The brand-new Formula Regional European Championship kicks off this weekend at Paul Ricard, the first of eight rounds of the brand-new FIA-supported series.

The Italian F4 promoters ACI Sport/WSK defeated a Renault Sport bid to host the first European championship to for Regional F3, pairing the Tatuus chassis with a turbo-charged Alfa Romeo engine.

Although just 10 drivers are taking part in the season opener, compared to the 22 drivers who will compete in Formula Renault Eurocup’s first race, the field is hardly lacking in quality. It includes a talented trio of Prema drivers as well as entries from Ralf Schumacher’s US Racing team and European Formula 3 refugees Van Amersfoort Racing.

Whether or not the series can increase its grid size as the year advances remain to be seen, but for now, we take a look at the drivers most likely to be crowned the championship’s first-ever champion.

Prema’s three-point attack

The latest in a long line of one of motorsport’s most successful families is 17-year-old?Enzo Fittipaldi, who last year proved he’s not just in Ferrari’s junior programme because of his surname. He excelled in his second year in Italian F4, beating Leonardo Lorandi and Prema team-mate Olli Caldwell in a season-long title battle.

Historically the ADAC F4 series has provided greater competition than its Italian counterpart, and Fittipaldi was also impressive there, finishing third behind champion Lirim Zendeli and new Red Bull recruit Liam Lawson.??He continues his collaboration with Prema for a third successive year, immediately placing him among the favourites to be the first Formula Regional champion.

Alongside Fittipaldi at Prema are two fellow Italian/ADAC F4 graduates in Caldwell and Frederik Vesti. The former pushed Fittipaldi hard for the Italian F4 title in his first year with Prema and will be looking to seek revenge in this year’s championship. His ADAC F4 campaign was slightly less impressive, with one victory on his way to seventh in the drivers’ championship.

Three places above Caldwell in that championship was Vesti, the 17-year-old Danish racer also starred on his one-off Italian F4 appearance at Paul Ricard – winning two of the three races. He also stepped up to European Formula 3, taking part in the final weekend of the series as well as making his Macau Grand Prix debut. He was quietly impressive, qualifying eighth and finishing 10th in his maiden F3 race. Of the trio, Vesti has arguably showed the greatest raw talent, and was quickest during the limited official pre-season testing, making him the slight favourite.

Having said that, Prema’s three drivers look fairly evenly matched heading into 2019 – with the victor likely placing themselves in the best stead for future promotion to the FIA F3 series with the Italian giants.

Italian squads united to take on Prema

After winning multiple Euroformula Open titles, RP Motorsport’s international expansion continues with a move into Formula Regional in partnership with DR Formula, which heads up the combined entry.

They’re running Esports champion?Igor Fraga?and?Raul Guzman, the latter of which makes?a sideways step after spending two years in Formula Renault Eurocup, where he scored points in just five of the 43 races. He challenged for the Italian F4 title with DR in 2016 and also raced with RP during its debut Pro Mazda season, picking up a podium in only his third race, suggesting we didn’t see anywhere near Guzman’s full potential during his time in Eurocup.

When he isn’t winning FIA-sanctioned Esports events, Fraga is quietly working his way up the single-seater ladder. He finished runner-up in the 2017-18 NACAM F4 series and then followed it up with fourth in his rookie USF2000 campaign. 2019 sees Fraga make his first switch to racing (bar virtual encounters) in Europe.

RP isn’t used to losing, so expect it to give Guzman and Fraga a good chance to shine on the European stage, regardless of whether or not either driver is capable of extracting the maximum from the package.

Northern European F4 talent not to be underestimated?

Photo: SMP F4 Championship

Northern European Zone Formula 4 champion Konsta Lappalainen and race-winner Isac Blomqvist are both making their F3 debuts with KIC Motorsport, a team run by Lappalainen’s father Petri.?Renault junior Christian Lundgaard has showed the quality of the champions from that series.

Lappalainen also engaged in a part-time campaign in ADAC F4, showing plenty of flashes of speed but hardly setting the series alight, ultimately scoring points in just three of the 11 races.

