Photo: Top Speed

The 2026 calendars for international Formula 4 championships F1 Academy, F4 South East Asia, French F4 and Nordic 4 have been revealed.

The all-female F1 Academy will continue to run exclusively on Formula 1’s support bill, with seven rounds in six countries. More can be read about next season’s schedule here.

F4 SEA’s calendar has been distributed by Evans GP, one of the championship’s teams. From its inaugural season in 2016 through to 2019, F4 SEA’s grid was centrally run by Meritus GP.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to no racing until 2023, when the grid featured multiple teams for the first time. There was no 2024 season, then this year’s calendar was almost identical to what is planned for 2026.

Sepang will host round one (April 24-26) next year, then the field heads to Thailand to race at Buriram (May 23/24) and the Bangsaen street circuit (July 3-5). Bangsaen was first visted this year, with F4 SEA supporting its grand prix. The final two rounds of 2026 are at Sepang on August 21-23 and September 18-20.

French F4 is still centrally run, and reduces from six rounds to five next year but retains its event abroad.

The first four rounds, at Nogaro (April 4-6), Dijon (May 15-17), Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium (June 19-21) and Magny-Cours (July 31-August 2), are in the same order as and in very similar dates to in 2025. Long-time venues Ledenon and Le Mans are dropped, and Paul Ricard returns on October 9-11 as the finale after a year off the calendar.

The Denmark-based Nordic 4 has historically been open to F4 and Formula 5 cars, and is now part of Nordic Championship Formula (NCF) which combines its grids with Formula Renault 1.6 cars from Sweden’s Formula Nordic championship.

In 2026, the paddock’s first-generation F4 cars will be retired and Danish manufacturer Aquila has developed a faster, halo-shod car taking technical inspiration from Formula 1000 to replace it.

There will be nine NCF rounds next year, with four making up the Danish championships. The season starts with trips to Padborg Park and Jyllandsringen, mainstays since Danish F4’s inaugural season in 2017, then Karlskoga features for a fourth successive year as the starting point of a three-round Swedish leg.

Sturup Raceway returns, having hosted Danish F4 in 2022, then the paddock goes to Kinnekulle for the first time since 2019.

Norway’s Hermann Tilke-designed Rudskogen track was raced on by Danish F4 in 2018, and it will host NCF next August. The championship is then part of the Danish Grand Prix at Jyllandsringen and Padborg Park’s Night Race event.

Ring Djursland drops off the schedule after nine seasons, but in October there will be exhibition races at Dutch Grand Prix venue Zandvoort.

2026 Nordic 4 calendar

The post International F4 championships reveal their 2026 calendars appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: ACI Sport

Formula Regional, GB3 and Formula 4 teams have concluded their 2025 testing schedules in Europe over the last week.

There was an Italian F4 test at Vallelunga on November 29/30 featuring 23 drivers, and 0.064 seconds split the top four.

Arjen Kraling was quickest, topping the day two afternoon session with a 1m34.538s that put him 0.018s ahead of US Racing team-mate Ludovico Busso and with a 0.064s gap to Prema’s Sasha Bondarev.

In the morning, the driver of US’s #460 car had set a 1m34.551s that put them third fastest overall. They had edged Kraling by 0.051s, Bondarev by 0.057s and Busso by 0.095s in the session.

Including two drivers who did not improve on their day one bests, a second covered the top 16.

The driver of US’s #460 car had started the test on top, posting a 1m34.726s on their final lap of the morning on day one to lead Bondarev by 0.078s and the driver of US’s #17 car by 0.128s. In the afternoon, that driver lowered the pace to 1m34.751s to pip Bondarev by 0.002s, US’s #460 driver by 0.066s and Busso by 0.1s.

Barcelona hosted junior single-seater testing for three days, with multiple categories on track. The nine-car contingent of FIA Formula 3 cars included entries from Campos Racing, Prema, DAMS and Hitech GP, who ran Michael Shin and Jin Nakamura.

There were 10 GB3 cars in action, but Elite Motorsport’s drivers were on their own on day one. Other teams joined for the next two days, and Hitech’s drivers set the pace in all but two sessions where Rodin Motorsport’s Maxim Rehm and Hillspeed’s Dante Vinci led the way.

Global Racing Service was running Gianni Giovanelli in one of its Eurocup-3 cars, with Palou Motorsport also on track from that championship, while Elite was the only team gathering mileage with GB4 machinery.

