Ecuadorian driver Juan Manuel Correa returns to Formula 2 | Other Sports | Sports

The Ecuadorian pilot Juan Manuel Correa signed by a season with the Dutch team Van Amersfoort Racing (VAR), with which he secures a seat for the 2023 season in Formula 2a motorsport category to which he returns after his accident in 2019.

“I feel very proud of the season I had this 2022with a podium in Formula 3 and having won the European Le Mans Series championship, it was incredible, but now more with this announcement to return to Formula 2that raises Ecuadorian motorsports back to one of the highest seatsbeing one step away from Formula 1″, commented the driver from the capital.

Juan Manuel Correa: “I’m still not ready to throw in the towel in Formula”

“I feel that with this I am recovering my career as a pilot”Correa said. “Personally it means a lot because it is the category in which everything changed when I had the accident and it has been three long years to be able to return,” she said.

The 23-year-old has already had the opportunity to race as VAR guest the last valid of the 2022 Formula 2 season at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. “It was a positive weekend (November 25), They liked the way of working and then came the proposal to run completely in 2023. I feel excited and grateful to the team and my sponsors for this opportunity, but I am also very motivated for what is to come”.

with this ad the tricolor completes the lineup of VAR drivers along with another recent addition to the team, Dutchman Richard Verschoor.

The season will start in February with official tests and the championship in March, when a calendar with 14 tests will start.

“I feel that I’m back at a high level, probably the highest in my pilot lifewhich positions me in the best way to return to Formula 2, which is a very competitive category. It’s going to be a process, I don’t expect to come back, dominate and win races from the start, but I think that with work we will be very competitive with the team to fight this season.

The contract with VAR is for one seasonbut Correa aims to manage a two season project in F2before returning to look for a space in the highest category of world motorsport, “a dream” that keeps him “alive”, and that excites his environment.

“The process of winning F2 will depend on how the team and the driver are, how long it takes to get confident with the car, but I see a project in 2 years; Nevertheless, The work this coming season will leave the base for the next one where we try to win the championship, but everything can also change, it may be that we reach the first race and win, these are things that we must handle calmly, but I know that with struggle and dedication I will be able to achieve it, then will come the leap to Formula 1, which is something that is pending″.

As this 2022 did, the Ecuadorian pilot also points to long-term races for what will follow in the Prema Racing Teamwith which he reached the title of the European Le Mans Series.

“I am negotiating to run four of the seven rounds of the Endurancewhich includes the 24 hours of Le Mans”, indicated Correa, who will have Formula 2 as the primary championship and the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship as the secondary, with the mythical race as a highlight on the agenda, try to run in June. (D)