Photo: Spanish Winter Championship

Keanu Al Azhari, Stefan Bostandjiev and James Egozi were the winners in round two of Eurocup-3’s winter series at Jarama.

MP Motorsport’s Gianmarco Pradel started race one on pole alongside Hitech GP’s Al Azhari, and after a turn two lock-up on lap one had to hold off the points leader for several corners.

Al Azhari attacked again through the first corners of lap two before the safety car was summoned as Thomas Strauven (Campos Racing) and Rafael Perard (Palou Motorsport) had a incident that ended in the turn one gravel while disputing ninth place.

Racing resumed on lap seven, and the slipstream effect meant Pradel ended the lap just 0.099 seconds ahead. Al Azhari set a new fastest lap and tried a move at turn one but could not get past, then again on lap 10 before the safety car returned due to Lorenzo Campos (Double R Racing) crashing out. Gianni Giovanelli (Global Racing Service) also had a big off at turn one but was able to rejoin.

The next restart was on lap 15 of 19, and Al Azhari tried the outside line at turn two. It allowed him to stay alongside to the turn four hairpin where he took the lead, then he instantly pulled away and was 1.7s ahead by the finish.

After MP’s Ean Eyckmans stalled from third on the grid, team-mate Rene Lammers and Campos’s Alex Powell held third and fourth. Fifth place went to Campos’s Enzo Tarnvanichkul, who overtook Drivex School’s Filippo Fiorentino on lap eight and Palou’s Egozi had to fight Drivex’s Christopher Feghali and Campos’s Patrick Heuzenroeder for seventh.

The top 12 from qualifying one were reversed to form the front of race two’s grid, putting Feghali on pole ahead of Hitech’s Bostandjiev, Egozi, Perard, Palou’s Heitor Dall’Agnol and Tarnvanichkul.

Feghali was slow off the line and Bostandjiev took the lead, with Egozi and Tarnvanichkul on his outside. He locked up hard approaching turn two and failed to turn in, going into Egozi and Tarnvanichkul who were sent spinning off. Feghali hit the brakes mid-corner and stopped behind them, casting Perard off as he tried avoiding the melee. He was able to rejoin at the back.

Red flags waved on lap two, then the race restarted with two laps of safety car-led action. Bostandjiev was unchallenged at the restart, as Dall’Agnol had to hold off Powell for second and Lammers did the same against Al Azhari for fourth.

Hitech’s Gino Trappa stopped on track a few laps later, but it did not interrupt racing. However on lap nine an off for Drivex’s Stylianos Kolovos triggered a safety car period that ran to the end, ensuring Bostandjiev won and casting Lammers to 14th due to a five-second penalty.

Feghali got a five-place grid penalty for race three, which he had qualified third for. Al Azhari claimed pole ahead of Lammers by less than 0.1s after they traded fastest laps in qualifying on Sunday morning, with Egozi and Powell filling row two. Dall’Agnol and Perard were next up.

The top two locked up going into turn two for the first time and Al Azhari was intially ahead before flying off and dropping to 25th. Powell nerfed Egozi’s rear, and Feghalo climbed from eighth to sixth ahead of Hitech’s Santino Panetta. On lap two he swept past Feghali in a confident move, then both got past Perard on lap three before the safety car was summoned after Eyckmans went off.

Panetta passed Dall’Agnol when racing resumed on lap six, as Al Azhari got up to 18th. There was drama next time by as contact led to a puncture for Panetta and Trappa had an off rather than profiting. The safety car returned as Tecnicar Motorsport’s Benjamin Beckley had crashed at turn two, while Panetta and Dall’Agnol were pit-bound.

Powell took the lead before reaching turn one on the lap 10 restart, and Perard went around the outside of Egozi for third but he got back past at turn four. Campos crashed at turn two, so the safety car was needed again with Al Azhari now in 11th.

Racing resumed on lap 13, and it was a similar story. This time Feghali clipped Perard’s rear at turn one on lap 14 and bounced across the run-off before flying across turn two and into the gravel. Al Azhari got into ninth, and the safety car returned.

Two laps remained when green flags waved again, and Powell was not challenged up front. Tarnvanichkul had inherited fifth, and Fiorentio’s attempt to get alongside him through turns four and five led to a slight off that dropped him to 10th and brought Al Azhari into seventh. He attacked Trappa through the final lap but could not get past, although was lifted to fifth post-race as Powell and Lammers were penalised.

