The team confirms three drivers for the upcoming 2023 season: Fernando Barrichello, Pablo Sarrazin and Ricardo Gracia. They will be joined by Eloi González, the Spanish Karting Champion, who receives a wild-card entry from the Spanish Federation.
The Spanish Team will start an ambitious pre-season testing calendar in February in order to be ready for the season opener early May at Spa-Francorchamps.
“We are passionate about establishing our position in the Spanish Formula 4 Championship, which is a true springboard into professional racing for drivers, technicians and engineers alike. It is Monlau Motul’s second season and already we feel we are in the perfect spot to progress further. We are proud to start a promising season with Barrichello, Gracia and Sarrazin as our new drivers, and we thank them for the trust they’ve put by joining us to keep on growing as professionals” said Monlau Motul’s CEO Jaime Serrano.
Monlau Motul is getting ready for its second season in the Spanish Formula 4 Championship, for which they once again partner up with Dutch squad Van Amersfoort Racing. A crew from both Monlau and VAR has been working together for several weeks in order to prepare the Tatuus F4 single seaters for the first winter tests. This season, the team has signed drivers Ricardo Gracia; Fernando Barrichello, son of former F1 driver who registered 322 F1 Grand Prix starts to his name, Rubens Barrichelo; and Frenchman Pablo Sarrazin, son of former endurance and rally driver Stéphane Sarrazin.
By winning the Spanish Karting Championship, Eloi González was granted a wild card entry by the Spanish Federation (RFEdA) and will join the team, completing the driver line-up for 2023.
Last year saw the team progress in an impressive way. Whereas the squad saw a challenging start to the championship, performances gradually improved during the season, resulting in various top ten results for the team, including podium finishes. The strong closure of last year leaves the team with a very optimistic attitude towards the ’23 season. Staying close to its dedication towards training the best professionals in motorsport, the crew was able to start preparations earlier than last year, which will help prepare for the championship ahead even better.
This year’s driver line-up will see three seventeen-year-old race talents take the wheel of Monlau Motul’s Formula 4 racing cars. Brazilian driver Ricardo Gracia is the most experienced, as he raced in both the Spanish and Brazilian F4 Championships last year. His countryman Fernando Barrichello, son of former F1 driver Rubens Barrichello, will make his European racing debut, after winning two races and finishing seventh overall in his maiden F4 season in Brazil. Frenchman Pablo Sarrazin joins the squad after competing in the French F4 Championship in 2022. Despite their age, all three drivers bring valuable experience to the team and are eager to start racing. The Spanish team reserves a fourth seat for Eloi González who will join as a wild card driver, which he was awarded after being victorious in the national Spanish Karting Championship.
Jaime Serrano, CEO of Monlau Motul Technical School sees the new project positively: “We are passionate about being able to continue consolidating our position in the Spanish F4 Championship, a true international springboard for drivers, mechanics and engineers and with that, the perfect habitat for Monlau Motul. We are proud to start a promising season with our new drivers Barrichello, Gracia and Sarrazin, and we thank them for their confidence in us to help them further grow as professional racing drivers. Monlau Motul / VAR’s F4 project runs under the leadership and the “know how” of David Simón, along with his experienced crew of engineers and technicians, all of them previously trained in Monlau Motul’s classrooms”.
“We are excited to be entering our second campaign in the Spanish F4 Championship, once again in partnership with Monlau Motorsport. This year, we are determined to improve upon our performance from last season and believe that our driver line-up, which includes Fernando Barrichello, the son of former F1 driver Rubens Barrichello, Pablo Sarrazin and Ricardo Gracia, will play an essential role in achieving this goal. As usual, we are fully committed to further progress and look forward to a good and competitive racing season”, said Rob Niessink, CEO of Van Amersfoort Racing.
The Monlau Motul / Van Amersfoort Racing alliance is about to start an ambitious calendar that will take the team to three different countries, covering seven challenging race tracks.
Spanish Formula 4 Championship Calendar:
1. Circuit of Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium), May 5-7.
2. Motorland Aragón (Spain), May 26-28
3. Circuit of Navarra (Spain), 23-25 June
4. Circuito of Jerez – Ángel Nieto (Spain), September 22-24
5. Autodromo do Estoril (Portugal), September 29-October 1
6. Circuit of Ricardo Tormo (Spain), 20-22 October
7. Circuit of Barcelona-Catalunya (Spain), November 10-12
