Floersch returns behind the wheel of a F3 car; Weug makes first FRECA appearance

Updated: Oct 25, 2022

Sophia Floersch stepped back into a F3 car after two years, in the post-season test at Mugello where also Maya Weug had her first outing in FRECA machinery. Buckley and Hausmann continue F4 adaptation.

Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine and Italian F4 have just rounded out their 2022 season – and it’s already time to hit the track, as Mugello Circuit hosts a two-day test ahead of the 2023 season.

And the entry lists had some nice surprises: making her first ever outing in FRECA was Maya Weug, the Iron Dame and Ferrari Driver Academy member that had just completed a remarkable second season in Formula 4. Weug was in the #83 Prema Racing Tatuus T318, moving her very first steps in F3 Regional machinery.

A very physical car on a very physically demanding track was a big challenge for all the new drivers that tested for the first time – but Maya Weug seemed to be once again up for the task and completed 75 laps.

Another good surprise was the return of Sophia Floersch to single seaters: the German has spent the last couple of years in prototype racing, contesting 3 editions of the Le Mans 24 Hours and has scored an overall podium in European Le Mans Series.

Floersch was testing a Euroformula Open Dallara 320, operated by Van Amersfoort Racing. Floersch had contested both the F3 European Championship in 2018 and the Formula Regional European Championship with the Dutch team, so her return to VAR felt like a reunion for the 21 year-old racer.

Floersch – who had also raced in FIA F3 in 2020 with Campos – completed 80 laps and was second in the overall standings out of 30 entries, having used only one set of new tyres.

The test gave Sophia the chance to get back in the rhythm of a formula car, as she evaluates options for next year.

The Euroformula Dallara is in fact a lightweight high-downforce car, with mileage being useful also for prototypes.

There were also two female drivers in the F4 sessions, as Alice Buckley, from Australia, joined the test ahead of the Ferrari selections in November.

Buckley was selected in the assessment tests last month at Circuit Paul Ricard, becoming a FIA Girls On Track - Rising Stars finalists together with Chloe Grant, Aurelia Nobels and Chloe Chong.

Buckley had just driven F4 machinery in one single occasion before the Paul Ricard selections, where she impressed the jury for her steady improvement.

Alice was at the wheel of the a Jenzer Motorsport car, in her first ever outing in the Tatuus car and completed 67 laps around the Mugello circuit.

Last but not least, 15 year old Swiss driver Tina Hausmann tested for Van Amersfoort Racing, in also her first steps at the wheel of race cars. Hausmann has in fact raced at the top of karting competitions, both internationally as well as in the ADAC German championship.

On Monday, Hausmann completed 63 laps with promising times.

The sessions will resume tomorrow.