F3 runner-up Pourchaire to make F2 debut with HWA

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Formula 3 runner-up Theo Pourchaire, who is linked to the Alfa Romeo Formula 1 team through the Sauber Academy, will make his debut in Formula 2 next month.

The 17-year-old will drive for HWA in the final two race weekends in Bahrain, which will take place on the grand prix track and ‘Outer’ circuit. Pourchaire will take over the seat which was occupied by Jake Hughes at the previous round in Sochi, following Giuliano Alesi’s departure to MP.

Pourchaire was pipped to the F3 title by Oscar Piastri in a tight, three-way contest with Logan Sargeant at Mugello last month. The trio were separated by four points, Pourchaire missing out on the crown by just three.

The 17-year-old moved up from karts in 2018, scoring a win in the French Formula 4 championship. He joined the Sauber Academy at the beginning of last year and went on to win the German F4 series ahead of Dennis Hauger and Arthur Leclerc.

HWA team principal Thomas Strick said he expects Pourchaire will adapt quickly to the more powerful F2 cars.

“We are pleased to allow such a highly-talented young driver to take his first steps in Formula 2,” he said. “Theo’s talent is undisputed. The success he has enjoyed in his burgeoning career speaks for itself.

“We are excited about his debut in Bahrain. In recent years, he has proved several times that he can quickly find his feet in a new series.”

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    12 comments on “F3 runner-up Pourchaire to make F2 debut with HWA”

    1. He has really impressed me this year. HWA is not the best team but really interested to see what he can do next year. Piastri and Sargeant were great, but young Pourchaire was such a constant force on the second half of the championship. Great bunch. With Grosjean on the go he might become the most naturally quick Frenchman on the grid in a few years. I certainly wish him well.

    2. Good for him. He’s been impressive in F3.

    3. HWA seems to be very weak this year, but it will be good practice for him before next year, I hope he will get a seat with ART again or some other big team.

    4. Hughes’s been around for some time now and this very young Frenchman, 17, is a natural pick for any F2 teams.
      Just needs to make a Kobayashi-2009-style and elbows out to demonstrate.

    5. Excited to see what he can do, he looks like a proper talent.

    6. FANTASTIC NEWS!!!

      I am over the moon. Best news in any racing formula for me. I was waiting for this.

      So what does this mean, @tango @red-andy @hunocsi @jeff1s @geemac? Are Pourchaire’s backers paying for these two race weekends with HWA in Bahrain, and then 2021 is a different thing entirely in finding a drive for him?

      1. Well I’m unsure… Theo’s sponsor is a franchised supermarket group, so they may play a part… for this season only, though.

      2. Renault did something similar with Lundgaard last season at Bahrain where he joined Trident, but ended up at ART the following season. Expect this to be the same and with a great chance that Pouchaire will drive next to Lundgaard in 2021, though Prema could be another possibility along side Shwartzman.

      3. I have no idea @shimks.
        On one hand, Intermarché is a mid size retail group but they certainly have the money if they want to (32 B€ group).

        But I’d definitely would not see the potential value in associating their name to F1, they have a mid market proximity retailer kinda vibe. Typical they are better known to me as the sponsor of your local football club – though I believe they are minor sponsors to l’équipe de France. That’s for 3M€ per year and lets be honest, it gives them a way bigger exposure in France and even marginally internationally.

        French journalists seemed to think when he got his first podium in F3 that there was little chance that intermarché would bankroll a F2 season and that he really needed exceptional results to progress, but who knows. The limiting factor to me is that Intermarché does not, to my knowledge, have a high international presence and with F2 and F3 being absent from french tv, I really don’t see how they could get a good return on investment (except if they bank on F1 but then how on earth are they going to get seen with their kind of sponsorship money ?).

        1. Thanks for your comments, @jeff1s, JA and @tango. I am very excited about this driver and if he can already move up to F2 for 2021, he will only be 17 and a half years old with a very bright future in front of him. Fingers crossed! And thanks again for educating me on the mysteries of the sponsorship world.

        2. Of course by tv, i meant free to air tv (and to be fair, canal + is quite erratic with its F2 and F3 programming anyways)

    7. French Canal+ is the oficial TV for F2 and F3 alongside F1, is a sort of sky tv, and indeed Theo was invited to comment last week-end GP.

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