Egozi inherited victory ahead of Perard, and Powell was demoted to sixth while Lammers dropped out of the top 10.

Results round-up
Race 1 (19 laps)
1 Keanu Al Azhari Hitech GP 32m34.103s
2 Gianmarco Pradel MP Motorsport +1.704s
3 Rene Lammers MP Motorsport +2.990s
4 Alex Powell Campos Racing +4.019s
5 Enzo Tarnvanichkul Campos Racing +4.826s
6 Filippo Fiorentino Drivex School +5.947s
7 James Egozi Palou Motorsport +7.184s
8 Christopher Feghali Drivex School +9.119s
9 Yuanpu Cui Double R Racing +9.444s
10 Heitor Dall’Agnol Palou Motorsport +10.024s
Fastest lap: Al Azhari, 1m25.391s

Race 2 (12 laps)
1 Stefan Bostandjiev Hitech GP 29m54.220s
2 Dall’Agnol +1.053s
3 Powell +1.914s
4 Al Azhari +3.464s
5 Ean Eyckmans MP Motorsport +4.061s
6 Patrick Heuzenroeder Campos Racing +4.433s
7 Thomas Strauven Campos Racing +4.969s
8 Pradel +5.261s
9 Santino Panetta Hitech GP +5.544s
10 Yani Stevenheydens Global Racing Service +5.768s
FL: Bostandjiev, 1m25.597s

Race 3 (18 laps)
1 Egozi 32m02.154s
2 Rafael Perard Palou Motorsport +0.624s
3 Tarnvanichkul +1.464s
4 Gino Trappa Hitech GP +1.816s
5 Al Azhari +1.887s
6 Powell +3.361s
7 Heuzenroeder +5.012s
8 Strauven +4.688s
9 Stevenheydens +5.206s
10 Bostandjiev +5.513s
P: Al Azhari, 1m24.311s
FL: Lammers, 1m26.109s

Championship standings
1 Al Azhari 100   2 Egozi 67   3 Powell 49   4 Lammers 46   5 Tarnvanichkul 39   6 Eyckmans 24   7 Strauven 34   8 Pradel 29   9 Perard 22   10 Heuzenroeder 21

The post Al Azhari, Bostandjiev and Egozi share Eurocup-3 winter series wins appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Spanish Winter Championship

MP Motorsport’s Gianmarco Pradel came out on top of a super close top five in the first qualifying session at Jarama for Eurocup-3’s winter series.

There was 80 minutes of pre-event testing on Friday, and MP’s drivers filled the top three places. Rene Lammers’ 1m24.986s earned him top spot by a scant 0.064 seconds over Pradel, and Ean Eyckmans was 0.348s off Lammers in third.

Hitech GP’s Keanu Al Azhari and Gino Trappa both set 1m25.349s to be joint fourth fastest, and Campos Racing’s Enzo Tarnvanichkul was sixth. His team-mate Alex Powell was quickest in the first session, putting him seventh overall and 0.43s off Lammers’ later benchmark. A second covered the top 19.

Qualifying took place the next day, and the 20-minute session began with 19 of the 28 drivers heading out. Pradel posted the first laptime three minutes in, a 1m32.787s, and led Eyckmans by 0.578s.

A minute later they were down in 10th and 11th. Powell lowered the pace to 1m28.624s, leading Double R Racing’s Lorenzo Campos by 0.35s and Drivex School’s Filippo Fiorentino by half a second. Bart Harrison (Double R) and Thomas Strauven (Campos) were also within a second of the pace.

Lammers was next to the top, setting a 1m24.985s to pip Eyckmans by 0.05s and Powell by 0.197s. Palou Motorsport’s James Egozi trailed by 0.41s, and was just ahead of Pradel. At this point a second covered the top 12, with 17 drivers having lapped at a representative pace while eight had still recorded no laptimes at all.

Eyckmans went quickest with a 1m24.547s six-and-a-half minutes in, putting him 0.327s ahead of the improving Lammers, 0.39s clear of Drivex’s Christopher Feghali and with a 0.52s gap to Pradel. Powell took fourth from Pradel a minute later, then on his next lap got within 0.06s of Eycckmans as most of the top half of the field pitted.

