The final place on the grid for the new Formula 2 season has been taken by Taylor Barnard, who will drive for PHM.
The 19-year-old British racer will graduate to the series after finishing his first season in Formula 3 with 10th place in the standings. Barnard took a single win for Jenzer in the feature race at Spa-Francorchamps after starting the rain-affected race from 10th on the grid on wet weather tyres while those ahead of him opted for slicks.Barnard is part of PHM’s driver academy, having raced for them across three Formula 4 categories in 2022 before joining their partner F3 team Jenzer. He is currently racing for PHM again in the Formula Regional Middle East championship, where he lies second in the standings with three wins from the first nine races.
“Being the most successful PHM Academy Driver, it is the logical step to evaluate Taylor as best promising option to be as successful as possible,” said PHM’s sporting director Roland Rehfeld. “He deserves the chance and until now he fulfilled our expectations through all classes with pure dedication, will, natural talent and speed and increasing technical precision. All these efforts brought up good results, meaning in the last three FIA F3 rounds [of] 2023 he was the most successful driver by points.”
He will join fellow F2 rookie Joshua Duerksen in PHM’s line-up for the new season. “It is another step up the ladder towards my dream,” said Barnard. “Of course I wish to be more prepared, but I will do everything in my power and more to perform.”
Barnard is part of a large cohort of drivers moving up from F3 to F2 this year. Meanwhile the top four drivers in last year’s F2 championship – Theo Pourchaire, Frederik Vesti, Jack Doohan and Ayumu Iwasa – have all moved elsewhere.
2024 Formula 2 driver line-up
| Team | Driver 1 | Driver 2 |
|---|---|---|
| MP | Franco Colapinto | Dennis Hauger |
| Rodin | Zane Maloney | Ritomo Miyata |
| ART | Zak O’Sullivan | Victor Martins |
| Prema | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Oliver Bearman |
| Hitech | Paul Aron | Amaury Cordeel |
| DAMS | Jak Crawford | Juan Manuel Correa |
| Virtuosi | Gabriel Bortoleto | Kush Maini |
| PHM | Joshua Duerksen | Taylor Barnard |
| Trident | Richard Verschoor | Roman Stanek |
| Van Amersfoort | Enzo Fittipaldi | Rafael Villagomez |
| Campos | Isack Hadjar | Pepe Marti |
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Formula 2
- F2 champion Pourchaire to make IndyCar debut for McLaren at Long Beach
- Prema announce move into IndyCar with new two-car team in 2025
- “In my mind I won twice this weekend” says Hadjar after penalty
- Fortune finally favours Hadjar with Melbourne feature race win
- Bearman loses first F2 point of 2024 after penalty
mmertens (@mmertens)
6th February 2024, 15:30
Happy for him, as he was really good last year in Jenzer, always punching above the team’s weight. PHM is not top level team in F2, but if he keep showing consistency this year he can land a good F2 team on 2025. I rate him highly.
Roberto Fratelli (@rfratelli)
7th February 2024, 2:40
Is his father John Barnard the engineer?
GeeMac (@geemac)
7th February 2024, 10:04
No, he’s no relation to John.
Brell-9W
7th February 2024, 3:10
That’s an excellent choice from PHM. Taylor Barnard is an excellent young driver who is a welcome addition to the ‘stacked grid’ that is the 2024 Formula 2 driver lineups.
GeeMac (@geemac)
7th February 2024, 10:05
Antonelli v Bearman at Prema is going to be a battle to watch. They both look like the real deal, so this will be a big season for each of them.