Inside Nico Varrone's aims to take “a massive step” into F2 in 2026
- Vyas Ponnuri
- 3 days ago
- 6 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
Written by Vyas Ponnuri
Formula 2 seldom sees drivers coming in from professional-grade series to race in the championship. It’s also a rare occurrence to see a driver make the switch from sports car racing to an open-wheeled single-seater series. Van Amersfoort Racing’s Nicolás Varrone is prepared to take this leap in his maiden F2 campaign to fulfil a lifelong dream.
Moving to F2 marks a sea change for the Argentine driver, coming with plenty of learning and a range of tracks he will be driving on for the first time. Varrone would be moving back to single-seaters for the first time in over seven years, dating back to late 2019 when he last raced in British F3 for Hillspeed.
Varrone’s sports car credentials are certainly the hallmark of a driver established in this discipline of motor racing, with its varied disciplines requiring a great sense of adaptability across different championships and racetracks.
Across seven years, Varrone has built his motor racing CV across several championships such as the World Endurance Championship (WEC), IMSA, International GT Open, the famous Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS), Asian Le Mans and the European Le Mans Series. Often competing in multiple championships during the same year, the onus is on adapting quickly to the setting and maximising the outcome.
It’s this facet that the 25-year-old aims to bring to the table to make the most of his maiden F2 season with VAR.
“For sure it's there's some stuff you can you can, let's say, translate to F2,” Varrone said, speaking to DIVEBOMB and other media ahead of the upcoming season.
“In endurance racing, you drive different cars all the time, and you have little time to test and adapt to the new cars. So for me, it's a big change, a big challenge. It's a massive step in a different way of driving and understanding of the tyres. That power of being used to adapt to new, different things can help me get up to speed quicker,” Varrone concluded.
An important element of sports car racing and longer endurance races is the ability to read the course of the race, especially over the course of several hours. Varrone, a two-time Le Mans winner across classes, a Daytona 24-hour race winner and a one-time LMGTE Am WEC champion himself, knows this well as a skill he brings to the table, even in a fast-paced series of F2’s calibre.
“The experience on how to read races, especially longer races, and to understand what's going on, I feel those are the most powerful things I can translate (from sports car racing to F2), but it's a whole different sport in a way,” Varrone concluded, responding to DIVEBOMB’s question.
The Argentine may be coming into F2 for his first full season, but this isn’t his first brush with the championship. Varrone also took part in post-season testing at the Yas Marina Circuit in 2024, driving for AIX Racing during the test.
An interesting backstory beckons, with one hashtag, namely “#NicoVarroneaF1” trending on X that brought his single-seater days back, at the same time as Franco Colapinto’s Williams elevation that grew the popularity of the sport in the nation.
Argentine fans added yet more through another hashtag “#NicoVarroneaCadillacF1”, at the same time as General Motors were rumoured to join the sport alongside Cadillac, who are now set to debut in 2026.
While these trends briefly remained on the internet, and Varrone continued along in sports car racing, a call-up from Dutch F2 outfit VAR that Varrone “was not expecting” brought about an interesting opportunity, leaving him with an option to choose between a lucrative endurance career and a rare single-seater opportunity.
“I was not expecting that (F2 drive with VAR),” Varrone mentioned, highlighting the surprise element in this move.
“I was happy in Endurance, and I am happy because I'm still doing it (endurance racing). I love every form of racing, and Endurance gave me my career that I have today; it gave me a lot of opportunities,” Varrone expressed, on his endurance career.
“When this change (to move to F2) came up, it was like I had two options: To continue in Endurance and stay the same, or go for this new challenge. It's going to be big and really tricky”
Varrone would eventually opt to give this opportunity to race in F2 a go, after receiving further backing from his passionate supporters and sponsors back home to follow this path, a successful one at that, two years after compatriot Colapinto had made the step up to race in F1.
“So my decision was, okay, this chance came up without the Franco Colapinto effect that made everything in Argentina go crazy. People (in Argentina) mentioned: Do you want to do this? We will sponsor you, support you for this big change. So I took the chance, because it's something that will not happen twice in my life and if I didn't take it, I would regret it for the rest of my life,” Varrone said, speaking on how a chance tp race in F2 turned into a confirmation.
Despite his switch to F2 for the upcoming year, Varrone hasn’t left his sports car and endurance racing days behind just yet, mentioning his plans to race in marque events across championships. The Argentine driver competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona earlier in 2026, finishing fourth for Corvette Racing alongside the experienced Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner.
“I will still do some races in endurance, I did the Daytona 24 hours a few weeks ago. I will do the 12 Hours of Sebring now in March after the Melbourne weekend. Then I will do the Petit Le Mans, and I'm trying to see if I can do Nürburgring (24 Hours of Nürburgring in May), and that would be really nice,” Varrone mentioned.
However, the tight nature of F2’s schedule and a breakneck European leg of the year means Varrone has had to go slow on chalking out an endurance footprint for the year, to manage his single-seater and endurance racing stints. His name doesn’t feature on the Le Mans entry list for 2026, given the clash with F2’s Spanish weekend in mid-June.
The famous Nürburgring 24 Hours is set to take place between 14 and 17 May 2026, in the month-long gap between F2’s Jeddah weekend and Round 4 in Monaco. With plenty of preparation in the lead-up to one of the toughest F2 weekends of the year, it presents a tricky challenge to Varrone, should he take part in the flagship Nürburgring event of the season.
While F2 remains a priority, Varrone mentions his desire to still remain close to sports cars and endurance racing in 2026.
“I have a lot of clashes with NLS to prepare for the race, so that's a bit of a tricky one. I will do one or two more races (in sports car racing) that I can't say right now,” Varrone says, mentioning the decisions to be taken during the year.
“I love it, I love going there (endurance and sports cars) and driving a GT, LMP2 or hypercar. I love the atmosphere and racing alongside some really good drivers. It's really competitive, but yeah, always puts a smile on my face.
“That's what I come from, so yeah, it's really nice. I will do quite a lot of races besides the F2 stuff, which will remain the main focus this season,” Varrone concluded, optimistic as he looked to get the best of the opportunities available to him this year.
The Argentine also mentions the camaraderie and similar paths taken by both himself and teammate Rafael Villagómez, who enters his third season with the team in 2026. Both drivers make up one of two Latin American driver line-ups on the grid. The common elements of lingo, personal sacrifice and desire to make it big shapes up for a healthy team dynamic between both drivers.
“Being teammates with Rafa (Villagómez), it's really fun.” Varrone said, ahead of their first season as teammates.
“We speak the same language, and not only that, but the way we speak (to each other), or crack jokes, it's really good to understand each other,” he continued.
“This stuff (the common connect) is really nice, and also it's good because we understand each other, because we had to make a lot of sacrifices to be here. Being far away from home, we say maybe I don't know how many months we go without seeing our family, so yeah, that's something really different compared to the European drivers,” Varrone concluded, speaking on his journey across the globe.
The exciting challenge of Varrone’s leap of faith, coupled with Villagómez’s budding experience, leaves VAR’s line-up as an interesting prospect to watch and follow when the season begins in Melbourne.
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