Tarnvanichkul and Double R’s Yuanpu Cui stayed out, and went third and seventh fastest respectively.

Hitech GP’s Stefan Bostandjiev jumped to fifth with five minutes remaining and improved again on his next lap to 1m24.923s. By that point everyone had set flying laps, and team-mate Santino Panetta was up into seventh.

Pradel was down in eighth, but with three-and-a-half minutes remaining posted a 1m24.357s to clinch pole. Hitech’s Keanu Al Azhari quickly lapped 0.099s shy of the new benchmark, and Fiorentino was 0.106s off Pradel when he crossed the line.

Lammers, Palou’s Rafael Perard, Egozi and Feghali improved in sixth, eighth, ninth and 10th respectively, while Powell and Tarnvanichkull stayed fifth and seventh with personal bests.

Al Azhari reduced Pradel’s gap to 0.042s with two minutes left, and after that third place was traded. Lammers got within 0.085s of pole, then Eyckmans was 0.044s off the fastest lap to demote Lammers to fourth.

Qualifying results

The post Pradel pips Al Azhari and Eyckmans to Eurocup-3 pole appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Double R Racing

Double R Racing is fielding Yuanpu Cui, Bart Harrison and Lorenzo Campos in Eurocup-3’s main and winter series this year.

The team, formed by Kimi Raikkonen and Steve Robertson in 2004, is returning to full-time racing after a four-year break. Following the conclusion of Euroformula’s 2021 season, its only race outings have been two British Formula 4 rounds in 2023.

As a test-only team since, Double R has run drivers in single-seaters at circuits across Britain. Its sister company Fine Moments operated W Series’ fleet of Formula Regional cars until 2022.

For its racing return in Eurocup-3, which has switched from FRegional cars to the new third-tier Dallara 326 chassis with TOM’S-developed 1.6-litre turbocharged Toyota engines, Double R will field three drivers.

Former Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior Cui began 2026 by coming ninth in FRegional Oceania. His best result was fourth, in contrast to his points-free 2025 outings in FRegional’s European and Middle East championships, and the 18-year-old was 18th in GB3 last year as a part-timer.

Harrison has a podium from his two-round venture into GB3, but has primarily raced in F4 since 2024. A race-winning cameo put the 18-year-old 10th in F4 Central European Zone last year, he was seventh in Formula Winter Series’ standings, made the podium en route to 14th in Italian F4 and was 20th in British F4.

Campos, 16, represented Angola in the 2024 Motorsport Games F4 Cup and went points-free in Spanish F4’s main and winter championships in 2025.

“This is a good line-up to get us back into racing, and we are hoping to work with the drivers for some good results this season,” said Double R’s team principal Anthony Hieatt.

“Since leaving full-time racing at the end of 2021, we spent two years working on the cars used in the film F1: The Movie, and throughout this period we have done some extensive testing with our F4 and Formula 3 cars. We’ve probably been the busiest race team in Europe without actually doing any racing! As a group, we’ve been doing around 100 test days a year.”

Double R has a long history racing Dallara chassis, and ran Mike Conway to the 2006 British F3 title and Macau Grand Prix victory in a Dallara F306.

“The fact that this is a championship with fresh Dallaras meant that this was a good time to come back racing,” added Hieatt. “And it’s a fantastic opportunity for us to compete against some of the new powerhouses in single-seater racing like Hitech, Campos Racing and MP Motorsport. In our old days we never shied away from competing against Prema and Carlin. We really look forward to working with the Eurocup-3 organisers, who have made us feel very welcome.”

The team’s testing activities mean its personnel are all in place to transfer back into a racing environment.

“We’ve got a really experienced group of people who have been connected to the team for a period of years,” said Hieatt. “Everybody’s looking forward to the challenge.”

The post Double R Racing’s line-up for racing return in Eurocup-3 revealed appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Palou Motorsport

Eurocup-3’s new era with the Dallara 326 chassis began as its winter series got underway at the Algarve circuit, where James Egozi claimed the first two wins before Keanu Al Azhari seized the points lead.

After Ean Eyckmans topped both of Thursday’s collective test sessions for MP Motorsport, Alpine junior Al Azhari set the pace for Hitech GP in Friday’s test sessions, leading the first one by 0.32 seconds over team-mate Gino Trappa and the second by 0.259s ahead of Campos Racing’s Alex Powell.