While Lappalainen may have won the NEZ F4 title, Blomqvist was arguably equally impressive, he was fresh out of karting while Lappalainen had a year of car racing under his belt. Blomqvist took pole position and two race wins on his maiden weekend in cars, however, his title challenge soon slipped with just one further victory.

The duo may be inexperienced with only three years of car racing experience between them, but a new championship offers a level playing field and a chance for a small operation like KIC Motorsport to be able to compete with junior series juggernauts like Prema.

Floersch and Van Amersfoort Racing forced to step back

With the sudden cancellation of European Formula 3’s (real) successor Formula European Masters, Van Amersfoort Racing and its one-signed driver Sophia Floersch had no choice but to find a new home in 2019.?They opted to join Formula Regional, snubbing Euroformula Open due to it using the older Dallara F312 for another year, according to Autosport.

It marks a step back for the Floersch who made her Euro F3 debut mid-season last year after two years racing in ADAC F4. She scored one point, but her VAR team-mates didn’t fare much better, so it’s not as bad a points tally as it looks.

Her most famous moment of 2018 was, of course, her horrifying crash during the Macau Grand Prix, which left her hospitalised and cast doubt over her future racing plans. Thankfully she made a full recovery over the winter and will be rejuvenated with this new chance to show that she’s worthy of further progression up the single-seater ladder.

It won’t be easy, however, with its late-entry into the series VAR only received its car just over two weeks prior to the start of the season. The odds are stacked against the one-driver VAR entry being able to tackle its old nemesis Prema.

Schumacher’s one-man mission?

Another driver with a big surname who proved his credentials last year was?David Schumacher.?With only an F4 UAE campaign behind him, he ventured into the highly-competitive ADAC F4 series and came away with the rookie title and ninth overall in the championship.

Furthermore, he took a pair of fourth-place finishes on the second of his two-round Euroformula Open guest campaign at the end of 2018 and was at one point looking at entering the series full-time in 2019. But the opportunity to race in Formula Regional with his father’s team proved too good to miss.

It hasn’t all been plain sailing for Schumacher so far though, as he failed to stand on the overall ADAC F4 podium once last year and had a mediocre couple of rounds in the Asian F3 Winter Series. A title challenge in Formula Regional would perhaps be a bridge too far as a part of a one-car entry, but a solid consistent year, with plenty of podiums would be an achievable target for Schumacher.

And the rest…

The first driver announced for the series was French teenager Alexandre Bardinon, who will be run by the family-owned?Mas du Clos Racing Team. His father Patrick runs the team, which is based at?Circuit du Mas du Close in France – a track created by Alexandre’s grandfather Pierre.

Alexandre is a bit of an unknown quantity, having split his 2018 racing in the French GT4 Championship as well as a one-off appearance racing a Formula Renault 2.0 car in the V de V Single-seater Championship. He is missing the first race however after sustaining a rumoured pre-season injury.

Similarly inexperienced is Swiss racer?Sharon Scolari, who is?fronting her family-run ScoRace Team following their Formula Renault Eurocup NEC campaign last year – where they took one class podium (albeit in a four-driver class). The team will be propped up by regional outfit?Italian Viola Formula.

24-year-old Scolari failed to progress to the final stage of W Series’ selection process. Little is expected from either Scolari or Bardinon.

The post Formula Regional European Championship preview: Who will be the first champion? appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: SMP F4 Championship

Northern European Zone Formula 4 champion Konsta Lappalainen and race-winner Isac Blomqvist will step up to Formula 3 together in the new Formula Regional European Championship with KIC Motorsport.

Finnish driver?Lappalainen won the SMP-sponsored NEZ series driving for the Kart in Club (KIC) team run by run his father Petri.

He also contested four rounds in the German ADAC series with a best finish of fourth, after finishing as runner-up in the Formula Nordic series for Formula Renault 1.6 machinery in 2017.

Sweden’s Blomqvist, driving for MP Motorsport in his rookie year out of karts, won the opening two races in NEZ F4 last year and finished up third overall after claiming one further victory.