There were also 13 F4 drivers testing, entered by Van Amersfoort Racing, Monlau Motorsport, SG Motorsport and AKM Motorsport. The VAR drivers were comfortably quickest, and AKM’s line-up included Vittorio Orsini and Williams Formula 1 junior Dean Hoogendoorn.

Orsini won the 22nd edition of the Italian motorsport federation’s annual Supercorso Federale award last month, beating four other finalists over a four-day programme of “psychophysical assessments, simulator activities, track driving and specific training”. This included F4 running with Prema, formated to mirror a race weekend.

Coaching Orsini through the final was 1993 Italian F3 champion Christian Pescatori.

Euroformula team Motopark rented the Paul Ricard circuit this Tuesday and Wednesday, and it ran six of its cars. Double R Racing, which last raced in Euroformula back in 2021, and BVM Racing joined in with three cars each, but they were all outpaced by MP Motorsport. While it ran two cars in the test, Formula Scout understands MP is not the new team that the championship has teased will join the grid in 2026.

In separate sessions were a contingent of FEED Racing’s Formula 4 cars and several FRegional European Championship teams.

R-ace GP’s Emanuele Olivieri started off as fastest, then Prema’s Kean Nakamura Berta topped the next three sessions on the dry first day. In slower conditions on Wednesday, Oliveri and team-mate Rashid Al Dhaheri topped the timesheets.

Test results

The post FRegional, GB3 and F4 teams do final tests of 2025 in Europe appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: ACI Sport

US Racing’s Gabriel Gomez left the first round of the E4 season at Paul Ricard with a strong points advantage after winning two out of three races.

His race three victory came from pole, and with two Prema drivers in his mirrors throughout. Sebastian Wheldon started alongside him on the front row, but Kean Nakamura Berta got past his team-mate into second place entering the race’s opening corner and then stuck with Gomez.

PHM Racing’s Reno Francot went off at the chicane on the Mistral Straight, and ended lap one in eighth behind Prema’s Sasha Bondarev, R-ace GP’s Alex Powell, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Maximilian Popov and US Racing’s Andrija Kostic.

Powell overtook Bondarev on lap two, and Kostic got ahead of Popov. At the end of lap four a last-corner dive almost sent Kostic into Bondarev, and he overtook him at the Mistral chicane on lap five with a switchback move that opened up the inside line for him. Popov tried passing Bondarev at Signes, which bunched up the group and meant Francot had to defend from Jenzer Motorsport’s Enea Frey. US’s Ary Bansal profited, finding a gap to get ahead of Frey at the penultimate corner.

Francot overtook Popov on lap seven, and at the last corner Frey reclaimed ninth from Bansal. They were squabbling again on lap 10, with Bansal attacking Frey before and after the Mistral chicane and getting a move done exiting Beausset.

On lap 12 it became a four-car group once more and Francot went off. After rejoining he was able to get past Bondarev, while also almost sending him off, and Bondarev braked very late for the Mistral chicane to then get back ahead.

Francot responded by going around the outside of him at Signes, as Frey also overtook Bansal. However that position then swapped around again at Bendor, and at the final corner Bondarev went way off.

That set up Popov for a move on lap 13, which he completed down the Mistral, as a gap immediately opened up to Francot. Bondarev came back at Popov around the outside through Signes and Beausset, then when Popov hit the brakes he lost out to Frey and Bansal too.

Real Racing Team’s Luca Viisoreanu tried to also overtake Popov at the final corner but instead spun him around. The points positions were set at that point, with Frey holding off Bansal to the finish including squeezing him on the run to the line.

Race results (16 laps)

The post Gomez takes second Paul Ricard win to grow E4 points lead appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: ACI Sport

US Racing’s Gabriel Gomez and PHM Racing’s Reno Francot won the first two races of the E4 season at Paul Ricard last weekend.

Prema’s Kean Nakamura Berta lined up for the season-opening race on pole. but a fast-starting Gomez was able to clear Nakamura’s team-mate Sebastian Wheldon off the line and then go around the outside of the poleman at turn one in an expertly judged move.

Kabir Anurag (US) overtook Sasha Bondarev (Prema) for fourth, and behind them were Francot, Enea Frey (Jenzer Motorsport), Alex Powell (R-ace GP) and Maximilian Popov (Van Amersfoort Racing).