Eyckmans claimed pole in qualifying on Saturday morning by 0.057s over compatriot and former Spanish Formula 4 rival Thomas Strauven of Campos. Powell was third ahead of Rene Lammers and Egozi, with Al Azhari only eighth behind fellow GB3 converts Gianmarco Pradel and Patrick Heuzenroeder.

When the lights went out, both Eyckmans and Powell failed to get away properly. That allowed Strauven to lead from Egozi, who then grabbed the lead further around the opening lap before the safety car was deployed to retrieve Trappa’s car from the Turn 4 gravel trap.

Egozi, driving for the Palou Motorsport team that has Prema engineering support, broke away from Strauven at the restart only for another safety car to be triggered by Tecnicar’s Costa Rican single-seater debutant Benjamin Beckley stopping with a puncture. Another interruption followed after Pradel tangled with Rafael Perard at the restart.

Less than eight minutes remained at the final restart, where Egozi remained ahead while Al Azhari took third from Lammers. Al Azhari then went on to grab second Strauven down the inside of Turn 4, and Lammers demoted Strauven to fourth before the end.

The top 12 from qualifying were reversed to form the grid for the shorter race two, putting Luca Viisoreanu on pole from Hector Dall’Agnol, but it was Trappa that burst through to take the lead from third on the grid, while Egozi leapt from eighth to second within the first half a lap.

After another early safety car period, Egozi immediately attacked Trappa on the restart, but the Argentine held on. Heuzenroeder slowing to a halt out of sixth caused another intervention late on, and Egozi this time got the job done to snatch the lead from Trappa before Turn 1.

Trappa then made contact with Pradel in Turn 3, damaging both cars, while Lammers was eliminated from the battle behind by a further clash later in the lap. That caused the race to finish under safety car, but not before Al Azhari came through to second past the compromised Pradel.

Al Azhari claimed pole for race three by 0.092s over Eyckmans, who got the launch at the start to take the lead, while Egozi was slow away from third and fell to the back of the field.

After just one lap, Al Azhari managed to take the lead from Eyckmans down the inside of the first corner. Any attempt by Al Azhari to pull away was halted by a safety car after his team-mates Trappa and Stefan Bostandjiev collided.

With the last 20 minutes staying under green flag conditions, Al Azhari and Eyckmans pulled away from the rest, separated by 0.869s at the chequered flag. Lammers was 6s further back after managing to keep Powell at bay for another podium finish.

Results round-up
Race 1 results (16 laps)
1 James Egozi Palou Motorsport 31m55.808s
2 Keanu Al Azhari Hitech GP +2.269s
3 Rene Lammers MP Motorsport +5.758s
4 Thomas Strauven Campos Racing +7.250s
5 Patrick Heuzenroeder Campos Racing +8.048s
6 Christopher Feghali Drivex +9.875s
7 Yani Stevenheydens GRS +10.465s
8 Enzo Tarnvanichkul Campos Racing +11.362s
9 Alceu Feldmann MP Motorsport +12.265s
10 Ean Eyckmans MP Motorsport +12.882s
Pole: Eyckmans, 1m35.656s
Fastest lap: Egozi, 1m36.210s

Race 2 (11 laps)
1 Egozi 23m45.880s
2 Al Azhari +0.397s
3 Alex Powell Campos Racing +2.464s
4 Eyckmans +2.963s
5 Stevenheydens +3.259s
6 Stefan Bostandjiev Hitech GP +4.842s
7 Strauven +5.365s
8 Feghali +6.207s
9 Tarnvanichkul +6.574s
10 Feldmann +6.743s
FL: Powell, 1m36.868s

Race 3 (18 laps)
1 Al Azhari 32m30.341s
2 Eyckmans +0.869s
3 Lammers +6.840s
4 Powell +7.533s
5 Strauven +8.990s
6 Tarnvanichkul +12.370s
7 Pradel +13.229s
8 Rafael Perard Palou Motorsport +20.538s
9 Filippo Fiorentino Drivex +22.569s
10 Heitor Dall’Agnol Palou Motorsport +23.183s
P: Al Azhari, 1m35.452s
FL: Al Azhari, 1m36.102s

Championship standings
1 Al Azhari 55   2 Egozi 36   3 Lammers 30   4 Eyckmans 28   5 Strauven 26   6 Powell 21   7 Tarnvanichkul 14   8 Stevenheydens 12   9 Feghali 11   10 Heuzenroeder 10

The post New Eurocup-3 era begins with winter series wins by Egozi and Al Azhari appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Palou Motorsport

James Egozi will remain with Palou Motorsport in Eurocup-3 this year after winning several races with the team last season.

