F2: Arden to Leave at end of the Season

BWT Arden, who for 22 years have been present in the main feeder category to Formula One, have announced they will be pulling out of the FIA F2 Championship at the end of the year.

Their spot in the premier category will be replaced by HWA Racelab, who have made inroads into single-seaters over the past two years with teams in Formula E and FIA F3.

This season they ran Anthione Hubert and Tatiana Calderon until the Frenchman’s death at the Spa-Francorchamps round. 2017 F2 runner-up Artem Markelov is racing for them at the final two events. Along with ART GP and DAMS, they are one of only three teams to have competed continuously since the introduction of GP2 in 2005 and the longest running top flight feeder series to date.

“Arden has successfully competed in the premier F1 feeder series for over 20 years and we have now decided to step back from the category in order to explore other avenues.”

“We have enjoyed our time in the GP2 and F2 Championships and, at some point in the future, may consider returning to the grid. Never say never…” – Gary Horner, Arden Team Principal.

Arden International were runners-up in the GP2 Series with Heikki Kovalainen and Luiz Razia in 2005 and 2012 respetively. Finishing second in the teams championship with the Finn. Since the championship became F2, the team has recorded four win in the past three seasons.

They have previously raced in the GP3 Series winning the drivers championship with Mitch Evans and Daniil Kvyat, pulling out at the end of 2018. From 2020, they will continue to compete in the F4 British Championship, where they were teams champions in 2018 as well as Eurocup Formula Renault.

Speaking about their expansion into F2, HWA AG CEO Ulrich Fritz said;

“We are looking forward to this challenge in another Formula series for young drivers.”

“Alongside our involvement in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, we are now also represented on the next level of the FIA Formula Pyramid, ensuring a continuous development of talented motorsport youngsters.

“It is also further evidence of the 360° motorsport expertise of HWA. From the promotion of young drivers and Formula E to the DTM and GT racing, we now cover an incredibly broad spectrum.” – Ulrich Fritz.

The team also competes in DTM under R-Motorsport where they are engine providers for the Aston Martin cars, as well as Formula E where they run the Mercedes-Benz EQ team.