The Formula Regional European Championship has been created by WSK, promoter of the Italian Formula 4 championship, together with the Automobile Club d’Italia (ACI), who beat Renault Sport to win the FIA tender to run the regional F3 series for Europe.

It will run over eight rounds, half of them in Italy, beginning at Paul Ricard in France in April.

Other teams to have committed to the series include Prema and DR Formula, as well as Technorace and Mas du Clos.

The post NEZ F4 stars Lappalainen and Blomqvist to step up to Regional F3 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Schothorst made it to the final of?McLaren’s World?s Fastest Gamer last year, and is a member of the crack Team Redline on the iRacing platform. His elder brothers Stiejn and Peter are both sportscar drivers, but Schothorst had no on-track experience prior to this weekend.

He finished on the podium twice, and is fourth in the standings. The man on top is MP Motorsport team-mate Blomqvist.

Swedish karting graduate Blomqvist won from pole in the opening race, but actually spent the early part of the race mired in the midfield after a poor start.

Ivan Berets, who finished in the points once last year, inherited the lead but couldn’t hold back Blomqvist, and finished just under a second behind. Schothorst was third, despite struggling for pace.

Blomqvist started third for the second race, with Berets beating Konsta Lappalainen to pole.

A poor start by Lappalainen promoted Blomqvist to an immediate second, and when Berets slowed with mechanical issues they both moved up a position. Berets finished a minute behind in 12th, and his demise helped Jesse Salmenautio take Kart In Club Driving Academy’s first F4 podium.

Worsening weather meant the track was slightly wet for the final qualifying session and race of the weekend, where Berets put his race two disappointment behind to deliver the most convincing display of the weekend.

The SMP Racing driver took pole by 0.071 seconds from team-mate Pavel Bulantsev, and then took an assertive victory by over four seconds from Lappalainen.

Schothorst took his second podium of the weekend in third. The Dutchman started in eighth but didn’t take long to rise into the top four. A striking move on Mikhail Belov secured him third, with Belov failing to add to the sole podium that took him to eighth in the standings last year.

Fifth place for Blomqvist meant he only has a seven point lead over Berets, with Lappalainen between them and Schothorst in third.

Results round-up
Race 1 (18 laps)
1 Isaac Blomqvist MP Motorsport 26m30.327s
2 Ivan Berets SMP Racing +0.942s
3 Freek Schothorst MP Motorsport +4.159s
4 Jesse Salmenautio Kart In Club Driving Academy +5.669s
5 Mikhail Belov SMP Racing +6.407s
6 Konsta Lappalainen Kart In Club Driving Academy +9.982s
7 Ivan Shvetsov SMP Racing +16.360s
8 Patrick Schott MP Motorsport +19.290s
9 Pavel Bulantsev SMP Racing +22.951s
10 Artem Lobanenko SMP Racing +33.160s
Pole: Blomqvist, 1m26.256s
Fastest Lap: Blomqvist, 1m27.564s

Race 2 (14 laps)
1 Blomqvist 20m40.145s
2 Lappalainen +0.471s
3 Salmenautio +2.182s
4 Belov +2.932s
5 Schothorst +12.867s
6 Bulantsev +17.964s
7 Shvetsov +19.134s
8 Schott +19.430s
9 Lobanenko +26.451s
10 Aleksandr Vilaev SMP Racing +43.213s
P: Berets, 1m26.446s
FL: Lappalainen, 1m27.820s

Race 3 (19 laps)
1 Berets 27m35.259s
2 Lappalainen +4.111s
3 Schothorst +4.645s
4 Belov +5.689s
5 Blomqvist +7.170s
6 Salmenautio +10.490s
7 Schott +25.970s
8 Bulantsev +29.350s
9 Lobanenko +44.024s
10 Vilaev +1m00.222s
P: Berets, 1m35.356s
FL: Schothorst, 1m25.820s

Championship Standings
1 Blomqvist 50? ?2?Berets 43? ?3?Lappalainen 38? ?4?Schothorst 36? ?5?Salmenautio 30? ?6 Belov?30? ?7?Schott 11? ?8?Bulantsev 10? ?9?Shvetsov 8? ?10?Lobanenko 3

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