Photo: Meritus GP

There was plenty of F4 racing in 2024, with career-launching campaigns accompanied by winter warm-ups

Middle East

The go-to winter series for several years now has been Formula 4 United Arab Emirates, which races at Yas Marina Circuit and Dubai Autodrome. Prema’s Mumbai Falcons-branded cars were the ones to beat, and Italian F4 dominator Freddie Slater needed just two wins and four other podiums from 15 races to pip team-mate Kean Nakamura-Berta to the title.

Nakamura won the season opener in Abu Dhabi, which Yas Heat Academy’s Keanu Al Azhari started from pole, and Formula 3-bound Nikita Bedrin won for PHM Racing in the reversed-grid race. Slater won race three, and passed team-mate Alex Powell to make it two in a row in the opening race of round two. Al Azhari won the next two races, but Slater was on the podium in both to hold the points lead.

Bedrin turned pole into victory twice at Dubai, with Powell getting his sole win in the reversed-grid contest, and a double podium put Al Azhari on Slater’s tail in the title fight. A return to Abu Dhabi spiced up the season narrative in round four.

Prema’s Doriane Pin won race one from pole after on-the-road victor Nakamura was penalised for jumping the start, and Al Azhari and Slater collided on lap one. Although he was demoted to fifth, Nakamura still boosted his title chances.

Hitech GP’s Gabriel Stilp came through from sixth on the grid to dominate a wet race two, and all three title contenders failed to score. The weather was unpredictable for race three, and led to a mix of strategies. Al Azhari took the points lead by finishing third, as Prema’s Rashid Al Dhaheri won and neither Slater or Nakamura finished.

Nakamura took a double pole in the final round at Dubai, and after winning a dusty race one ahead of Al Dhaheri there was now a five-way title fight as his two main rivals could only finish fifth and ninth. R-ace GP’s Enzo Deligny won the reversed-grid race, Slater pipped Al Azhari to fourth to become his main rival and Nakamura stayed in contention by scoring two points.

Photo: F4 UAE

Al Dhaheri immediately passed Nakamura for the lead in the title-deciding race three and all but ended his hopes since Slater was sat behind him in third. Focus then switched to Al Azhari, who lost the title to Slater by finishing eighth.

Running concurrently to F4 UAE was the inaugural Saudi Arabian F4 season, where all cars were run by Meritus GP. Federico Al Rifai won twice in the first round at Kuwait Motor Town (in Kuwait), while in round two at the circuit, Saqer Almaosherji, Al Rifai, Andrej Petrovic and Suleiman Zanfari shared the wins. Retrospectively it was made a non-championship event, so Qatar’s Losail circuit instead hosted round two in March and Al Rifai took another double.

Eventually races actually took place in Saudi Arabia, and three rounds were held in Jeddah over the course of 11 days. Petrovic took the points lead by winning twice in the first of the triple-header events, with Al Rifai’s title ambitions hurt by missing a race. However he moved back ahead with his own double in the next round, and when the results of race one in the final round was taken back by a lap [without explanation] it handed Al Rifai another win at the expense of Petrovic.

Although Petrovic won the final race, it was too late as Al Rifai wrapped up the title the day before in a race won by Zanfari.

Over the last month there has been further F4 action in the UAE with the Formula Trophy. Al Dhaheri was the star of round one at Dubai, remained unbeaten in qualifying for round two in Abu Dhabi but for the second time lost a win to a penalty, and then skipped round three. A double podium earned Evans GP’s Kai Daryanani the crown, but Prema’s Sebastian Wheldon stole the headlines with his race one win.

Spain

Formula Winter Series featured a combination of drivers warming up for Italian F4 and Spanish F4, and MP Motorsport’s Griffin Peebles was champion of the four-round tour of Spain. Jerez was more wet and wild than warm-up, and the wins went to Andres Cardenas (Campos Racing), Peebles and Juan Cota (Drivex School).

Photo: Gedlich Racing/Daniel Burgin

Cardenas left with the points lead, but further chaos at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit put Peebles ahead. Cardenas won a red-flagged race one, Peebles was victorious in a delayed and safety car-filled race two and US Racing’s Matheus Ferreira led home Peebles in race three. James Egozi appeared on the grid with Campos at Motorland Aragon, and was announced as joining the Red Bull Junior Team. He proved worthy of his Formula 1 backing by taking pole and a win, while Al Azhari came over from the UAE to do the same with MP. Rodin Motorsport’s single-seater rookie Thomas Strauven won race two.

