Verschoor: Not satisfied yet with time to find as VAR target long-run pace

16 February 2023

Clocking in the fastest time of pre-season testing so far, Richard Verschoor believes there’s some performance still left on the table for the final day of running. The Dutch driver narrowly beat out Victor Martins to the top spot in Day 2’s afternoon session by 0.008s, with a time of 1:42.140.

Despite this, Verschoor reckons he hasn’t yet extracted the full potential of Van Amersfoort Racing’s package, but believes his new team have the right approach to address this going forward.

“The morning was very difficult on the race runs. We still need to find our way,” he remarked. I think there are definitely things to work on. The feeling on the soft is very good and I like how the team works with the car and how we handle certain situations, but there’s still a few things to work on to get the total package. Of course, I’m happy to be P1, but I didn’t even feel like I got the most out of it, but it was a good lap.”

Adapting to the environment at VAR, Verschoor’s feeling right at home. He admits the shared culture between him and his compatriots has helped ease the transition to his new team.

Their pre-season form has also been encouraging in what will be their sophomore Formula 2 campaign. Alongside achieving a top 2 finish in Day 1’s afternoon running, the Dutch squad have been putting in plenty of mileage on the board, with Verschoor recording 112 laps over the two days. Meanwhile, his teammate Juan Manuel Correa has kept himself busy, helping the team reach over the 230-lap mark.

“It’s always a bit about getting to know everyone. You really get to know people when you go through the difficult moments together, but also through the good moments. So, we need some more time for that, but I feel like from the beginning already before I signed, I felt very good in the group. It helps as well that we’re all Dutch, well most of them are Dutch, so I’m feeling good.”

For the third and final day, teams will be weighing up their options for how to approach the final four hours of running. This will be a crucial last opportunity to gather data before the 2023 season gets well and truly gets underway for Round 1, with return to the Bahrain International Circuit scheduled for a fortnight’s time.

Previously, run plans have mostly been divided between race runs in the morning, while softs have been bolted in cooler conditions later on. With time being off the essence, Verschoor reckons he’ll have a demanding day on his hands, as he looks to address his long-run form and help get his crew back up to speed.

“For this moment after the two days, I would say that I need to work on the race pace. I don’t feel fully confident yet. To be honest, we’re looking good, but I’m not satisfied yet.

“Physically, it will be a very tough day with two long full race runs and maybe one or two performance runs, but I think mainly it’ll be for the long runs. Also, some practice starts, and some pit stops, getting the crew to do some work again with the pit stops, so it will be a long day.”