The 18-year-old American did both the main championship and the winter series in 2025, with the latter kicking things off. He came third in the standings of the three-round series, taking two wins, a second place and a pole.

In the main championship he was ninth after missing the last round, and had five top-five finishes including his victory.

Egozi also did two Formula Regional European Championship rounds last year, and finished 14th in the Macau Grand Prix.

Palou has partnered with Prema for the 2026 Eurocup-3 season, with the latter providing “engineering support in multiple areas throughout the year, including the use of the Prema simulator and advanced technical tools”.

Elsewhere on the grid, Luca Viisoreanu has joined the Thibaut Courtois-owned TC Racing and Stylianos Kolovos has been signed by Drivex School.

Viisoreanu, 16, has experience of third-tier single-seaters (as Eurocup-3 moves to faster cars for 2026) through two Euroformula outings last year. A sixth place was his best result.

He primarily competed in F4 with Real Racing Team, which is run from his home country Romania. A race-winning F4 Central European Zone cameo put him 15th in the standings, while he went points-free in his E4 cameo and came 24th in Italian F4 where he missed the last round. In 2024, also with Real Racing Team, he had come 22nd in E4.

“Eurocup-3 is an important step in my career and a key season to prepare as best as possible for the future,” said Viisoreanu.

“I’m confident that TC Racing is the right environment to keep growing as a driver, and I’m excited to be part of a competitive project with clear and ambitious goals.”

Kolovos is also 16 and has Euroformula experience. The Greek made his single-seater debut in the Monza season finale, and finished ninth on his second start.

He has raced OK class karts since 2024, coming 24th in WSK’s Champions Cup, 26th in its Euro Series, 54th in the Champions of the Future series and 62nd in CIK-FIA World Championship.

Eurocup-3 will run a winter series again this year, and it starts next weekend. Kacper Sztuka has been announced as driving for Tecnicar Motorsport in the three-round series. The 20-year-old Pole came 27th in the FIA Formula 3 Championship two years ago, then stepped down to Eurocup-3 for its last season as a FRegional-based entity.

A podium from his part-time winter series campaign put him 11th in the standings, and in the main championship he was third. Sztuka won twice, claimed five other podiums and two poles. He also came 24th in FREC, which he did three rounds of.

The post Eurocup-3 race-winner James Egozi sticks with Palou Motorsport appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Mat Acton

Hitech GP has added Keanu Al Azhari and Gino Trappa to its line-up for the 2026 Eurocup-3 season.

Al Azhari, 18, from a motorsport family as his father was a karter and his younger brother Adam is currently 10th in UAE4.

After making his debut in the Formula 1-supporting Formula 4 races at Yas Marina Circuit in 2022, finishing on the podium in the both, the older Al Azhari brother spent 2023 and ’24 in F4.

In his rookie UAE4 campaign he came seventh in the standings with two podiums, and improved to third in his sophomore campaign as he won twice, made the podium in five other races and also claimed three poles. Between the two, he contested the F1 support races again and won both from pole position.

Al Azhari raced for MP Motorsport in Spanish F4 in both years, and the pole and podium he began the 2023 season with proved to tbe the highlights of his campaign as he came ninth in the standings. In 2024 he was championship runner-up, wining four races, making the podium nine other times and starting on pole five times. He also did half of the Formula Winter Series that year, and a winning start helped put him seventh in the points table.

For 2025, Al Azhari joined the Alpine Academy, stepped up to GB3 and continued to race LMP3 prototype sportscars in Germany. He drove for Hitech in GB3, taking one victory, four other podiums and a pole en route to sixth in the points table.

Hitech is new to Eurocup-3, and it currently has a four-car line-up as Al Azhari and Trappa join the previously announced Santino Panetta and Stefan Bostandjiev.

Trappa came fifth in Brazilian F4 two years ago, winning one race, and relocated his career to Europe in 2025. He started off in Spanish F4 with Drivex School, coming 18th in the winter championship then 16th in the main championship.

