It’s all change at Van Amersfoort Racing for 2023. In comes Richard Verschoor and Juan Manuel Correa to form what is a very popular driver line-up this season. The pair will be pushing VAR forward in their second Formula 2 campaign, but what does 2023 look like for the Dutch outfit?

With Verschoor signed up the team has plenty of experience in hand, and with Correa returning to F2 full-time, he has a great teammate to compare himself against. For the team, improvements must be made to take a step forward from 10th in the Teams’ Standings, but there’s definitely scope to do so.

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VAR ended last season with eight points finishes in the final four rounds, its best run of form in 2022. With the arrival of Verschoor and the return to F2 for Correa, the pair had to get up to speed quickly with their new team, something both feel was a straightforward process.

“Testing went pretty well. It was very, very useful to do some laps in the F2 car again, definitely a lot of things that I had to rediscover after the Abu Dhabi race last year, which I was kind of thrown into.

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“We saw we're pretty competitive and, in certain aspects, were lacking in others. I think I have a very good reference and baseline to work towards to with Richard as a teammate, because he was obviously very fast through the three days and in all conditions. So that's encouraging for the team and that gives me a good reference point to work towards. Now it's a bit of understanding what I need, personally from the car to allow me to be a bit more efficient, a bit more experienced as well but that will come with time and races and as well as confidence.

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“I'm looking forward very much to the race. I think it's gonna be a very, very tight season. It's a very high level. I would say 80 or 90% of the grid are capable of winning races and have won races in F2 or in their previous category. So it's a pretty special year and that's gonna make it more challenging for all of us. I’m looking forward to getting started and see how the first weekend goes. Hopefully it’ll be smooth through the weekend, and I can start scoring points and working from that base.”

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Across the garage, Verschoor echoed those thoughts and was very eager to get underway in Sakhir. Having topped the second morning of testing in February, the Dutch driver has got settled in very quickly at VAR.

While the was disappointed to not get more long running under his belt over the course of the three days, the speed the team showed was an encouraging takeaway.

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“The test for me was pretty good. First time with team like the actual full team which we're going to use this year. So it was also about getting to know everyone and the way they work.

“I'm pretty happy with how Wednesday went because we had some issues, especially the first two days on the car which we couldn't really solve. So the race runs - I didn't do too much of, which was a shame because it's always good to practice and a very important point about F2. However, on the third day, we did find the issue and we actually had some decent runs.

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“In general, I think our pace looked fine. For me, it was more defined, especially on the second day on the softs, we use really one set. The second run was red flagged, but I think that impacted more people too. Testing times, we all know they don't mean too much, but still, I prefer to be P1 than anything below.

“I'm happy about the days, we could test a lot of things we wanted, and I think we have created quite a good package for the season. It’s now all about putting it together from my side. I'm really looking forward to start racing again.”

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With promising single lap speed and positive signs on the longer race runs, Van Amersfoort Racing is looking stronger going into its second season in Formula 2. Both Verschoor and Correa were satisfied with their work over the three days of pre-season testing, and have a lot of confidence going into the opening weekend of the year.

Verschoor will be looking to emulate his start to last season, winning the first Sprint Race of the campaign. Correa would be more than satisfied if he can replicate his start to F3 last year and the two points finishes he secured including a P4 in the Feature Race in Sakhir.