Storms at Barcelona limited track action until race two, which Peebles won from pole. He was victorious again in race three to seal the title. MP’s Maciej Gladysz was third in the points, and would be the most competitive of FWinter Series’ full-timers in Spanish F4.

His team-mate Lucas Fluxa won twice in the opening round at Jarama, but actually crashed out of the second race he won, then never had another competitive showing over the season. Al Azhari came to the fore at Algarve in Portugal, then team-mate Mattia Colnaghi was dominant in the first two races at Paul Ricard in France. Gladysz won the third, and took another two at Aragon before Al Azhari returned to the top step of the podium to hold a sizeable points lead.

Cota went unbeaten at Valencia, and while Al Azhari and Gladysz both made the podium they also retired in race one due to colliding and each had another non-score. Colnaghi’s two podiums made him a more likely title contender, and he stepped up to that status by being the form driver thereon.

He won twice at Jerez to become points leader in theory, but Al Azhari also claimed a victory and went into the final round 13 points ahead after winning an appeal against a penalty at Aragon. In race one at Barcelona, Colnaghi soaked up a lot of pressure from his rival for another win, then moved ahead on victory countback by winning race two, before a track limits penalty for Al Azhari cost him a podium and handed Colnaghi a big advantage going into the decider.

Cota cruised to victory, not quite enough to deny Gladysz third in the points. Al Azhari had another off-track moment and this time went penalty-free despite moving ahead of Colnaghi, who became champion in fifth as Al Azhari came home third.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Two weeks prior, Valencia specialist Cota had claimed the Motorsport Games F4 gold medal at the track. He was pipped to pole by 0.007s in a damp qualifying session, but then won the qualification and main race.

North America

Starting, or rather ending the F4 action on this continent is NACAM F4 since the first three rounds of its 2024-25 season have already taken place. The Mexico-based series had issues with its switch from first to second-generation F4 chassis, delaying its season start by over four months and making it a multi-year schedule, and Jose Carlos Hernandez leads the way so far.

He won from pole in both races of the F1-supporting first round, team-mate Helio Meza bettered him twice at Autodromo Miguel E. Abed, and Alessandros Racing’s partnership with Campos Racing contributed to former W Series racer Nerea Marti joining their garage in round three this month. Hernandez took two more wins in Mexico City, but Marti pushed hard and took the second F4 win of her career.

United States F4 has also had an uneasy switch to Gen2 machinery, cancelling its first round and averaging just seven cars this season. The Australian drivers, Atlantic Racing Team’s Daniel Quimby and Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport’s Nicolas Stati, and the latter’s New Zealander team-mate Alex Crosbie, were usually fighting each other for victories and Quimby (who went unbeaten at Mosport in Canada) took the crown by just 4.5 points over Stati.

The older cars continued to run in the Ligier JS F4 Series (previously known as Formula Development), which had bigger grids and far more entertaining action. Scuderia Buell’s Teddy Musella won a third of the races and the title, and Crosslink/Kiwi’s Kekai Hauanio denied him pole twice and took four victories and four second places to be runner-up in the standings.

Fifth in the standings was Brad Majman, another of Crosslink/Kiwi’s Australians, and he went unbeaten at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

The same car is used by Formula Pro USA for its F4 Western championship, which cancelled its one-round winter series and also did not go ahead with its planned ‘Women Racing Series’ classification for female entrants. Majman and World Speed Motorsports’ Valentino Garbarino shared the wins in the first two rounds at Thunderhill Raceway Park. Kiwi’s Drew Szuch was the only other driver in round one, and World Speed’s Alexander Cornfeld their sole rival in round two.

Laguna Seca held the next two rounds, the first of which only featured Cornfeld and Garbarino. They took a win each, then Garbarino went unbeaten on the return visit as the grid grew to five cars. Jensen Global Advisors’ Athan Sterling finished second twice, and did the same at Sonoma Raceway where he finished last to newly crowned champion Garbarino.

Four drivers turned up to the Buttonwillow Raceway finale, and Garbarino led home Sterling twice more. Cornfeld finished third in race one, enough to earn him second place in the standings over the absent Majman.

The Skip Barber Formula Race Series ran using Mygale’s Gen1 car, and the title went to Andretti Global junior Oliver Wheldon. After a stellar karting career in the USA, the single-seater rookie wone nine races out of 14 but only very narrowly became champion since third-year driver Dean Lambros was just as consistent. He won four races and took four poles, and was only off the podium once while Wheldon went trophy-free twice. USF Juniors-bound Ryan Giannetta was the other winner.