His half-season in FWinter Series with Van Amersfoort Racing left him 22nd in the standings, then the 17-year-old joined Jenzer Motorsport for F4 Central European Zone and was champion with six victories, five other podiums and three poles.

A Euroformula cameo granted Trappa with experience of third-tier single-seaters, with Eurocup-3 using a similar car to Euroformula this year, and he ended 2025 by finishing in ninth in the FIA F4 World Cup on the streets of Macau.

The post Hitech GP adds Keanu Al Azhari and Gino Trappa to Eurocup-3 line-up appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Dutch Photo Agency

Ean Eyckmans and Rene Lammers will both step up to Eurocup-3 with MP Motorsport this year to continue their rivalry with Thomas Strauven.

Eyckmans and Lammers finished second and fourth in the Spanish Formula 4 championship with MP in 2025 as Campos driver Strauven took the title.

Belgian Eyckmans – son of former Formula 3000 and IndyCar driver Wim – was in his first year of car racing after winning the Richard Mille Young Talent Academy shootout. Dutch driver Lammers, whose father is former Formula 1 driver and Le Mans 24 Hours winner Jan, had a much improved second season in Spanish F4 after coming 13th as a much-anticipated rookie in 2024.

The pair will be joined in MP’s Eurocup-3 line-up by Australian driver Gianmarco Pradel, who came fourth in GB3 last year with Rodin Motorsport after two seasons in Italian F4 with US Racing. A fourth driver is set to be announced soon.

Campos meanwhile has completed its four-car line-up with Strauven and Pradel’s fellow Australian GB3 convert Patrick Heuzenroeder to be joined by Red Bull junior Enzo Tarnvanichkul and former Mercedes protege Alex Powell.

Thai driver Tarnvanichkul will be entering his second year in Eurocup-3 with Campos having come eighth in the 2025 standings with one win. He also won a race in a partial GB3 campaign.

American-Jamaican Powell makes the full-time step up from F4 after coming fifth in the Italian championship with Prema in 2024 and ninth last year with R-ace GP, when he was also runner-up in the United Arab Emirates series to team-mate Emanuele Olivieri. Released from the Mercedes junior programme at the end of 2025, Powell currently sits third in the Formula Regional Middle East Trophy with Pinnacle Motorsport.

Elsewhere, the 2025 Brazilian F4 champion Heitor Dall’Agnol has joined the grid with Palou Motorsport, while Hitech has signed Stefan Bostandjiev, who made the unusual switch from GT racing to single-seaters last year with a dual campaign across GB4 and GB3, finishing 12th in the standings in the former.

American Andre Rodriguez, who contested three rounds of Italian F4, three rounds in Euro 4 and a single weekend of Spanish F4 in his rookie single-seater campaign last year, has become the first driver announced by GRS Team.

The post Eyckmans and Lammers graduate to Eurocup-3 with MP Motorsport appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

The 2026 Eurocup-3 grid has grown, with drivers recently signed at Campos Racing, Palou Motorsport and TC Racing.

Campos now has two drivers confirmed for the championship as it switches to Formula 3-level machinery, with its reigning Spanish Formula 4 champion Thomas Strauven now being joined by GB3 runner-up Patrick Heuzenroeder [pictured top].

The 20-year-old Australian only took one win and four other podiums en route to second in the standings as a third-year GB3 driver in 2025, and also came fourth in Formula Regional Oceania where he won a race from pole.

“2025 was a breakthrough season for me and it was rewarding to see the interest the top teams had in me for the coming year,” said Heuzenroeder.

“The team’s performance has always been impressive, and their teams’ championship win in FIA F3 just proved what they can do. The opportunity to develop and race the Dallara 326-Toyota is something I’m really looking forward to, and the Eurocup-3 championship is proving itself as the series to race in if you want to prepare for FIA F3. I’m raring to go and my goal is the Championship win for Campos.”

Joining Palou for the season ahead is French racer Rafael Perard, who came seventh in French F4 last year with three podiums including a runner-up finish on debut. His team is now partnering with Prema in Eurocup-3 in a plot to increase its competitivity.

TC Racing, the team of famed Belgian footballer Thibaut Courtois, is new to Eurocup-3 and has named Renzo Barbuy as its first driver signing. It has competed in F4 and Esports to date, with some sportscar action for drivers who starred in the latter.

