Alpine Academy Driver Sophia Floersch credited the backing of the Anglo-French Formula 1 outfit, saying its support is “a big help” as she targets progressing from Formula 3 to Formula 2.
Floersch returned to the FIA Formula 3 World Championship in 2023 with PHM Racing by Charouz after a stint competing in LMP2 machinery.
The German driver made history at Spa last year, becoming the first female driver to score points in F3 and after the season, returned to Van Amersfoort Racing (VAR), who supported her during her rookie F3 campaign in 2018.
Floersch was “really happy” joining VAR and reflected on a positive start back with the squad at Macau.
“Macau last year, you know, with P11, I think, with ending under the safety car, we were actually quite happy with the results.”
Now the target is to get to F2 and after a tricky start to her 2024 F3 campaign, Floersch is looking to press on during the European leg of the season, all the while noting the budgetary concerns of progressing up the junior ranks.
“Obviously the season didn’t really start as we wished for or as we wanted,” Floersch said after going scoreless through the opening three rounds.
“So it’s been a little bit rough. “We had some technical, some mistakes and just unlucky as well in [qualifying], which is kind of the most important part of the F3.
“So yeah, we’ll just try and see what we can do now in the European season.
“You know, we’ve all been working a lot, kind of getting back to where we should be.
“And then we’ll see for next year, you know, we all know that to actually get to F2, you just need a lot of money first.
“Having Alpine behind me and pushing me is a big help and then we’ll see if I can make the step or not.”
Budgetary concerns aside, Floersch has no doubt she’d be ready to compete if granted an opportunity to race in F2.
“I’ve raced against many guys who are now in F2, [I] kind of grew up with them on karting tracks and like F4 and so on, so I do feel ready,” Floersch said.
“I’ve been training quite a lot to also physically be ready and then apart from like obviously the budget kind of thing, you know, I think it always really depends on teams and partners as well.
“There’s so many young drivers, so many drivers our age who want to race in Formula 3 and Formula 2.
“There’s a lot more drivers than actually places to be, so it’s always kind of also [down to] luck if you are racing or not.
“So we’ll just keep on working, I’ll do my thing and then I’ll let management and sponsors and partners do the rest and we’ll see if it’s going to happen, but yeah, that’s the goal for sure.”