Asia

The Honda versus Toyota battle occurs in Japanese F4 each year, and in 2024 it was a Honda one-two as Yuto Nomura was near unbeatable in the season’s second half and fellow junior Ryota Horachi consistently saw the podium to be title runner-up.

Despite the rivalry, it is the Toyota-linked TOM’S that is the spec engine supplier and its units were the big talking point of round one as 10 drivers were ruled out of race two at Fuji Speedway due to engine issues. After Toyota junior Yuki Sano won race one, Helm Motorsports’ Tosei Moriyama got the chance to turn his pole into victory with far more ease due to the absence of many of the drivers who would become the usual frontrunners.

Photo: Japanese F4

Nomura won both races from pole at Suzuka, Horachi and Drago Corse’s Hironobu Shimizu came out on top of a 37-car field on the return to Fuji, with Horachi taking the points lead, then Sano doubled up at a soaking wet Sportsland SUGO but only got points for one of those victories as he won a one-lap race.

The championship belonged to Nomura following that, going unbeaten at Autopolis (where rain caused a race to be cancelled) and Twin Ring Motegi then taking a fifth win in a row in the postponed Suzuka round that ended the season. That secured him the title, and Kageyama Racing’s Kotaro Shimbara rose to third in the standings by winning race two.

Chinese F4 was as entertaining as ever, while also mostly going overlooked outside of China. However it was a teenager from Sweden who beat all the locals to become champion. An F1 support slot at Shanghai attracted 27 cars to the season opener, and Blackjack Racing’s Alex Sawer and Fukang Jiang took the wins.

Venom Motorsport’s Oscar Pedersen won twice at Tianfu International Circuit, then had seven consecutive podium finishes at Ningbo and Shanghai to remain atop the standings while wins went to title rival Kaishun Liu (Black Blade Racing), Jiang, the returning Sawer and cameoing Mercedes-AMG F1 junior Yuanpu Cui.

The title fight went down to the final race at Zhuhai, with Pedersen and Liu each taking a win and a second place in the preceding two races. Black Blade’s Yuhao Fu dominated, his weekend lifting him from 10th to fourth in the points, Liu finished second with a diving penultimate lap pass and Pedersen became champion by finishing not far behind in fourth.

MP ran all cars in Indian F4, and ex-F3 racer Hugh Barter crushed the opposition at Chennai in round one.

The new Chennai Formula Racing Circuit, a temporary venue that had been a long-term ambition for the series and was designed to be raced on at night, hosted round two and Barter dominated from pole again in race one. That was held in the early evening, but race two was a proper night-time contest and Aqil Alibhai was victorious after forcing long-time leader Divy Nandan into a mistake on the last lap.

Photo: Indian F4

Barter did no more races, and on the return to the other Chennai track the points lead went to Alibhai as four different drivers won. Triple-headers at Kari Motor Speedway concluded the season in the final version of the calendar, with Alibhai going unbeaten in the first one then being crowned champion in a wet second visit to the track as Ruhaan Alva concluded a nine-race podium streak with two wins and a comfortable championship runner-up spot since Jaden Pariat was absent.

Australia

Currently in limbo is whether the opening FTrophy round also doubled up as the Australian F4 season finale. Originally ran from 2015 to ’19 by Motorsport Australia, the national championship was revived by new promoter Top Speed this year with second-generation Tatuus cars. The Bend Motorsport Park hosted rounds one and two, Sydney Motorsport Park had round three as the cancelled Queensland Raceway event went unreplaced, then the season was due to conclude with races at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit and at Dubai. The latter was down to Top Speed also promoting FTrophy.

But two weeks before the planned finale, the reveal of the all-Australian 2025 calendar was accompanied by the announcement that the AGI Sport team would take over as promoter and older cars would be reintroduced. Since then, Formula Scout has been unable to get a response from either promoter on the Dubai round’s championship status.

Regardless, the title was already settled by then as AGI’s James Piszyck had won the first nine races on home soil then did the minimum required to wrap it up at Sepang as Tiago Rodrigues, Cooper Webster and Daryanani won.

The older cars (both the Mygales previously used in Australian F4 and Tatuus chassis from abroad) were kept in use through 2024 in the AF04 class of the Formula Libre-style Australian Formula Open series. Car racing rookie Isaac McNeill (Volante Rosso) and Jayden Hamilton (Tim Macrow Racing) each contested five rounds out of seven, and McNeill went unbeaten in class until the final race at Phillip Island where Lachlan Evennett won. Evennett had taken a triple win at The Bend when he was the only entrant, with Hamilton doing the same at Sydney. McNeill took the title with ease thanks to his 13 wins.

