Floersch pleased with testing progress at VAR but ‘still a gap to close’

24 October 2023

After drawing a busy month of running to a close with the final day of post-season testing at Imola, Sophia Floersch says the six days of track time have been a valuable learning opportunity, but believes there are still improvements to be found before she’s completely satisfied.

The Alpine Academy junior has been putting in her fair share of shifts behind the wheel. She added 72 laps to her tally on Day 2 to reach a combined total of 417 laps around the Italian circuit, Barcelona, and Jerez.

Switching over to Van Amersfoort Racing, Floersch was upbeat about her experience with the Dutch team, despite being unable to capitalise on the drying track late on.

“Today in particular was compromised by the weather and tyre strategy from yesterday,” she noted. “We definitely improved the car and figured some things out, but due to the changing weather forecast we had just one set of new tyres left for today. In the rain we tried different things and, in the end, we just put the slicks on too late.

“I am happy to be working with VAR. We have the same goals, so definitely the way of working was really nice. In the end, test days are there for trying and learning things. We will see where that takes us.”

2023 proved to be a mixed season for Floersch. Driving for PHM Racing, a challenging start to the campaign ultimately ended on a high when she scored her and the team’s maiden Formula 3 points, finishing P7 in the Spa-Francorchamps Feature Race.

Having had the time to reset following the season finale in Monza last month, the German driver says she was keen to use the test to broaden her knowledge and understanding of the car in order to make the adjustments needed to maximise her performance.

“First, I was curious to drive that car. It’s always interesting to feel the differences between setups and so on. In the end, it is super close together in F3. We’ve seen that the whole year and it’s been the same over the test days. It comes down to details and being able to extract everything out of the car, but also myself for that one push.”

She added: “Of course, every single test day you do helps a lot. We definitely learned a lot but we also still have a gap to close. We are not where we want to be yet. Even though all cars are the same there still are different ways of driving that a team wants you to do and also the way of working when joining a new team is different. I am happy with VAR and we are motivated to continue improving in all areas.”