There was a fight between US’s Andrija Kostic and Prema’s Newman Chi over 10th at Signes on lap two, and at turn one on lap three Frey hit the kerbs then got loose and into the path of Powell. It both out, and Popov fell to the back as he avoided them. Kostic now held seventh, and Prema’s Salim Hanna Hernandez was up to 14th from 27th on the grid.

Francot attacked Bondarev at multiple corners through lap six, and got past a few laps later.

A battle near the front finally emerged on lap 13, as Nakamura defended against Wheldon down the Mistral Straight. Wheldon attacked him at Beausset on lap 14, as Gomez remained unchallenged and finished the 16-lapper 0.837 seconds ahead. Hanna made a few more overtakes to come home 10th.

Nakamura and Francot shared race two’s front row, but Gomez made the best start to take second on the inside before turn one. Frey cut two chicanes while battling Powell for ninth on lap one, but did not crash this time as they went wheel-to-wheel.

There was a gap of around a second between the top two for the first four laps, then Gomez began closing in. Nakamura had to weave down the Mistral on lap seven and then went deep into its chicane, allowing Gomez to get alongside on the run to Signes. There was no lead change, and Nakamura had to get defensive again on lap eighth.

A failed overtake by Gomez at Signes allowed Francot to take a tighter line and go past him at Beausset, with Wheldon also trying to overtake Gomez at the final corner.

Francot pounced on Nakamura two laps later, getting alongside at Beausset and taking the lead into Bendor. He then began to pull away, and won by 4.1s.

Gomez attacked Nakamura at Signes again on lap 12, with Anurag pressuring Popov for sixth. Nakamura went off at both chicanes on lap 14 and Gomez took second on the inside of Signes before switching to defence, while Anurag finally got his move done lap 15 as both cleared Bondarev.

Powell, who had to fight past Chi early on and was followed through by Frey before race control sent Chi to the pits, also overtook Bondarev on the penultimate lap. This time Hanna recovered from 20th to 13th.

Results round-up
Race 1 (16 laps)
1 Gabriel Gomez US Racing 34m06.761s
2 Kean Nakamura Berta Prema +0.837s
3 Sebastian Wheldon Prema +1.749s
4 Kabir Anurag US Racing +6.814s
5 Reno Francot PHM Racing +7.976s
6 Sasha Bondarev Prema +11.912s
7 Andrija Kostic US Racing +12.169s
8 Newman Chi Prema +15.009s
9 Alexander Ruta Van Amersfoort Racing +15.529s
10 Salim Hanna Hernandez Prema +17.978s
Fastest lap: Wheldon, 2m07.133s

Race 2 (16 laps)
1 Francot 34m10.048s
2 Gomez +4.125s
3 Nakamura +4.898s
4 Wheldon +5.513s
5 Anurag +7.947s
6 Maximilian Popov Van Amersfoort Racing +8.492s
7 Alex Powell R-ace GP +8.783s
8 Bondarev +9.538s
9 Enea Frey Jenzer Motorsport +10.243s
10 Bart Harrison Jenzer Motorsport +18.553s
FL: Francot, 2m07.156s

Championship standings
1 Gomez 43   2 Francot 35   3 Nakamura 33   4 Wheldon 27   5 Anurag 22   6 Bondarev 12   7 Popov 8   8 Powell 6   9 Kostic 6   10 Chi 4

The post Gomez and Francot win E4 season’s first two French races appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Fotospeedy

BVM Racing’s Tymek Kucharczyk moved into the Euroformula points lead with a trio of podiums at Paul Ricard last weekend.

The Pole was quickest in practice, setting a 1m56.047s to lead Motopark’s Yevan David by 0.127 seconds. There then a half-second gap to Everett Stack in third, but just 0.102s split him and sixth place.

Kucharczyk remained on top in qualifying, and posted a 1m54.617s to clinch pole by 0.297s over David. Erstwhile points leader Michael Shin was eighth fastest in practice and ninth in qualifying, 1.32s off pole.

BVM’s new signing Preston Lambert, stepping up from a points-free Eurocup-3 campaign, was sixth and felllow debutant Gino Trappa was an off-the-pace 11th. The Argentinian is a Brazilian Formula 4 race-winner.

David tucked in behind Kucharczyk at the start of race one, then had to get defensive against team-mate Fernando Barrichello until Jose Garfias managed to go around the outside of Barrichello at the Mistral Straight chicane.