Photo: Australian F4

Europe

F4 Central European Zone grew in popularity for its third season, and there was a big on-track rivalry between Jenzer Motorsport and Maffi Racing. Both titles went to the former, as Oscar Wurz became champion with a campaign built on consistency. He only won twice, both victories coming at the Slovakiaring, but 12 other podiums were enough for him to beat Maffi’s Kirill Kutskov who won at Balaton Park, Autodrom Most, Brno and then went unbeaten in the Salzburgring finale.

There were five other race winners, but Jenzer’s title outsider Max Karhan was the only full-timer amongst those. He took three victories on home soil in the Czech Republic, and compatriot Miroslav Mikes won at Most. The JMT Racing driver came fourth in the standings despite withdrawing from the final round, meaning AS Motorsport’s Michalina Sabaj was the only other driver to start all the races. Her best result en route to fifth in the points table was a fourth place.

The F2000 Italian Trophy had an F4 class this year, and Sergio Conti won it eight times.

F1 Academy

Supporting F1 at seven grands prix was the all-female F1 Academy, which was dominated by Rodin’s Abbi Pulling. The Alpine junior, a podium-finisher in Formula Regional when racing in the all-female W Series two years ago, was never off the podium and took nine wins, four second places and a third.

Mercedes junior Pin was best-of-the-rest in her first full year of single-seater racing after previously being a sportscar star, starting the season on top in Jeddah and winning two further times to be way ahead of Prema team-mate Maya Weug.

The battle in qualifying was slightly closer, with Pin taking five poles to Pulling’s 10, and she took four fastest laps in races while Pulling took six despite spending most of her time in clean air at the front.

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Marti took four podiums to edge MP’s Hamda Al Qubaisi to fourth in the points table, her team-mate Chloe Chambers won race two at Barcelona after Pulling had an airborne moment and Williams F1 junior Lia Block – an established rallying and rallycross driver in the USA who is the daughter of late off-road motorsport star Ken – came eighth in her first full single-seater campaign.

To find out more about the 2024 seasons of Brazilian F4, French F4 and Nordic 4, keep an eye on the Formula Scout website during the off-season!

The post 2024 International Formula 4 season review appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Juan Cota held off Andres Cardenas to clinch a home gold medal for Spain in the Motorsport Games Formula 4 event at Valencia.

Cota, who scored a Spanish F4 hat-trick at the Ricardo Tormo circuit last month, made a good getaway from pole position to in his MP Motorsport car make a clear gap to Drivex-run Peruvian Cardenas. While Spanish F4 squads were entrusted with fielding their Tatuus F4-T421 cars – in a change to the single-team model of previous editions – drivers were not allowed to work with their usual teams.

By the end of lap two, Cardenas had closed right up to Cota and made a move down the inside of Turn 2 on the next lap. Cota managed to stay ahead, and was afforded a brief breather by a safety car intervention after the Czech Republic’s Max Karhan had run into the back of Greek entrant Philippe Karras, sending both into retirement.

Austria’s Oscar Wurz had already retired to the pits after taking suspension-breaking contact from Japan’s Tosei Moriyama at the final corner of lap one.

After the restart, Cardenas remained close to Cota for several laps, but the Madrid-born driver eventually eased away to win by 1.335 seconds.

Yevan David made it a three-car battle for much of the race in his Tecnicar-operated Sri Lanka entry, only to receive two track limits penalties of five and 10 seconds to demote him from bronze medal position and down to 11th.

Picking up bronze was British driver Reza Seewooruthun, who had been the leading driver coming from outside Spanish F4, in a Campos Racing car.

Ariel Elkin was fourth for Israel ahead of Moriyama, while Chester Kieffer recovered to sixth from 17th after the Luxembourg racer was one of five drivers disqualified for track limits offences in the qualification race.

Race results

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Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

MP Motorsport’s Juan Cota won the Motorsport Games Formula 4 qualification race for Spain on Saturday.

Cota was pipped to pole by Tecnicar Motorsport’s Yevan David in a qualifying session that took place on a damp track, but looked likely to take victory in the dry due to recently being a specialist at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit in F4.

That proved to be the case, as Cota immediately took the lead and David had to work hard to hold off Drivex School’s Andres Cardenas into turn one.

Reza Seewooruthun got into fourth ahead of Chester Kieffer at turn four, but then ran wide and dropped back behind him.

David attacked Cota into turns one and three on lap two, but the leader kept his car planted on the racing line and ended the lap 0.685 seconds clear.

Cardenas then pressured David down the pit straight, and on lap four also thought about making a move on David at turn one. Cota was 0.944s clear after four laps, and Cardenas managed to squeeze to the inside of David as they began lap five.

