“I see myself running in Formula 2 this year”

“It’s the first time I handle an electric car, so I’m going to learn a little”. Nicolás Varrone He sits at the controls of Porsche Macan to take a few turns at the Oscar and Alfredo Gálvez autodrome in Buenos Aires. The German brand shield is not alien to him, since this year he is running with a “hyperauto” developed by Stuttgart.

The engineer Maschwitz, 24, knows what it is to get to the top of the podium of one of the most emblematic races of world motor racing, the 24 hours of Le Mans. And he did it in two categories and in consecutive years, 2023 and 2024. This year he will have his great challenge with the Hypercarsthe new queen category of this mythical competition.

But that’s not all. In this 2025 he will step on the accelerator to move forward towards his boy as a boy: get to formula 1. It is very likely to enter Formula 2, after the middle of the year. “We are in contact with three teams and we already have an armed test plan to test with old generation cars to get further,” he told him Clarion On his last visit to Argentina. And now, he has just confirmed new training in an F2 for early May in Aragon and Valencia, Spain.

To have this range of possibilities, Varrone had in training at the end of last year, in Abu Dhabi, above an F2, where he marked the second best time of a batch. “The truth is much better than I expected,” he confesses.

For Nico, as is known in the environment of motor racing, the current moment that discipline lives internationally is because “there are many open fronts, with Franco (collapint) in Formula 1, which promoted the networks and today you find everything. And today you also have, on my side, an Argentine who won Le Mans. “

After a quiet return to the Gálvez, Varrone stops completely and then thoroughly steps on the Porsche accelerator: the 408 horses of the two electric motors of the Macan put it at 100 km/h in just over 5 seconds. And that seems to have activated something in him, which now turns trying to find the limits. He likes it, laughs, enjoy it. The speed lives in him.

“Spectacular, spectacular!” grip that it provides. By the way, when you enter the mixed, just put the second hand at the wheel. “And now my favorite, the slide of the slide. We are going for a taste that I don’t give myself a while “the piano to piano suv is excited and lift to face as quickly as possible towards the fork.

“Very beautiful, the truth. A ten. A ten. grip What has and how good it goes. The impressive truth. Spectacular, “says Varrone, who achieves the best possible mood to talk about his origins and Le Mans, Formula 2 and Formula 1. to talk about his future.

-Who taught you to drive?

-The truth is that I started at 7 years in a karting, with the help of my dad, who was always behind mine. And then well, there were always people around me who helped me, engineers and coaches of the different teams in which I was.

-And you like to drive on the route or on the street?

-I love to always handle. But I don’t enjoy doing it in the city. The longer the route in route I enjoy it the more. After being so long traveling on airplanes give me a thousand kilometers route.

-What cannot be missing in the car when you start a trip?

-The mate. You cannot miss the mate. And a good one playlist of music with national rock or something like that to listen.

-Can you give the steering wheel on a trip or do you prefer to drive everything?

-I always handle me, unless I have a lot of confidence in the other person. Moreover, I think a person who scares me a lot because he handles quite aggressive is my mother. She also ran, just like my dad. In fact they met a race here in the autodrome. So when I drive her “Pará, Garza. We are going to kill!”. I don’t tell him mom, I say Garza, because he has long legs.

-How did you explain to your schoolmates, who still did not handle, that on weekends you were thoroughly on a track?

-The truth is that in that sense it was always a bit complicated, because I think it’s sometimes difficult when you’re guys. Most play football or do other sports. So when you say that you are a karting pilot, it’s like what you are doing is not meant. They minimize it. It is difficult to make them understand that a Kartíng is going faster than many race cars.

-You did the whole staircase in the resistance championship and now you are in the highest category, how was the experience so far?

-I was always running with General Motors, with a little of everything. We won Le Mans in 2024 in the LMP2 and in 2023 I did it with Corvette. The next step was to jump to the Hypercars and I always had a good relationship with Porsche. And last year, after Formula 2 tests, the call came to see if I was interested in joining this project in Hypercar with Proton team. For me it was a dream come true.

-How does that car that has so much torque feel, so much force?

-The truth is that it has a lot of power, especially when you get out of slow curves, when it begins to push the hybrid from the 150 km/h is spectacular. The helmet throws you back. They bend very strong. They are like a carrozed formula car. So it is very nice to handle.

-How much in favor play you have run in other categories and now be with the fastest cars?

-There are running in GT and in different categories, it allows you to know what the pilot has or what is happening, because there are times that you come with a car so superior that you think you are easy and they are the ones that go slowly. But in reality they have been making their career and come to the limit of what they have. That gives you the experience to know what is happening to the other and when you have to happen.

-What is the expectation for Le Mans this year with Porsche?

-The Porsche is a car that Le Mans works very well. This year is expected to work very well. It has been a success in the Endurance races: the official team was champion last year and also won 24 hours of Daytona this year. The fichitas are put to play a great role.

-And you have any objective for the race?

-My goal is to do the best on each track and try to improve every time I leave, always live up. That is my goal in any car that uploads me. The same if I run packed race. My goal is to always be.

-How much difference between a Hypercar and a Formula 2 car?

-They have similar things. In a Hypercar the much finer handling is much more neat. In Formula 2 I found a pretty rough car you have to be much more aggressive with the steering wheel. That was what surprised me the most. But it also cost me the braking power of the F2, which is much more than a Hypercar, you can stop much more inside in the curve.

-Te did very well in F2’s tests last year, what chance is there this year?

-The truth is that the tests went very well. I will be completely sincere, much better than I expected. Before the test I had a lot of pressure and a lot of uncertainty, because it had not been above a formula for a long time. And in the situation that occurred, that is, the last day of the test, I arrived completely raw. But I felt comfortable. That opened many doors and many possibilities for this year. We are already in contact with three teams and we already have an armed test plan. Everything is aimed at present this year.

-Do you see this year running in Formula 2?

-I see myself this year, maybe mid -year, I don’t know how to tell you exactly. I would tell you yes. After Le Mans.

-Are the races in your head?

-The things are recorded. I have recorded turned in my karting racing memory. I look back and remember how my view inside the helmet seeing situations that left me. I have very nice memories. Like when the sky fell last year in Le Mans and I trying to bring the self -right until they reached boxes and that allowed us to win the race. Or the F2 test, which was key. And I knew that for this to continue, I had to go well.

-Dis “so that this continues”, where does that path take?

-The target is formula 1. that was reopened by the good test in F2 last year. I knew that so that this path could continue it had to be 10 points. I knew it had to be something that marks. And it was a bit what happened, ending second in the afternoon session, nothing of the first. The next step run in F2. And there the same thing, you don’t have to walk well, you have to break it. I know how motoring works to continue growing and have a chance in formula 1.

-How do you see the phenomenon that Argentine motoring today lives today?

-There are many open fronts. That Franco (Colapinto) has reached F1 after so many years without an Argentine there was something spectacular. That generated a boom. Franco’s further promoted the networks that today allow you to see everything and you find out everything. In the chest era (López), he won thousands of championships and was Tester of the F1 champion car and did not know almost anyone. And today you also have, on my side, an Argentine who won Le Mans. “