Diego de la Torre overtook Lambert for fifth there too, then positions settled down until Nielsen Racing’s Ed Pearson crashed into Shin going through Signes on lap three and the safety car appeared. Racing resumed on lap six and de la Torre passed Barrichello, while Lambert resisted Stack’s attacks. Kucharczyk charged away to win by 3.4s.

Lambert had reversed-grid pole for race two, and drove superbly to hold the lead until lap 13 of 15 when Barrichello pulled off a brave overtake around the outside of Bendor after Lambert had hit the kerbs at Beausset.

Kucharczyk finished right behind in third, then crashed into Barrichello on the cooldown lap. Shin could not match the top three’s pace in fourth. David and Garfias went side-by-side into the last corner twice early on before colliding, with both failing to score and Kucharczyk taking the championship lead by one point over David.

Lambert had reversed-grid pole again for race three, and Pearson stalled from the front row alongside him. Garfias took the lead on the inside, with Barrichello going around the outside of Lambert at turn two.

They were side-by-side again though at turn four and Barrichello went off, but was able to rejoin in third ahead of David.

Shin got past David later in lap one when his title rival went off, and overtook Barrichello as lap two began.

David braved his way past Barrichello at Beausset, and on lap three team-mates de la Torre and Stack collided. Racing continued, and on lap four Shin took second from Lambert at Beausset.

It all went wrong for David on lap six, as he tried squeezing past Lambert at turn one. There was not enough room for both to make the corner, and Lambert went off and rejoined alongside David. They made contact at the next braking zone and David spun, with both needing to pit.

Shin was next to hit trouble on lap nine, breaking his front wing and flying off. That left Garfias with a big lead over Kucharczyk he managed to the end, and after Shin pitted he finished ninth. Barrichello was a very distant third.

Results round-up
Race 1 (15 laps)
1 Tymek Kucharczyk BVM Racing 31m01.171s
2 Yevan David Motopark +3.401s
3 Jose Garfias Motopark +7.928s
4 Diego de la Torre Motopark +10.024s
5 Fernando Barrichello Motopark +10.697s
6 Preston Lambert BVM Racing +11.182s
7 Everett Stack Motopark +16.072s
8 Finley Green Nielsen Racing +24.136s
9 Gino Trappa Nielsen Racing +45.665s
10 Paolo Brajnik NV Racing +46.851s
Pole: Kucharczyk, 1m54.617s
Fastest lap: Green, 1m56.109s

Race 2 (15 laps)
1 Barrichello 29m15.676s
2 Lambert +0.629s
3 Kucharczyk +1.157s
4 Michael Shin Motopark +2.628s
5 Stack +15.342s
6 Ed Pearson Nielsen Racing +19.319s
7 Trappa +26.893s
8 de la Torre +28.451s
9 Green +37.981s
10 Brajnik +49.215s
FL: Kucharczyk, 1m56.033s

Race 3 (15 laps)
1 Garfias 29m11.366s
2 Kucharczyk +2.179s
3 Barrichello +13.857s
4 Stack +16.396s
5 Trappa +27.057s
6 de la Torre +27.894s
7 Pearson +29.111s
8 Green +30.050s
9 Shin +1m40.895s
10 David +1m44.663s
FL: Kucharczyk, 1m55.965s

Championship standings
1 Kucharczyk 230   2 David 213   3 Shin 212   4 Garfias 193   5 Barrichello 149   6 Pearson 147   7 Stack 146   8 de la Torre 97   9 Shawn Rashid 41   10 Green 31

The post Kucharczyk moves to top of Euroformula points at Paul Ricard appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: ACI Sport

Freddie Slater was victorious in both Formula Regional European Championship races at Paul Ricard last weekend.

He was 0.094 seconds behind R-ace GP’s Enzo Deligny in free practice one, then lowered the pace to 1m57.782s in FP2 to have a 0.361s gap to Trident’s Matteo De Palo at the top. Prema team-mate Rashid Al Dhaheri and ART Grand Prix’s Evan Giltaire were 0.522s behind in third and fourth.

Qualifying for race one was split into two groups, and De Palo went quickest in the first. He set a 1m59.332s, heading CL Motorsport’s Michael Belov by 0.244s and ART GP’s Taito Kato by 0.3s.