Both went off, and David rejoined ahead. They were side-by-side again though through turn three, and Cardenas got the overtake done at the direction change of turn four. That helped Cota break away by 1.466s, but Cardenas had got the gap back down to a second within a lap and 0.629s the lap after that as David fell away.

The top two continued to get closer until lap 10, when Cota managed to stabalise it. He was 0.7s ahead with two laps to go, but Cardenas closed back in to 0.455s at the finish.

Kieffer went off on lap three and conceded third to Seewooruthun, who kept David in his sights to finish 0.639s behind him and 0.621s ahead of Kieffer.

MP’s Matus Ryba got defensive against Ariel Elkin early on to hold sixth, and Tosei Moriyama was eighth.

Penalties for track limits abuse came into play with the positions below that, leading to Griffin Peebles finishing ninth, Campos Racing’s Max Karhan coming home in 10th and Drivex’s Matheus Comparatto taking 11th place. The penalised Oscar Wurz and Andrija Kostic dropped to 13th and 14th, having battled in the top 10. while Bader Al Sulaiti was a very distant last as he got time penalties and a drive-through for repeatedly running wide.

Race results

The post Spain’s Juan Cota wins Motorsport Games F4 qualification race appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Sri Lanka’s Yevan David drove his Tecnicar Motorsport-run car to pole in Motorsport Games Formula 4 qualifying.

Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit was wet from overnight rain, so drivers used grooved tyres. Matus Ryba had a half-spin at turn one on his first flying lap, and others quickly found spots of the track where they could be easily caught out.

Free practice pace-setter Ariel Elkin came into qualifying with a three-place grid penalty hanging over his head, having crossed over the pit exit line while on a flying lap in practice.

There was more punishments to be handed out in qualifying, as drivers headed out without their rain lights on due to weather conditions being dry. Some made a quick return to the pits to rectify this, while Gino Trappa continued to drive without his on and was black flagged. Francisco Macedo was one of the other drivers to get black flagged for track limits abuse.

Reza Seewooruthun was quickest at first in the 25-minute session, setting a 1m49.324s to go a second clear at the top.

Elkin beat him by 0.195 seconds eight minutes into qualifying, but Seewooruthun responded with a 1m47.652s as water was displaced and track conditions improved. Nicky Gauci had a spin at that point, but got going again, and Chester Kieffer reduced Seewooruthun’s advantage to 0.585s.

David trimmed that gap even more, getting within 0.471s of the provisional poleman, then at the 10-minute mark Seewooruthun improved again to 1m46.790s.

His 1.333s gap at the top was reduced slightly by Kieffer shortly after, then David lapped just 0.054s slower than Seewooruthun as Elkin went third fastest with a 1m48.134s.

Macedo broke into the 1m47s to move up to third, then Kieffer took over the position approaching the halfway point of qualifying.

Griffin Peebles had no laptimes to his name at this point due to repeated track limits transgressions, and soon Juan Cota was in third place and less than 0.4s off pole.

Seewooruthun was finally toppled again with 11-and-a-half minutes to go, as a 1m46.275s from David put him 0.515s ahead. Ryba and Kieffer went third and fourth fastest, and Kieffer then improved again to third but was more than a second slower than David.

There was drama at turn 12, but it did not disrupt the session, as Tosei Moriyama and Gauci clashed and spun when the former tried passing the latter.

Two successive improvements from Seewooruthun did not actually bring him closer to pole, since David also found more pace and set a 1m45.806s with nine minutes remaining.

Ryba, Peebles and Elkin filled the next three places two minutes later, as David had his best lap deleted and his advantage slashed to 0.267s. Cota then cut it further to 0.143s, before both David and Seewooruthun set personal bests and there was 0.574s between the top two.

Peebles pipped Seewooruthun by 0.006s, Cota got within 0.063s and then 0.007s of David, and by the end just 0.1s covered the top four completed by Andres Cardenas.

Qualifying results

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Photo: SRO / Dirk Bogaerts Photography

The entry lists for the upcoming 2024 Motorsport Games have been published, with many rising stars heading to Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit this weekend.

Drivers represent nations at the event, with centrally run fleets of cars and karts. For the Formula 4 Cup, the second-generation Tatuus T-421 will be used and there will be 22 cars on track centrally operated by one team.

Qualifying on Saturday morning will set the grid for a 20-minute qualification race, then the results of that set the grid for the medal-awarding half-hour main race.

