© Dutch Photo Agency
Charouz Racing System is ready to face another back-to-back challenge before the summer break, starting this weekend with Round 9 of the FIA Formula 2 season at Le Castellet. At Circuit Paul Ricard, the Czech team will continue with its so far very positive campaign in the championship, aiming at points with both Enzo Fittipaldi and Cem Bölükbasi.
The 5.8km track, located in the south of France, is known for its distinctive blue and red markings in the run-off areas, with very abrasive strips designed to minimize braking distances, making it a very technically challenging track. Circuit Paul Ricard sees the return of F2 after hosting the series already in 2018 and 2019, with Charouz Racing System scoring a podium and other point finishes on both occasions.
In the same two years, Fittipaldi has been a pole sitter and a race winner in the Italian F.4 Championship Powered by Abarth (2018) and in the Formula Regional European Championship Certified by FIA (2019), before racing there again also in 2021 in the FIA Formula 3 championship. Bölükbasi has racing experience at the historical French circuit too, with the highlight of a podium finish in the Pro-Am Cup of the GT4 European Series.
The Brazilian driver arrives at Le Castellet fifth in the Driver Standings with 75 points and he’s now a regular contender for the top 10 positions, while the Turskish rookie will look to score his first F2 points after his unlucky weekend at Red Bull Ring, where he undoubtedly displayed that he’s gotten to a point in his learning path where he finally has the speed to get there.
The weekend will follow the usual schedule with Free Practice and Qualifying on Friday, while the Sprint Race will go green in the late afternoon of Saturday and the Feature Race will take place on Sunday morning.
Antonín Charouz, team owner
“We’re ready and focused on delivering another good weekend at Paul Ricard. The team’s on a roll and this is very good for the mental approach, Enzo is having a fantastic season so far and Cem is improving every race, I’m really sure that he’s now ready to fight for the points and he already showed it in Austria with his result in qualifying. On top of that, we all know the track very well, drivers included, and in the past two editions the team always delivered a solid performance and some very good results, so I’m expecting nothing less for this weekend”.
Enzo Fittipaldi
“I am really looking forward for the race weekend in France. It’s a track where I already had some very good weekends and also it looks like it will be a very sunny weekend with 0% chances of rain, so we’ll be focused on finding the pace right away on Friday. My goal is to continue improving and qualifying in the top 10! Let’s go score more points and hopefully we’ll get the chance for another podium too!”.
Cem Bölükbasi
“I’m pretty excited about this weekend, also because we had an unfortunate one in Austria so we’re working hard to get even in France. We’re constantly improving and the performance is getting better every race, I can’t wait to get in the car and see where we can get. The goal is still to get my first points and I feel we’re finally getting really close to score them”.