CL’s Zachary David had his fastest lap deleted for causing red flags and ended up without a representative time, while Giltaire was 0.369s off the top in fourth.

Laptimes were considerably quicker in the disruption-free second group, and Slater earned pole with a 1m57.351s. He was 0.272s faster than R-ace’s Akshay Bohra, and had 0.529s in hand over Van Amersfoort Racing’s Pedro Clerot in third. All but two drivers beat De Palo, and Bedrin was fifth fastest but did not start from ninth due to stalling on the formation lap.

Slater dominated race one, winning by 7.917s to take the points lead. Belov got into third at the start ahead of Kato, Bohra, Clerot and VAR’s Hiyu Yamakoshi. Kato pulled off an impressive move around the outside of Belov on lap two, and by lap four Belov had fallen behind Bohra and Clerot too. Giltaire dived past early on lap five, with Deligny and R-ace’s Jin Nakamura following through a few corners later.

Prema’s Jack Beeton took several laps of pressuring before he cleared Belov, with the positions mostly settled ahead. Clerot got on Bohra’s tail at the end, and seventh was decided on lap 13 when Deligny overtook Giltaire off-track at turn two and Nakamura also got past the latter before Deligny could return the place.

Bedrin made his way into the squabble for 13th place at the finish after starting from the pitlane.

Slater had pole again for race two the next day ahead of Al Dhaheri, who missed race one. It was initially Al Dhaheri who had to get defensive, as Bohra got into third at turn two on the opening lap. Clerot dropped from third to sixth but gained back a spot as Deligny spun.

Bohra continued to challenge Al Dhaheri until the safety car appeared on lap three due to Prema’s Doriane Pin and Race Performance Motorsport’s Giovanni Maschio crashing at turn one. Red flags then waved, with the race restarting behind the safety car on lap six.

Green flags waved again on lap eight and Slater kept Al Dhaheri at bay. De Palo overtook Bohra on lap nine but went off, with Clerot then getting through. Giltaire also made a move despite almost spinning, and once ex-points leader De Palo had got back ahead of him the drivers ahead had already broken clear. Later on, Giltaire fended off Nakamura for sixth.

Results round-up
Race 1 (17 laps)
1 Freddie Slater Prema 33m41.620s
2 Matteo De Palo Trident +7.917s
3 Taito Kato ART Grand Prix +9.303s
4 Akshay Bohra R-ace GP +12.102s
5 Pedro Clerot Van Amersfoort Racing +12.271s
6 Hiyu Yamakoshi Van Amersfoort Racing +16.671s
7 Enzo Deligny R-ace GP +22.014s
8 Jin Nakamura R-ace GP +22.657s
9 Evan Giltaire ART Grand Prix +25.084s
10 Jack Beeton Prema +25.697s
Pole: Slater, 1m57.351s
Fastest lap: Slater, 1m58.223s

Race 2 (15 laps)
1 Slater 41m07.194s
2 Rashid Al Dhaheri Prema +0.504s
3 Bohra +1.261s
4 Clerot +1.772s
5 De Palo +6.522s
6 Giltaire +7.459s
7 Nakamura +7.959s
8 Nikita Bedrin Sainteloc Racing +9.107s
9 Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi Trident +9.926s
10 Deligny +12.086s
FL: Al Dhaheri, 1m58.862s

Championship standings
1 Slater 168   2 De Palo 148   3 Clerot 106   4 Deligny 97   5 Giltaire 91   6 Yamakoshi 78   7 Al Dhaheri 75   8 Bohra 68   9 Kato 47   10 Nakamura 31

The post Slater takes two wins and FREC points lead at Paul Ricard appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: ACI Sport

Prema’s Kean Nakamura Berta and US Racing’s Gabriel Gomez shared the pole positions for round one of the E4 season at Paul Ricard.

Nakamura was quickest in free practice one on Friday, setting a 2m07.606s to lead Alex Powell (R-ace GP) by 0.355 seconds. There was another big gap to Newman Chi (Prema) in third, as he was 0.627s off Nakamura’s pace, then 0.26s covered third down to 10th place. Gomez and Van Amersfoort Racing’s Dante Vinci were fourth and fifth.

Sebastian Wheldon rose to the fore in FP2, the Prema driver posting a 2m06.443s to go fastest by 0.121s. Nakamura was second, 0.26s clear of Gomez who was just ahead of Chi. Prema’s Sasha Bondarev pipped PHM Racing’s Reno Francot to fifth.