From F4 Central European Zone are reigning champion Oscar Wurz (Austria) and race-winning rival Max Karhan (Czech Republic), and with experience of Valencia from Spanish F4 are Andres Cardenas (Peru), Juan Cota (Spain), Yevan David (Sri Lanka), Francisco Macedo (Portugal), Griffin Peebles (Australia), Matus Ryba (Slovakia) and Gino Trappa (Argentina).

There is also British F4 race-winner Reza Seewooruthun (Great Britain), French F4 race-winner Chester Kieffer (Luxembourg), Brazilian F4 points leader Matheus Comparatto (Brazil) and USF Juniors race-winner Ariel Elkin (Israel).

Kaishun Liu, who has been runner-up in the Chinese F4 championship for the last two seasons, will be representing Hong Kong and coming from Japanese F4 will be Tosei Moriyama.

There will be 36 drivers competing in the senior class of karting at the Motorsport Games, and the same in the junior class.

Drivers to look out for in the senior class are Danish ex-Formula 1 driver Jan Magnussen’s son Luca, who is looking to race in GB4 next year, Romania’s David Cosma Cristofor and Sweden’s Leo Nilsson.

Cosma won the Trofeo Andrea Margutti, was ROK Superfinal runner-up, fourth in the CIK-FIA World championship, fifth in the South Garda Winter Cup, seventh in WSK’s Euro Series and Super Master Series when in junior karting, and on OK karts this year has come 10th in WSK SMS, 13th in Champions of the Future and 22nd in the CIK-FIA European championship.

Nilsson was 28th in the World championship for OK Junior karts in 2022, and on OK karts has come 15th in the South Garda Winter Cup and 17th in the European championship.

Bosco Arias (Spain), Arjen Kraling (Germany) and Iskender Zulfikari (Turkey) are three of the likely victory contenders in the junior class at Valencia.

Last year Arias starred in mini karting, and since stepping up to OK-J has come fifth in WSK’s Euro Series, eighth in the European championship, 12th in WSK SMS and 23rd in the World championship.

Kraling was eighth in the WSK Euro Series and World championship, ninth in CotF and 16th in WSK SMS.

Zulfikari was the most successful driver in the world on Mini karts in 2023, and won the ROK Superfinal on his junior karting debut.

The Motorsports Games will also have an Esports component that includes F4. Competing for honours there are French F4 race-winner Frank Porte Ruiz (Andorra), US F4 Esports champion Muhammad Ibrahim (India) and British F4 Esports title contender Matt Caruana (United Kingdom).

The post Entry lists for 2024 Motorsport Games revealed appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: SRO

Andrea Kimi Antonelli has undergone surgery on his injured wrist as he aims to get back to testing before his planned Formula Regional debut in the United Arab Emirates next January.

Antonelli broke a scaphoid bone in his left wrist in a collision during qualifying for last month’s Motorsport Games Formula 4 Cup, in which he took the gold medal for Italy despite the pain, which he modestly describes as having “made life a bit tougher”.

Antonelli explained to Formula Scout that “the surgery went super well; they put a screw inside the wrist, because the two bones were not compact so there was a space between the two bones”.

“We decided to make the surgery just to help the recovery and also to be back on track as soon as possible. Without surgery, the recovery would take really long, and I might have not been able to race even in Abu Dhabi,” he says, adding that “the scaphoid bone I broke is a really hard bone to heal”.

With the cast off, “I can start rehab and hopefully can be back on track soon”. Antonelli is a junior driver of the Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 team, who “are helping me a lot, especially with the rehab, which is gonna be really important to be then ready when I get back in the car”.

Having claimed both the Italian and German F4 titles with Prema this year, Antonelli will stay with the team for the move up to the FIA’s Middle Eastern and European championships for FRegional in 2023.

He has not been able to get out on track since the FREC’s post-season Mugello test in October, something he admitted “was quite frustrating because basically I missed all the tests, so I missed also experience with the car”.

“But I think that with the time and especially with the UAE championship I will make enough experience to then be ready for the proper championship.”

After finishing his time in F4 with a tiring run of back-to-back-to-back race weekends, he acknowledges that “on the other hand, there was a positive because I needed a rest, [but] now I rested way too much, to be honest, because it’s been already a month, now I want to be back on track”.

Remaining testing opportunities are limited, as “in December it’s really hard to find a track”. But he adds “hopefully I’ll be ready to drive in Paul Ricard and then to do also Barcelona”, the two yet-to-be-announced pre-season tests happening next March.

The post Frustrated Antonelli in race to get back on track after successful surgery appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: R.F.E. de A.

Motorsport Games promoter SRO Motorsports Group has announced the third edition of the competition will take place in two years’ time in Valencia.

