Photo: TGR NZ

Kanato Le delivered his and Hitech GP’s first Formula Regional Oceania win in the penultimate race of the season at Highlands Motorsport Park.

From reversed-grid pole, Le controlled the 18-lap race from the front and avoided being attacked after a safety car period.

A great launch meant he was far ahead of the battle for second on lap one. HMD Motorsports with TJ Speed team-mates Liam Sceats and James Wharton started second and third, and ran side-by-side through the first corner.

Wharton had the inside line into the bus stop chicane and got ahead, and just behind them MTEC Motorsport team-mates Louis Sharp and Ryan Wood clashed. Wood was sent off, then bounched high over the kerbs as he rejoined. M2 Competition’s points leader Ugo Ugochukwu had to take evasive action, but still gained a place on the opening lap.

Le had a 0.869-second gap heading into lap two, and behind Sharp were M2’s Freddie Slater, Wood, Ugochukwu and Hitech’s Jin Nakamura.

Wood attacked Slater after crossing the bridge on lap seven, and two laps later MTEC’s Yuanpu Cui went spinning off exiting the turn 14 hairpin and got beached, prompting the safety car to come out for five laps.

Four laps remained when racing resumed, and Le continued where he left off up front. Wood forced Slater into defending at the hairpin on lap 15, then a lap later was in defensive mode himself against Ugochukwu. Racing was neutralised once more on lap 17 as HMD’s Ricardo Baptista crashed out.

Behind the top eight at the finish was Kiwi Motorsport’s Yevan David, who had held off MTEC’s Zack Scoular.

The race results meant Sharp and Nakamura were eliminated from title contention, leaving Ugochukwu and Slater to contend for the crown in the season-ending New Zealand Grand Prix.

Race results (18 laps)

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Photo: Bruce Jenkins

Yevan David, Kanato Le and Sebastian Manson have become the latest drivers to be announced as racing in Formula Regional Oceania next year.

Kiwi Motorsport has signed David, Le will race for incoming team Hitech GP and Manson will reunite with M2 Competition.

Sri Lankan racer David steps down to FRegional after being runner-up this year in Euroformula, in which he won six races, and ahead of being part of AIX Racing’s 2026 FIA Formula 3 Championship line-up.

“I’m very excited to be racing in this championship,” David said of competing in New Zealand.

“It’s going to be such a new experience and there will be many new things to learn. But I’m also excited to compete, to work with a new team and to achieve as much as possible.

“Learning as much as possible will mean trying all the time to be better than the day before. I will focus on making improvements on myself, improvements to how I work with the team and achieving the maximum possible. Whether that’s the championship or not doesn’t really concern me, as long as we fulfil everything within our control.”

The Mark Blundell-managed Le is also FIA F3-bound, with ART Grand Prix, after two years of FRegional experience.

He came 18th in the European championship with one podium and 22nd in FRegional Middle East as a part-timer in 2024, then took one win en route to eighth in the FRME standings, finished 11th in the Macau Grand Prix, was a race-winning 14th in GB3 as a part-timer and was 14th in the FRegional European Championship in 2025.

“I’m really looking forward to racing in New Zealand for the first time,” said Le. “To be able to race against top drivers before the main season starts will be very valuable and of course I’ll be focusing on trying to win the championship with Hitech.”

Manson is a local talent, and will be embarking on his third FRegional Oceania season. He did two rounds of the championship in 2024 with Giles Motorsport, taking a best finish of eighth, then came sixth with M2 this year in a campaign which included two wins. In 2026, FRegional Oceania switches to being an FIA Regional Trophy rather than a championship.

‘I’m definitely excited to be back for a second full season,” said the 17-year-old.

“It was really cool last time around and I’m aiming higher for 2026. I want to build on those results and use the championship as a launch pad for an even stronger 2026 season.”

Manson is yet to announce where his career is headed next away from home soil. He was FRegional Japanese Championship runner-up in 2024, and was 12th in USF Pro 2000 this year.

