Laurens van Hoepen (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈlʌurəns fɑn ˈɦupə(n)]; born 6 September 2005) is a Dutch racing driver who is set to compete in the 2025 FIA Formula 3 Championship with ART Grand Prix. He previously competed in the Formula Regional European Championship with the French outfit in 2022 and 2023, having previously raced in the Ultimate Cup Series in 2021.
Career
Karting
Van Hoepen started karting at the age of eight in his native Netherlands, winning a series of national championships before jumping onto the international scene in 2015. A protégé of Formula 2 and Formula E champion Nyck de Vries, he won the IAME Euro Series in the X30 Mini class in 2017 and finished in the top ten of both the FIA European Championship and the WSK Champions Cup in OK in 2020, driving for Nico Rosberg's Racing Academy and Charles Leclerc's Leclerc by Lennox Racing respectively. For 2021 he remained with Leclerc's team and made the step up to KZ2 shifter karts, finishing third overall in the CIK-FIA Karting European Championship.
Formula Regional
Van Hoepen made his racing debut directly in Formula Regional machinery in late 2021, driving for Graff Racing in the Challenge Monoplace category of the Ultimate Cup Series. He hit the ground running, winning his first ever single-seater race from pole at Le Mans, ahead of Formula E race winner and 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner Nico Prost. He would go on to win seven of the nine races he entered—enough to claim 3rd in the championship standings despite having missed the first half of the season.
For the 2022 season Van Hoepen moved to the Formula Regional European Championship with ART Grand Prix, partnering Gabriele Minì and Mari Boya. Though he only finished 21st in the standings, Van Hoepen managed to claim two rookie class wins, both coming around the streets of Monaco. After taking part in two rounds of the Formula Regional Oceania Championship at the start of 2023, where he won the New Zealand Grand Prix following a brief battle with Louis Foster, Van Hoepen remained at ART in the European Championship. With several more points finishes, as well as two podiums at Zandvoort, he improved to tenth overall.
FIA Formula 3 Championship
Van Hoepen joined ART Grand Prix for the 2023 Formula 3 post-season testing sessions. Following that, he took part in the Macau Grand Prix, finishing tenth, before being confirmed as an ART driver for the 2024 FIA F3 season in December. Van Hoepen began the year by fighting for victory at the Bahrain sprint race, losing out to Arvid Lindblad but overcoming teammate Nikola Tsolov to finish second on debut. He scored another sprint race podium at Melbourne, as he finished third following battles with Lindblad and eventual winner Martinius Stenshorne. After continuing his sprint scoring streak on Saturday at Imola, Van Hoepen finished third in the Monaco sprint, having been passed by Tim Tramnitz at the start. He made progress on Sunday, passing Noel León at Mirabeau, before crashing out at Tabac while trying to overtake Joseph Loake. Fifth in the Barcelona and Spielberg sprints in races that included multiple wheel-to-wheel fights preceded Van Hoepen's first feature race points finish of the year — eighth place and a fastest lap in Austria.
Further points followed on Saturday at Silverstone before Van Hoepen qualified on pole at the Hungaroring, benefiting from a late red flag which came out before many of the other contenders could set a lap time. Despite losing the lead to Tsolov on lap 1, Van Hoepen crossed the line in second; however he would be disqualified due to his car being underweight, which was later revealed to have been caused by a water radiator leak. Van Hoepen scored more points in the sprint at Spa and the feature in Monza, where he had risen from 29th on the grid owing to an accident in qualifying caused by Kacper Sztuka to 13th and eighth in the two races. This meant that he finished 13th in the championship, behind more experienced teammates Tsolov and Christian Mansell.
Van Hoepen remained at ART Grand Prix for the 2025 season, in what is to be his fourth consecutive year with the French team.
Karting record
Karting career summary
Racing record
Racing career summary
* Season still in progress.
Complete Ultimate Cup Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete Formula Regional European Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
† – Driver did not finish the race but was classified, as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.
* Season still in progress.
Complete Formula Regional Oceania Championship Results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete Macau Grand Prix results
Complete FIA Formula 3 Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
References
External links
- Laurens van Hoepen career summary at DriverDB.com