The Valencian autonomous community, along with the Spanish motorsport federation, has put its support behind hosting duties and the permanent Ricardo Tormo circuit that sits 13 miles west of the city of Valencia will be the main venue.

The event will, subject to approval from the World Motor Sport Council, take place in October on a weekend that does not clash with Formula 1.

SRO plans to host part of the games in the downtown area of the city, including competitive racing activities. That is around 3.8 miles west of the port area where F1’s European Grand Prix was held from 2008 to 2012.

The Ricardo Tormo track is perhaps best known, infamously, for the first of two Formula E races that were held there in 2021. A rule on energy usage during safety car periods led to many drivers running out of usable energy at the end of the E-Prix and meant there were only nine classified finishers.

During the 2000s the circuit was busy with junior single-seaters, holding one or two rounds of the Spanish Formula 3 championship every year from 2001 to 2011, being a mainstay on the Euro Open by Nissan schedule too from 1998 to 2005, when the series changed name to Formula Renault 3.5.

GP2 ran its 2006 season opener and ’07 season finale there, it was part of the International Formula Master schedule from 2007-’09, MotorSport Vision’s Formula 2 championship raced at Valencia in 2009 and ’10, the F3 Euro Series visited from ’10 to ’12, and GP3 turned up in 2013 after losing the street circuit from its schedule.

There was FR2.0 action at Valencia in 2000, ’04, ’05, ’08 & ’09, Auto GP raced there in 2001, ’08, ’09, ’11 & ’12, Formula Regional European Championship included the circuit in its revised 2021 calendar, and Spanish Formula 4 has been there every season bar one since launching in 2016.

SRO chief Stephane Ratel told Formula Scout that the idea is for F4 to remain the only single-seater category in the Motorsport Games when the next edition takes place in two years’ time.

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Photo: SRO

Andrea Kimi Antonelli revealed that he was compromised by an injury despite taking a dominant victory for Italy in the Motorsport Games Formula 4 Cup at Paul Ricard.

The Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior hurt his left wrist in a collision with Chilean driver Maria Jose Perez de Arce near the end of Saturday’s qualifying, having already set a laptime good enough to top the session.

With his wrist taped up, Antonelli went on to win from pole in the Qualification Race, and then repeated the feat with a strapped-up hand in Sunday’s Main Race by building a comfortable lead after an early safety car period to claim the gold medal. He revealed that the gap he built early on helped him as he increasingly struggled with pain.

“It was a tough race because in qualifying I had contact and hurt my wrist,” Antonelli told Formula Scout after taking gold. “Basically I was driving not properly because I was struggling a bit, but we still managed to have good pace and to win the race.

“I had a lot of pain so I had to take some medicine to be able to drive. During the race the first few laps was okay but then the pain was getting worse and I had to manage it a bit. Luckily the gap I made at the start was enough to then manage.

“The restart was something new this weekend, we had [a safety car period] yesterday but it was at the end of the race so we didn’t restart. So I had to think about it a bit more but I think the restart was good.”

Having won the 2022 ADAC and Italian F4 titles in a second-generation Tatuus car, the 16-year-old said he felt “honoured” to have raced for his country this weekend in KCMG’s unfamiliar first-generation hybrid-powered F4 car.

“Honestly, I am really honoured to represent Italy, because the Italian federation have chosen me for this week, so am really happy to have won and bring a gold medal to Italy.

“This is a good race because you are racing against a lot of drivers from different countries. The car is a bit different compared to the [Tatuus], with the hybrid. But straight away I had a good feeling and was really pleased to have driven this car.

“The cars are all the same so it’s a good opportunity to show yourself and see where you are, and I think it was a good race and a good event, so I would recommend to other drivers who want to represent their country to come and race here.”

Antonelli now switches focus to his 2023 Formula Regional European Championship campaign with Prema, having already got his testing programme underway.

“I’m really excited because I’m stepping up to a new category, new car, faster car. Also in this car we feel the aero because I’ve done already some testing. I’m really excited for it and hopefully we can have a same season as in F4 this year.”

The post Antonelli explains pain struggle during Motorsport Games triumph appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: SRO

Italy successfully defended its Motorsport Games Formula 4 Cup gold medal as Andrea Kimi Antonelli claimed victory at Paul Ricard.

Andrea Rosso won on home soil for Italy back in 2019, and Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior Antonelli followed that up with a dominant display in the second edition of the games.

Antonelli was fastest in both practice sessions and qualifying, was unrivalled in the Qualification Race and then secured the gold medal with an assertive win in the Main Race on Sunday morning.