New signings at teams included Andre Rodriguez at VAR, GB4 title contender Ary Bansal at US Racing, Zengo Motorsport’s F4 Central European Zone racer Benett Gaspar and the trio of Ginevra Panzeri, Evan Michelini and Abdullah Kamel at AKM Motorsport.

Qualifying followed the next day, and in Q1 Nakamura beat Wheldon to pole by 0.111s. Gomez was a further 0.108s back in third, and Bondarev was the only other driver within half a second of pole.

Jenzer Motorsport’s Enea Frey put in a starring drive to be fifth fastest, ahead of solo entrant Francot, VAR’s Maximilian Popov, Powell and Jenzer’s Bart Harrison.

Nakamura found even more pace in Q2, improving to 2m05.817s to narrowly claim another pole. Francot and Gomez were just 0.055s and 0.057s slower than him, Wheldon was 0.176s back and Bondarev made it three Prema drivers in the top five.

Drivers’ second-best laptimes from across the two sessions set race three’s grid, and Gomez emerged with pole courtesy of a 2m05.875s lap. He was 0.241s faster than Wheldon, with Nakamura and Popov a further 0.005s and 0.03s. Bondarev was fifth again, ahead of Powell and Francot.

Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Kean Nakamura Berta Prema 2m06.128s
2 Sebastian Wheldon Prema +0.111s
3 Gabriel Gomez US Racing +0.219s
4 Sasha Bondarev Prema +0.409s
5 Enea Frey Jenzer Motorsport +0.648s
6 Kabir Anurag US Racing +0.659s
7 Reno Francot PHM Racing +0.668s
8 Maximilian Popov Van Amersfoort Racing +0.676s
9 Alex Powell R-ace GP +0.721s
10 Bart Harrison Jenzer Motorsport +0.849s

Race 2 grid
1 Nakamura 2m05.817s
2 Francot +0.055s
3 Gomez +0.057s
4 Wheldon +0.176s
5 Bondarev +0.268s
6 Popov +0.322s
7 Anurag +0.364s
8 Powell +0.404s
9 Newman Chi Prema +0.487s
10 Frey +0.547s

Race 3 grid
1 Gomez 2m05.875s
2 Wheldon +0.241s
3 Nakamura +0.246s
4 Popov +0.271s
5 Bondarev +0.294s
6 Powell +0.409s
7 Francot +0.440s
8 Chi +0.506s
9 Anurag +0.558s
10 Frey +0.574s

The post Nakamura and Gomez share poles for E4 opener at Paul Ricard appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: ACI Sport

Championship leader Freddie Slater secured his fourth Formula Regional Europe pole position of 2025 in Q2 at Paul Ricard, pipping Prema team-mate Rashid Al Dhaheri by 0.05 seconds.

His championship rivals Pedro Clerot (Van Amersfoort Racing) and Matteo De Palo (Trident) will line up on the second row.

Slater and Clerot topped the opening flying laps in Group B. The former moved to the front with a 1m57.838s on his fifth lap, edging Clerot and R-ace GP’s Akshay Bohra, the three split by just 0.005s.

After a lap to cool their tyres, the three embarked on a final push lap. Bohra looked to be on course to challenge the front two with a best time in the first sector, before Slater nailed the second part of the lap to take the flag in 1m57.44s.

Clerot could not match the Prema driver, despite going fastest in the final sector, but held off Bohra for third by 0.024s.

ART Grand Prix’s Kanato Le jumped up to fourth in the group, albeit over half a second adrift of Slater, with countryman Hiyu Yamakoshi taking fifth for VAR.

The R-ace GP pair of Enzo Deligny and Jin Nakamura looked to get clean air at the front of the train in Group A, as the field jostled for position behind them, with De Palo having to fight through the slower cars to find space on track.

Deligny and Nakamura moved to the top with their first flying laps and on his following effort Evan Giltaire went purple in the first two sectors then demoted them with a 1m58.209s lap.

On their second push lap, Deligny moved back to the top but soon saw his laptime beaten by the following Nakamura. Al Dhaheri then eclipsed them with a 1m57.756s, as Giltaire slotted into third.

It came down to the final flying laps. Deligny again went fastest but behind him Al Dhaheri was flying, going 0.15s quicker in the fastest sector than anybody else in either group. Giltaire posted a sector-best in the middle sector as he sought to make amends for a slightly slower first sector.