Barbuy, 16, hails from Argentina and steps up the ladder after coming 14th in Brazilian F4 as a single-seater rookie last year. His best results in that paddock were seventh places.

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Photo: Alex Bierens de Haan

Bianca Bustamante will step up to Eurocup-3 this year with Palou Motorsport, which will be competing in the championship in partnership with Prema.

It was announced last month that Italian single-seater behemoth Prema would partner with the Palou team founded in 2023 by four-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou and his father Ramon for the upcoming Eurocup-3 season.

The championship is switching from a Fomula Regional-based car to the Dallara 326, a Formula 3-level chassis with a Toyota engine. To help Palou Motorsport with that technical transition, Prema will provide “engineering support in multiple areas throughout the year, including the use of the Prema simulator and advanced technical tools”.

Ramon Palou said: “I’m really happy and excited about the collaboration we’ve just started with Prema Racing. I couldn’t imagine a better partner to help us develop the new car we’ll be using in Eurocup-3 from 2026 onward. For a young structure like Palou Motorsport, having the support of one of the world’s leading single-seater teams is something truly extraordinary. I want to personally thank both Angelina and Rene [Rosin] for the effort they’ve put into making this collaboration a reality.”

Prema ventured into top-tier single-seaters for the first time last year, creating a two-car IndyCar squad. Robert Shwartzman claimed pole for Prema’s first ever oval race, the Indianapolis 500, and despite a run of top-10 results in races there has been uncertainty surrounding the team’s continued presence on the IndyCar grid since the 2025 season ended.

At Palou Motorsport, Bustamante is the first driver to be signed for 2026. Eurocup-3 will be the highest level the 20-year-old Filipino has raced at as she enters the fifth year of her single-seater career.

She started off in Formula 4 in 2022, doing two USF Juniors rounds before stepping up to FRegional by driving in the all-female W Series. After finishing ninth on her debut, there were no further points-scoring races and she came 15th in the standings.

The next two years were spent primarily in F4, with her 2023 campaign in the all-female F1 Academy championship her most competitive campaign. Two wins and two other podiums put her seventh in the points table.

Bustamante was part of Prema’s line-up that season, and she also came 27th in UAE4 with the team. She drove for three different teams in 2024 as a McLaren junior, coming seventh in F1 Academy again with one podium and 40th in Formula Winter Series.

Although her McLaren backing was lost for 2025, Bustamante did becoming a development driver of Formula E’s Cupra-partnered Kiro Race Co. team (formerly known as ERT) and tested for them. She also moved back up the single-seater ladder, racing for Elite Motorsport in GB3 and coming 22nd in the standings.

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Photo: Campos Racing

Reigning Spanish Formula 4 champion Thomas Strauven will step up to Eurocup-3 in 2026 with Campos Racing.

The 17-year-old Belgian raced for the team this year, starting off in the Spanish F4 Winter Championship where two victories and four other podiums from nine races, along with three poles, delivered him the title.

In the main championship, he won 10 times, had seven other podiums and started on pole 10 times. He was crowned champion by 157 points, a tally only four drivers reached in the season.

“I am very happy to continue with Campos next year in Eurocup-3,” said Strauven.

“After a great year together, continuing to progress with the same team is the ideal decision. I am excited about the challenge ahead and motivated to keep learning and improving. Thank you to everyone who continues to support me in this project and make it possible.”

Strauven will be heading into his fourth year of single-seater racing. In 2023 he made a Spanish F4 cameo with MP Motorsport, then he joined Rodin Motorsport for a double programme in 2024. He came 12th in the Formula Winter Series standings with one win, and seventh in Spanish F4 where he started his campaign with a pole, a victory and a third place but only had three further podiums before dropping off the grid before the last round.

“It is excellent news to have Thomas with us for next season’s Eurocup-3,” said Campos’s team principal Adrian Campos Jr.

“The way he clinched the F4 Spain title was impeccable, one for the history books in terms of victories and podium finishes, and almost doubling the points tally of his closest rival.

“He is perfectly prepared for this new challenge ahead, which will be a step into the unknown for everyone as we introduce the new Dallara 326–Toyota car. We are delighted to continue working with him and very much looking forward to extending our successful record together.”

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