The post David, Le and Manson join 2026 FRegional Oceania grid appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Macau Grand Prix

The full entry list for the 2025 Macau Grand Prix has been published, with 27 drivers lining up to win the second edition of the FIA Formula Regional World Cup.

Two-time grand prix winner Charles Leong is returning with Prema, last year’s winning team team R-ace GP is returning with three FRegional frontrunners, while Pinnacle Motorsport, Sainteloc Racing and TOM’S are all entering two cars each.

The other five teams — ART Grand Prix, Evans GP, PHM Racing, Trident and Van Amersfoort Racing — are all fielding three-car line-ups.

ART GP will run its FRegional European Championship line-up of Evan Giltaire, Taito Kato and Kanato Le, who sit sixth, ninth and 14th in the standings there with one round to go. Giltaire and Le drove for the team in Macau last year, with both retiring.

Evans GP will field Hiyu Yamakoshi, 16th in FRegional Middle East at the start of this year and currently eighth in FREC, alongside teenaged brothers Charlie and Oscar Wurz.

Charlie, the older of the two, has spent three years in single-seaters’ third tier and took two FIA Formula 3 Championship podiums this season. He entered Macau in 2023, and retired.

Oscar, the 2024 Formula 4 Central European Zone champion, was 14th in Eurocup-3’s winter series at the start of 2025 and is currently 18th in the main championship. He will miss the season finale since both it and the Macau GP take place on November 14-16.

PHM Racing has signed Euroformula title contender Jose Garfias, Eurocup-3 champion and Eurocup-3 winter series runner-up Mattia Colnaghi and FREC part-timer and FRegional Oceania points-scorer Enzo Yeh. Colnaghi was classified 14th in the 2024 Macau GP.

Noah Stromsted and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, who both won races en route to sixth and seventh in the FIA F3 Championship this year, will drive for Trident alongside Reza Seeworuthun. He is contending to become GB3 runner-up at Monza this weekend

Completing the grid with VAR are Euroformula points leader Tymek Kucharczyk, FRegional Japanese Championship leader Kiyoshi Umegaki and Newman Chi. He will be the least experienced driver in the grand prix, having spent less than a year in car racing so far.

In that time the 16-year-old from mainland China has come fifth in the United Arab Emirates-based Formula Trophy and Italian F4, and ninth in F4 Middle East. He has FRegional experience from two FREC outings.

The post Wurz brothers to be team-mates and other F3 stars to race in Macau GP appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: ART Grand Prix

ART Grand Prix has promoted Kanato Le to its FIA Formula 3 Championship line-up for next year.

The 18-year-old will be stepping up to the Formula 1 support paddock after racing in various Formula Regional championships with the team since 2024, and has several of car racing experience preceding that.

He is ART GP’s second signing for 2026, following the announcement that Eurocup-3 winter series champion Maciej Gladysz would be joining the team.

“I’m super excited to be racing in FIA F3 next season with ART GP,” said Le. “I am really grateful for the opportunity they have given me to be able to race in this championship.”

“It’s been a good year working with the team in FRegional European Championship this season and I look forward to getting started in F3. I’d like to thank everyone who has helped me get to this point and trusting me. I will work hard with the team to achieve good results so I’m really looking forward to it.”

When Le graduated from karting in 2022, his manager Mark Blundell placed him in the Ginetta Junior sportscar series where he came seventh in the points table with two wins and was the second top rookie.

He made one single-seater outing before a full-time switch to Formula 4 in 2023, winning twice en route to seventh in the British F4 standings and coming 17th in F4 United Arab Emirates.

Le then stepped up the ladder, coming 18th in FREC with one podium and 22nd in FRegional Middle East as a part-timer. In late 2024 he joined ART GP for the FIA FRegional World Cup-awarding Macau Grand Prix.