Al Dhaheri held on to top the group and ensure a front row grid slot, and he was only narrowly shy of Slater’s benchmark

Having not featured in the top four until that point, De Palo timed his run to perfection to go second and crossed the line just 0.018s slower than Al Dhaheri. Deligny, Giltaire and Nakamura completed the top five.

Qualifying results

The post Slater powers to fourth FREC pole of season at Paul Ricard appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: All Road Management

Car racing rookie Ean Eyckmans will step up to the Formula Regional European Championship with Race Performance Motorsport at this weekend’s Hungaroring round.

The 17-year-old Belgian won the Richard Mille Young Talent Academy shootout at Jerez last year, earning himself a paid-for seat on Spanish Formula 4 grid for 2025.

He joined MP Motorsport, and came sixth in the Spanish F4 Winter Championship with two podiums. In the first four rounds of the main championship, he has appeared on the podium seven times so far and sits fourth in the standings.

“I’m very excited to be racing in FREC with R-P-M for the next two rounds,” said Eyckmans, whose second FRegional outing will be at Paul Ricard later this month.

“It will definitely be a big challenge, especially with no testing beforehand, but I’m ready to learn and make the most of this opportunity. Huge thanks to R-P-M and All Road Management for believing in me and giving me this opportunity to compete at such a high level. I’m incredibly grateful and motivated to make the most of it.”

R-P-M’s team principal Keith Donegan commented: “[Ean] has been impressive so far this season in Spanish F4 and we are looking forward to see him in the FREC car. Budapest will be his first time driving it, so he will have a lot to learn, but I think he can develop quickly. Let’s get to work!”

Eyckmans had a strong 2024 on OK karts, winning WSK’s Super Master Series, coming sixth in its Champions Cup and 14th in its Euro Series. At the CIK-FIA World Championship he raced for the Eyckmans GP team run by his father Wim, who raced in the 1999 Indianapolis 500.

The post F4 star Ean Eyckmans to debut in FRegional Europe with R-P-M appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Campos Racing

Thomas Strauven moved over 100 points clear at the top of the Spanish Formula 4 standings with victory in race three at Paul Ricard.

The Campos Racing driver took the lead from pole-sitting team-mate Jan Przyrowski off the line and then had to fend off MP Motorsport’s Ean Eyckmans until he was forced deep at Virage and his fellow Belgian went past.

Eyckmans weaved his way down the Mistral straight, and Strauven got alongside at Signes. They rubbed wheels and Strauven got back through into Beausset. As Przyrowski lost further places, Reno Francot passed MP team-mate Rene Lammers for third.

There was several lock-ups from Strauven on lap two, but after that he without pressure and sprinted off to take his sixth win of the season by 4.5 seconds.

Campos’s Noah Monteiro overtook Lammers early in lap two, then Przyrowski got back past him at Virage. There was squabbling down the Mistral straight, and the big loser was Lammers who ended the lap in ninth.

Przyrowski reclaimed another place on lap four by diving down the inside of Francot at the final corner, but a lap later he retired in the pits as Lammers was spun down the order at the last corner by Tecnicar Motorsport’s Andrej Petrovic.

Monteiro had attacked Francot through the first sector of lap five, but then got stuck behind him. Francot weaved down the Mistral straight on lap six, and they ran nose-to-tail after that but there was no change and it brought MP’s Niklas Schaufler into play. He attaced at the last corner on lap seven, unsuccessfully, and Rodin Motorsport’s Nathan Tye had joined in by lap 10.

A lap later he went down the inside of Schaufler at turn one, but there was now a small gap to the two ahead. As he pursued them, MP’s Juan Cota began attacking a defensive and sliding Schaufler.

Cota tried again around the outside at turn one on lap 14, then at Signes and made it through. But his unusual line meant Schaufler was back ahead at Beausset. Campos’s Vivek Kanthan, who was a few seconds behind a lap before, was now on their tail.

The battles for third and sixth culminated on the last lap. Francot expertly weaved his way through the final lap to keep his podium place, while Cota overtook Schaufler as they began the lap but they were side-by-side again by turn two.

Schaufler had to concede once Kanthan was getting volved, getting his move done at Virage and beating Schaufler by 0.025s in a photo finish.

Race results (16 laps)

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