The only point of the race where Antonelli had to look in his mirrors was the start, but fellow front row man Manuel Espirito Santo could not challenge for the lead and the Portuguese spent the race in a lonely second place while Antonelli ran away to win by 6.902 seconds.

Switzerland’s Dario Cabanelas started third but contact on the run to the opening corner broke his rear suspension and sent him spinning around once he hit the brakes. Spain’s Bruno del Pino was investigated over the incident as he rose into third place, with South Korea’s Michael Shin moving past Brazil’s Pedro Clerot for fourth.

The safety car was out before the end of the lap to retrieve Cabanelas’s car, with the biggest mover before the neutralisation being Austria’s Charlie Wurz who had gone from 24th to 11th after gaining several places by going off in the first corners.

Racing resumed on lap three and Shin lost fourth place to Clerot by going wide, whie Belgium’s Lorens Lecertua passed Denmark’s Julius Dinesen for sixth.

Lecertua’s next target was Shin, but he ended up losing out to Dinesen as the field bunched up while he tried to pass the Korean. Shin would end up dropping behind anyway as contact was made and he picked up front wing damage that lost him several places before he eventually had to pit for repairs.

After shaking off Lecertua, Dinesen tracked down Clerot and took fourth from him at Signes halfway through the race, then hunted down del Pino and finished the race eight tenths of a second behind.

Clerot faded in the race’s second half and lost out to Lecertua and Wurz, who escaped investigation for his opening lap jump up the order.

Germany’s Valentin Kluss charged up from 20th to eighth, and Ukraine’s Alex Partyshev was ninth after edging Panama’s Valentino Mini in a late battle.

After struggling earlier in the weekend, France’s Pablo Sarrazin improved his pace during the race and finished 11th although along with Lecertua was shown the black-and-white flag for track limits abuse. Clerot was also investigated for track limits violations.

Race result

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Photo: SRO

Italy’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli was untouchable in the Motorsport Games Formula 4 Cup Qualification Race, which sets the grid for Sunday’s Main Race.

Antonelli started from pole and escaped being attacked into the opening corner, which was crucial for him then avoiding the chaos that occurred through the rest of the lap. He finished lap one 3.964 seconds clear, and had a lead of nine seconds on lap nine when the safety car came out and eradicated his advantage.

Starting immediately behind Antonelli were Austria’s Charlie Wurz and Germany’s Valentin Kluss, but their races ended fairly promptly as Kluss crashed into Wurz, puncturing a rear tyre for the latter and meaning both pitted straight away. Kluss returned to track at the back of the field, while Wurz retired.

There was even more drama behind them, as Chile’s Maria Jose Perez de Arce was wheeled off the grid and had to start a lap down, three cars initially failed to get off the line when the lights went out and France’s Pablo Sarrazin was spun around at turn one as several drivers cut the corner entirely.

Australia’s Costa Toparis got involved in an incident and broke his nosecone, while Portugal’s Manuel Espirito Santo and Brazil’s Pedro Clerot rose into second and third place and stayed there – out of trouble – for most of the race. Several seconds behind them at first were Spain’s Bruno del Pino and Switzerland’s Dario Cabanelas who made contact at turn one on lap two and Cabanelas got by.

Toparis was involved in the battle for sixth with Serbia’s Filip jenic and South Korea’s Michael Shin, with Shin passing Jenic at Signes. Denmark’s Julius Dinesen joined the battle on lap four and passed Toparis, as further up the road Cabanelas cleared Clerot at Beausset for third.

Dinesen gained another spot on lap five by passing Jenic, but he quickly got back past as they led a queue of seven cars. He was passed again though by Dinesen, putting him into the clutches of Toparis. On lap six the pair made wheel-to-wheel contact three times in one corner, with the final instance sending Jenic skyward.

After balancing on his left-hand wheels he crashed back down to Earth and had to retire, and further damage for Toparis meant he lost spots to Panama’s Valentino Mini and Ukraine’s Alex Partyshev – who had been sent to the back of the grid for the race – on the next lap.

Toparis’s front wing then flew off and he dropped back further, while Belgium’s Lorens Lecertua – who was shown the black-and-white flag for track limits abuse – found some debris, ran off track and lost the ground he had made up during the race.

At the end of lap eight, India’s Ruhaan Alva and Taiwan’s Ethan Ho went into the final corner side-by-side then rubbed wheels on exit. That sent Ho spinning backwards into the barriers, neccessitating the safety car the race finished behind. Both that incident and the one between Toparis and Jenic will be investigated post-race.

Race result

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