his race came from his battle with championship leader, Nikola Tsolov, who ended up winning the Sprint Race, but the Dutchman put up a good fight:
“It was a super nice battle with Nikola and like you said, we know each other well and we kept it very respectful between the two of us. Although the racing was hard but fair which was nice especially going into the last corner.
“It’s all coming into that breaking zone and it was on the limit but good. In the end, to come away with P2 is still a good result. It was a shame not to win, especially after leading the last lap.”
Although Formula 1 has opted to remove DRS from their cars for the 2026 season, F2 still race with this car spec and it has proven to be a great tool alongside racing on a brand new circuit for the support series:
“Yeah, I noticed quite soon that the DRS was very powerful and I tried to use that to my advantage as much as possible.
“So I tried to manage the tyres, stay in the DRS, try to keep everything a bit cooler and go for the move in the end. It also helped that when I looked to my mirror, we had a bit of a gap and I said ‘Okay, we can use this now’ and fighting in the end in that area quite well.
“Maybe I should’ve played it a bit differently now looking at the result but it was very fun to play it like that.”
Van Hoepen did well to stay clear of Alex Dunne in P3, who was performing well at this part of the season in 2025. Yet it was not enough to stop him from making it to the line for 2 points more than the Rodin Motorsport driver.
“You definitely saw a pink car coming close in the mirrors, I knew I had to go for the move at some point soon.
“So then after I tried straight away to go for the move but it was a bit too optimistic, I would say.
“But in the end, you’re just focusing on the car ahead. The main target was to win, so we are just looking forward and not worrying too much about the back.”
Van Hoepen will start from ninth on the grid for the Feature Race on Sunday, followed by today’s winner, Tsolov. It seems as if the Trident driver will take some of his own advice from today to use tomorrow and in the future.
Formula 2 continues with the Feature Race at 12:30 local time on Sunday the 3rd of May.
Image: Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images