The partnership continued into 2025, which kicked off with Le taking a race win in FRME and coming eighth in the standings. He is currently 14th in FREC with one round to go, and was 14th in GB3 where raced part-time with Hillspeed and won.

“Kanato’s move to F3 is the natural continuation of his journey with ART GP,” said the team’s principal Sebastien Philippe.

“After two seasons in FREC, he will now discover an even more demanding category, where every detail makes the difference. Kanato already knows the team and how it operates, which will help him integrate smoothly and focus fully on his driving. This continuity is important both for him and for us, and we are looking forward to the next stages of his development.”

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Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Hillspeed’s Kanato Le bounced back from a poor start to win GB3’s shortened second race of the day at Spa-Francorchamps.

Having lined up from pole, Le initially slipped to fourth before fighting his way back to the front. He eventually finished 1.222 seconds ahead of Hitech GP’s Nikita Johnson, who made up four places.

Johnson originally qualified third but was handed a three-place grid penalty following his race one clash with Xcel Motorsport’s Jack Sherwood.

That moved new points leader Alex Ninovic up one place to third on the grid, and he took the lead into La Source ahead of  Rodin Motorsport team-mate Gianmarco Pradel at the start, while Hiyu Yamamoski climbed one spot to third ahead of team-mate Le.

Hitech’s Keanu Al Alzhari moved past the Hillspeed duo and made it a three-wide battle for the lead with Ninovic and Pradel on the Kemmel Straight. Ninovic prevailed into Les Combes, Yamakoshi and Le swept around the outside into second and third, while Pradel was shuffled back to fifth behind Al Azhari.

Le took second away from Yamakoshi on lap two, used DRS to reel in Ninovic on the Kemmel Straight on the next tour, and then took over first place on the run to Les Combes on lap four. At the same time as the lead changed hands, Al Azhari slipstreamed by Yamakoshi into third, and Johnson dispatched Pradel for fifth.

Having swiftly pulled out a 1.1s advantage to exit DRS range, Le remained ahead until the race was concluded by the chequered flag being waved two laps early.

Johnson continued to make progress, passing Yamakoshi, Al Alzhari and Ninovic in successive laps on the Kemmel Straight to record his second podium of the season.

Ninovic came home 1.2s behind Johnson in third to grow his points gap. Al Azhari lost out to Yamakoshi into La Source on the last lap, but moved back past a couple of corners later before finishing fourth.

Elite’s Will Macintyre dropped behind Johnson early on, but eventually passed Pradel to take sixth. The pair might have been caught by Freddie Slater had the race continued for its scheduled duration.

The Hillspeed part-timer fought his way from the back of the grid to 11th by the start of lap four and soon passed Xcel Motorsport’s title contender Patrick Heuzenroeder and JHR Developments’ Kai Daryanani. He picked off Xcel’s Dion Gowda for eighth on the final lap, and was 1.5s behind Pradel on taking the flag.

It was one place higher than Slater managed in the opening contest – where he was promoted to ninth following a post-race penalty for Deagen Fairclough. The Hitech racer was penalised five seconds for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, dropping him 10 places to 19th.

In race two Fairclough started one place ahead of Slater in 22nd, and climbed to 11th ahead of Heuzenroeder. He has slipped to sixth in the standings ahead of Sunday’s reversed-grid contest.

Race results (9 laps)

The post Le recovers from slow start at Spa to take maiden GB3 win appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Alex Ninovic and Kanato Le topped a session each in GB3’s disrupted qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps on Friday.

Ninovic led Rodin Motorsport team-mate Gianmarco Pradel in Q1 to take pole for Saturday’s opening contest, with Pradel again second in Q2 behind Hillspeed’s Le, who scored his maiden pole.

But two leading contenders will start all three of the weekend’s races from the back of the grid, with Hillspeed’s Freddie Slater and Hitech GP’s Deagen Fairclough both failing to register a representative time after hitting trouble in Q1.

Slater came to a halt in the first sector on just his second lap, and Q1 was then red-flagged with four minutes remaining when Fairclough, Argenti Motorsport with Prema’s Luca Fluxa and Hillspeed’s Hiyu Yamakoshi collided at the Bus Stop chicane and all came to a halt.

With the session not resuming, Ninovic’s 2m14.905s lap was good enough to seal race one pole by 0.2 seconds from Pradel. Velocity Racing Development’s Hugo Schwarze was third ahead of Xcel Motorsport’s points leader Patrick Heuzenroeder.

JHR Developments’ Noah Lisle took fifth just before the red flag, with Elite’s Will Macintyre sixth, Le seventh and Lisle’s team-mate Kai Daryanani one second off the pace in eighth. Hitech’s Keanu Al Azhari and Nikita Johnson had both failed to set a representative lap when the session was halted, and are due to start race one from 20th and 22nd respectively.

Slater, Fairclough and Fluxa were unable to take part in Q2, which was led initially once more by Ninovic with a 2m14.815s.  Le lowered the pace to a 2m13.917s and then improved further to a 2m13.740s to secure race two pole.

Al Azhari took second away from Ninovic, but the pair were then beaten by Pradel. Ninovic responded to reclaim third, while Pradel set a new personal best to cement his second front-row starting spot of the weekend.

Johnson improved on his final attempt to snatch third from Ninovic, and Yamakoshi also went faster on taking the chequered flag to steal fifth from Al Azhari.

Macintyre was seventh ahead of JHR’s Dion Gowda – the pair also going quicker on their final tours – while Heuzenroeder’s final effort only put him 10th behind Lisle.

Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Alex Ninovic Rodin Motorsport 2m14.905s
2 Gianmarco Pradel Rodin Motorsport +0.223s
3 Hugo Schwarze Velocity Racing Development +0.567s
4 Patrick Heuzenroeder Xcel Motorsport +0.680s
5 Noah Lisle JHR Developments +0.867s
6 Will Macintyre Elite Motorsport +0.900s
7 Kanato Le Hillspeed +0.974s
8 Kai Daryanani JHR Developments +1.066s
9 Yuanpu Cui Argenti w/ Prema + 1.384s
10 Jack Sherwood Xcel Motorsport 1.444s

Race 2 grid
1 Le 2m13.740s
2 Pradel +0.382s
3 Nikita Johnson Hitech GP +0.663s
4 Ninovic +0.765s
5 Hiyu Yamakoshi Hillspeed +0.795s
6 Keanu Al Azhari Hitech GP +0.862s
7 Macintyre +0.968s
8 Dion Gowda JHR Developments +1.018s
9 Lisle +1.019s
10 Heuzenroeder +1.070s

The post Ninovic and Le share poles as rivals hit trouble in GB3 Spa qualifying appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Kanato Le was quickest ahead of Hillspeed team-mate Freddie Slater in GB3 practice at Spa-Francorchamps.

Slater topped both of Thursday’s pre-event test sessions as well as Friday’s final two free practice sessions, but it was fellow part-timer Le who delivered the best time of the two days in FP1.

It didn’t take long for Slater to set the pace on his GB3 return, as he posted an early benchmark of 2m14.567s in the opening test session. He remained ahead until the conclusion, improving to a 2m14.414s to be 0.242 seconds quicker than Le. 

Elite Motorsport’s Will Macintyre was a further 0.6s behind, and Hiyu Yamakoshi ensured Hillspeed’s three drivers were all in the top four.

Every driver improved in session two, and again it was Slater who was fastest. He set a 2m14.030s to edge out Rodin Motorsport’s Gianmarco Pradel by 0.106s.

Argenti Motorsport with Prema’s Reza Seewooruthun was a further 0.1s adrift, and Hitech GP’s Deagen Fairclough was 0.3s shy of the pace in fourth. Le was fifth ahead of Macintye, while Xcel Motorsport’s points leader Patrick Heuzenroeder was 12th. One second covered the top 13 drivers.

The action continued with three practice sessions on Friday. Slater initially led FP1 with a 2m14.144s when red flags were shown due to Elite’s Flynn Jackes becoming beached in a gravel trap.

Le lowered the pace once the track returned to green, his late 2m13.150s effort putting him 0.019s ahead of Slater. Macintye and Fairclough were separated by 0.025s in third and fourth, with JHR Development’s Kai Daryanani 0.027s behind.

A 2m13.236s lap was good enough for Slater to top FP2 by 0.467s ahead of Le. Hitech’s Nikita Johnson was third, and Daryanani was the final driver within a second of Slater in fourth.

Slater again led from Le in session three, his 2m13.654s putting him 0.183s clear. Alex Ninovic set a new personal best to beat Rodin team-mate Pradel to third, and Johnson was fifth ahead of Hitech team-mate Keanu Al Azhari, who was the final driver within a second of the pace.

Le was quickest in the combined results, with the top nine drivers all setting their best laps in FP1. Johnson’s FP2 best put the American 10th overall ahead of Velocity Racing Development’s Hugo Schwarze and Ninovic.

Free practice results

The post Kanato Le fastest ahead of Freddie Slater in GB3 practice at Spa appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Red Bull

A number of late entries have resulted in the field for this weekend’s GB3 season-opener at Silverstone growing to 24 cars.

Among those is Enzo Tarnvanichkul, who has been a member of the Red Bull Junior Team since 2023. The 16-year-old will contest the four British rounds of the series as well as the Monza season finale in GB3 with Velocity Racing Development. He will get his first taste of the GB3 car at Thursday’s pre-event test.

Tarnvanichkul came 12th in Spanish Formula 4 as a single-seater rookie last year, and took a pair of sixth places during his two-round appearance in Eurocup-3’s 2025 Spanish Winter championship.

“I’m proud to be competing in selected GB3 Championship events this season,” said Tarnvanichkul. “The opportunity to race on some of the most iconic circuits in the UK and Europe will be invaluable in my development as a driver. I’m extremely grateful to VRD Racing for the opportunity and of course to the Red Bull academy for their continued support. I’m fully focused on making the most of this experience and can’t wait to get started on track.”

Hillspeed has expanded to a full three-car line-up for round one after signing both Kanato Le and Hiyu Yamakoshi for partial campaigns alongside Freddie Slater. Both will contest the three non-clashing GB3 rounds this year alongside their full Formula Regional European championship programmes.

Le scored two wins in British Formula 4 in 2023 en route to seventh in the standings. Last year he came 18th in FREC, made a GB3 cameo at Spa-Francorchamps and was a non-finisher in the main race at the Macau Grand Prix. He began 2025 by taking one win and finishing eighth overall in FRegional Middle East.

Yamakoshi was a front-runner in both Italian F4 and Euro-4 last year, winning twice in both and finishing third and fourth in the standings respectively. The 18-year-old took part in the final three FRegional Middle East rounds this year, scoring a best result of fifth.

“I’m very happy to be competing in three events of the GB3 Championship with Hillspeed,” said Yamakoshi. “With very limited practice time I know Silverstone will be a very difficult weekend, but I will try to learn as much as I can from my team-mate Freddie who I competed against for the title in Italian and Euro F4 last year. I will do my best to fight for the lead from the start.”

Fortec Motorsports has expanded its assault to two cars, with Mika Abrahams returning to the team with which he took two poles and came 18th overall in British F4 in 2023. He remained in the series with a switch to Hitech GP last year, taking a maiden victory at Donington Park, but his season only lasted four rounds.

“It feels like coming home,” said Abrahams. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with everyone at Fortec Motorsports once again, and I am looking forward to a successful season ahead.”

The post Red Bull junior Tarnvanichkul among four last-minute entries for GB3 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: FRME

ART Grand Prix’s Kanato Le led lights-to-flag from reversed-grid pole in Formula Regional Middle East race two at Yas Marina Circuit.

The race started in sunlight but finished under floodlights, and was light on action after the first few laps. Le made a good start, as team-mate Taiko Kato stalled from fourth on the grid and fell down the order.

Sainteloc Racing’s Theophile Nael and R-ace GP’s Enzo Deligny followed Le into turn one, with mixed fortunes for the other R-ace drivers. Ugochukwu moved up to fourth, while Akshay Bohra had a tangle with another driver in the hotel section and ended up spun around and stalled. He got his car going again, but just as Ugochukwu attempted passing Deligny around the outside the final chicane the safety car was summoned.

Racing resumed on lap three without a fuss, and behind the top four were PHM Racing’s Brando Badoer, Mumbai Falcons’ Freddie Slater, ART GP’s Evan Giltaire and Pinnacle Motorsport’s Ernesto Rivera.

There was a battle for ninth place, as Mumbai Falcons’ Rashid Al Dhaheri banged wheels with Pinnacle’s Jesse Carrasquedo jr in the hotel section on lap four. R-ace’s Jin Nakamura then passed Carrasquedo at the hairpin, then almost drove him into the pitwall twice as they concluded the lap.

Carrasquedo went wide at turn one and fell behind Aaron Cameron (Evans GP) and Lorenzo Castillo (Sainteloc), then the safety car was called out again as Finley Green (Pinnacle) and Jack Beeton (Mumbai Falcons) had collided at the final chicane. A further incident involving Carrasquedo then eliminated his team-mate Giovanni Maschio.

Le left it as late as possible to return the field to racing speed for lap eight, and had a peaceful second half of the race to earn his first FRegional win. He made the podium once in the European championship as a rookie last year.

Ugochukwu feinted a move Deligny into turn one on lap nine, and Al Dhaheri thought of attacking Rivera at the hairpin, then Al Dhaheri had to hold off Nakamura at the final chicane on lap 11. Slater maintained the points lead by finishing sixth.

Race results (14 laps)

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Photo: Dutch Photo Agency

Ruiqi Liu will remain with Trident in 2025 for a second Formula Regional European Championship season.

The Chinese came 22nd in the standings this year, scoring three points, and before that was 26th in FRegional Middle East with PHM Racing. He reunited with the team to contest the FRegional World Cup-awarding Macau Grand Prix, coming 22nd in the qualification race and crashing out of the main race.

“It has been a pleasure to continue my journey with Trident, super exciting and ready to put some good show,” said Liu.

The 18-year-old also made a Chinese Formula 4 cameo this year that resulted in a podium, having coming fourth in the championship the previous season by winning three of his eight races and only being off the podium once. His F4 results in Europe varied, with fourth place in Formula Winter Series at the start of 2023 followed by 14th in Euro 4 and 30th in Italian F4.

Liu’s team-mates in 2025 will be Matteo De Palo and Nandhavhud Bhirombhakdi. The latter came 14th in ADAC F4 two years ago, then was 21st in both Euro 4 and Italian F4 last years and a points-free 26th in FREC with KIC Motorsport this season.

ART Grand Prix has made its second signing, and currently has an all-Japanese line-up as Kanato Le joins the already announced Taito Kato. The 17-year-old will also drive for ART GP in FRME too next year.

Le won twice en route to seventh in the 2023 British F4 standings as a single-seater rookie, and in 2024 made FRME and GB3 outings in addition to his main programme which was FREC with G4 Racing. He took one podium and two other points finishes, ending the season 18th in the standings.

“I am very happy to be racing with ART GP for the 2025 season,” said Le. “We had a productive winter test and I am confident that we will achieve great results together so I can’t wait to get started with them next year. Thank you very much to everyone who made this possible.”

He made his first race outing with the team in last month’s Macau GP, finishing 19th in the qualification race then retiring from the main race.

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