Formula 2’s drivers are rearing to get back to racing this weekend in Monza, especially those who went into the five-week summer break on a strong run of form. Two such cases are ART Grand Prix’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak and Trident’s Laurens van Hoepen, who spoke to Feeder Series ahead of the round about carrying the momentum from those results before the break into the rest of the season.

By Cliona Sheerin

With just five scheduled rounds remaining of the 2026 F2 season, a strong final flourish could make or break the year, especially in the case of this season’s crop of rookies. 

ART Grand Prix rookie Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak has previously spoken about the ‘perfect environment’ his team had provided him, which has helped him work towards a number of positive results in his debut campaign.

After a difficult run of form following a heavy crash in qualifying at Montréal in May, Inthraphuvasak used July to recover not only from injury but also from a lowly championship position. The Thai driver now sits 10th overall on 59 points, scoring six points finishes in the four rounds before the shutdown, including a debut podium in the Spa feature race. 

Given those results, the break didn’t come at the best of times for the rookie, with everyone back to square one in terms of momentum ahead of the final third of the season. Still, he enjoyed having time to himself to go to Thailand.

“It’s really good to have the break, I was back home,” Inthraphuvasak told Feeder Series in the pre-weekend roundtable. “Really good to reset and recharge for this upcoming round. On the other hand, sometimes it’s frustrating when you’re doing very well, in the past few rounds and you have a big break, so everything kind of resets again. But last year, we managed it pretty well so I’m looking forward to this weekend.”

Inthraphuvasak’s goal for the remainder of the season is to build on his most recent results and continue to fight at the front of the field. His first stop takes him to Monza, where he won the feature race in F3’s season finale last year.

“I really have good momentum right now,” he said. “Over the last maybe four or five qualifying rounds, we’ve been inside of the top five or top six, and it’s been really positive, the podium in Spa in the feature race [especially]. I’ve high confidence coming into the second half of the season. Hopefully [I can] fight for wins and podiums.”

Laurens van Hoepen’s season has followed a similar trajectory to that of the driver who sits two places and six points behind him in the standings. The Dutchman came flying out of the blocks in the opening rounds, scoring back-to-back podiums in Melbourne and Miami before claiming his first pole position in Montréal. But after crashing out of the lead of the feature race, Van Hoepen suffered a dip in form, with just two points scores in the next five rounds and a chassis-destroying crash in the Spa feature race the unquestionable nadir.

The Hungaroring just a few days later proved to be a much happier hunting ground for the Trident driver, who took pole in F3 at the circuit in 2024. After qualifying inside the top 10 for the first time since his maiden F2 pole, he came away from the weekend with a fourth place in the feature race and a much-needed return to the podium in the sprint. 

“It’s always nice to go into the break with a good result because it just stops you from thinking about all the bad things that happened,” Van Hoepen told Feeder Series. “Especially for me, it was really nice to be able to go on the break having set the record straight of ‘Okay, I’m still able to drive.’ To be able to do that helps a lot and also keeps some extra motivation for the rounds to come – like, ‘Okay, I can do it. Let’s make sure that we can be there every weekend.’ It’s been good, and now I’m just excited to be back finally.”

He too is hoping to carry forward the momentum that his double-points finish at the Hungaroring gifted him.

“The goal for the rest of the season is to continue working the right way, continue with the momentum we had in Budapest,” he said. “We bounced back from Spa really well and we just want to continue with that and keep fighting for podiums and wins maybe. That would be the goal, and we’ll just keep working hard and see what we can do.”

That hard work has already seen Van Hoepen’s Trident team go places. Last year, they put just two points on the board and finished at the bottom of the standings. Now, 83 points and four total podiums so far this season mean they sit seventh in the teams’ championship, putting them on track to achieve their best-ever finishing position in their 10 seasons in F2.

With a car capable of running at the sharp end of the field, Van Hoepen will be hoping to emulate his teammate John Bennett’s victory in the sprint race in Spielberg and stand on the top step himself before the season is out. 

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency