Photo: ACI Sport

Reno Francot will make his Formula Regional Middle East this weekend at Dubai Autodrome with CL Motorsport.

After Michael Belov departed its line-up following a horror shunt in race three of the campaign, CL has signed Reno Francot to fill its third car for the remaining two rounds at Dubai and Losail.

The 18-year-old Dutchman was 2023 F4 Central European Zone runner-up, 10th in the United Arab Emirates-based Formula Trophy series in 2024, then third in E4 and fifth in F4 Middle East last year. He also made a FRegional cameo in the European championship.

MP Motorsport has also revised its line-up. Christian Ho’s two-round deal has concluded, and he sits seventh in the standings with one win and one other podium at the season’s halfway point. He is replaced this weekend by Jesse Carrasquedo Jr, who will be driving for Van Amersfoort Racing in the FIA Formula 3 Championship later this year.

The 18-year-old Mexican has been racing at the FRegional level since 2023. He has no points from 12 FREC starts, one podium from 23 races in FRME and has had far more success from his 30 races in Eurocup-3. He won as a part-timer in 2024, and was fifth in the 2025 standings with two victories. He was also eighth in its winter series.

Carrasquedo, Francot and R-ace GP’s debutant Emanuele Olivieri got some crucial running at Dubai in FRME’s pre-event test sessions on Thursday and Friday.

Trident’s Maximilian Popov was fastest, setting a 1m53.523s in session two to lead Mumbai Falcons duo Sebastian Wheldon and Kean Nakamura-Berta by 0.051 and 0.094 seconds respectively. Taito Kato (ART Grand Prix), Alex Ninovic (Rodin Motorsport) and Alexander Abkhazava (MP) were also within 0.2s of Popov, and a second covered the top 23 drivers in the expanded 32-car field.

R-ace’s points leader Rashid Al Dhaheri was 0.384s off the pace in eighth place, and fell down to last in the one-hour free practice session on Friday afternoon.

Setting the pace were G4 Racing’s Andrea Dupe and Jules Roussel, after being 22nd and 14th in testing, with the former posting a 1m54.270s late on to claim top spot by 0.026s.

Olivieri trailed by 0.159s in third place, and just 0.026s ahead of Nakamura-Berta whose personal best came before his final set of laps. Artem Severiukhin made it three G4 drivers in the top five, and also in a top eight split by 0.277s were Reza Seewooruthun (Rodin), title contender Alex Powell (Pinnacle Motorsport) and Giovanni Maschio (Race Performance Motorsport).

There were 25 drivers within a second of Dupe, while Al Dhaheri only set eight laps in total (the second least in the field) and was 2.127s off the pace.

Free practice results

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Photo: Spanish F4

Spanish Formula 4’s season ended at Barcelona on Sunday with victories for Reno Francot and Ean Eyckmans.

The day began with qualifying, which set race three’s grid. TC Racing claimed its first ever pole as Alfio Spina topped the times by 0.221 seconds over Eyckmans, with Francot 0.338s behind.

G4 Racing’s Jean Paul Karras in seventh was one of only two non-MP Motorsport drivers in the top eight, who were split by a second on pace.

Rene Lammers and Jan Przyrowski, Eyckmans’ rivals for the championship runner-up spot, were eighth and 16th fastest, and champion Thomas Strauven qualified 10th.

They were spread out across the grid for race two as well, which had its starting order set by race one’s fastest laps. MP’s Reno Francot started on pole ahead of Campos Racing’s Vivek Kanthan and MP’s debutant Rocco Coronel, with Strauven seventh, Lammers ninth, Spina 10th, Przyrowski 11th and Eyckmans 17th.

Cold track temperatures meant the race started behind the safety car so drivers could warm their tyres. Francot led the field into action on lap three and gapped Kanthan immediately, then the safety car was called back out a lap later as Drivex School’s Filippo Fiorentino and Global Racing Service’s Alexandar Bogunovic crashed out.

The next restart was on lap eight, and Francot pulled away through the race’s second half to take his first win by 3.247s.

There was initially a train of cars from second down to ninth, but Kanthan and Coronel were able to shake off the group behind for their first podiums of the season.

MP’s Niklas Schaufler held fourth ahead of Campos’s Strauven and Ryba, and on the penultimate lap Strauven dived down Schaufler’s inside at turn 10. Schaufler had the better speed through turn 12 to stay ahead, then on the last lap Strauven had a look at turn one and tried a switchback move into the turn 10 hairpin.

Tecnicar Motorsport’s Andrej Petrovic finished seventh, and Przyrowski kept himself in the train by climbing to eighth. That required passing Lammers, who he forced an error from at turn 10 on lap 10. Next time by he dived down his inside there but Lammers was back alongside through turns 11 and 12, where contact then sent Lammers off and into the barriers.

Przyrowski only gained two points on his rivals, as Eyckmans struggled to 17th place. Drivex’s Christopher Feghali had an impressive race, charging from 15th to ninth.

Eyckmans rebounded with victory in race three, squeezing past Spina before the opening corner then pulling away after a safety car period. Francot made a great move on Spina for second on lap six, with Lammers and Przyrowski overtaking him later in the lap. Przyrowski had leapt to seventh on lap one, then passed Juan Cota and Strauven on the restart lap.

Lammers was his next target after Spina, but could not get past before an end-of-race safety car period. However a five-second penalty for track limits abuse dropped Lammers to 15th, ensuring Eyckmans became championship runner-up.

Once Spina dropped to sixth, his defensive driving improved and he lost no further places.

Results round-up
Race 2 (14 laps)
1 Reno Francot MP Motorsport 28m11.866s
2 Vivek Kanthan Campos Racing +3.247s
3 Rocco Coronel MP Motorsport +4.659s
4 Niklas Schaufler MP Motorsport +7.658s
5 Thomas Strauven Campos Racing +8.070s
6 Matus Ryba Campos Racing +8.407s
7 Andrej Petrovic Tecnicar Motorsport +9.683s
8 Jan Przyrowski Campos Racing +10.387s
9 Christopher Feghali Drivex School +11.700s
10 Santino Panetta TC Racing +13.096s
FL: Francot, 1m43.006s

Race 3 (17 laps)
1 Ean Eyckmans MP Motorsport 33m04.776s
2 Francot +0.227s
3 Przyrowski +0.852s
4 Strauven +1.137s
5 Alfio Spina TC Racing +1.518s
6 Petrovic +1.746s
7 Juan Cota MP Motorsport +2.795s
8 Jean Paul Karras G4 Racing +3.513s
9 Kanthan +3.723s
10 Ryba +3.843s
P: Spina, 1m58.539s
FL: Francot, 1m43.003s

Championship standings
1 Strauven 392   2 Eyckmans 235   3 Przyrowski 223   4 Lammers 220   5 Francot 153   6 Cota 118   7 Tye 108   8 Monteiro 97   9 Kanthan 80   10 Schaufler 75

The post Eyckmans secures second in Spanish F4 points by winning season finale appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: F4 ME

Enzo Deligny topped Formula Regional European Championship’s pre-event test session at the Red Bull Ring, ahead of a round in which four drivers will debut.

Akcel GP will be absent from the grid, with the team concluding its time in FREC this year after doing half of the rounds.

Its regular driver Saqer Al Maosherji will remain in the paddock though by switching to G4 Racing for the rest of the season.

The Kuwaiti driver is currently 30th in the championship, with two 19th places his best race results.

CL Motorsport is expanding to three cars this weekend, after initially looking like it would only have one entry. Zachary David has a clashing racing commitment Super Formula Lights, so Newman Chi has been signed to substitute for him in the #9 car, while fellow Formula 4 graduate Enea Frey completes CL’s line-up.

Chi and Frey sit seventh and 19th in the Italian F4 standings at present with Prema and Jenzer Motorsport respectively, and in E4 Frey is 10th and Chi is 11th after round one.

Frey started 2025 by coming ninth in Formula Winter Series, while Chi was ninth in F4 Middle East. His team-mate Alex Powell was championship runner-up, and is currently fourth in Italian F4.

Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior Powell will be sticking with Prema as he also makes his FREC debut in Austria in the car previously raced by Doriane Pin.

The final change is at Race Performance Motorsport, where Reno Francot is replacing Enzo Yeh. No explanation has been given for Yeh’s absence.

Francot is currently third in E4, sixth in Spanish F4 and 12th in Italian F4, and earlier this year came fifth in F4 Middle East and 12th in the Spanish F4 Winter Championship.

FREC’s Thursday afternoon test session at the Red Bull Ring ran for three hours, and Chi initially set the pace. He traded top spot with Frey too before R-ace GP’s Deligny posted a 1m28.451s to go fastest.

Frey beat that by 0.245 seconds, then Trident’s Nandhavud Bhirmobhakdi and Matteo De Palo were next to lower the pace.

Deligny responded by breaking into the 1m27s, which Prema’s Freddie Slater and De Palo then also managed to do. Top spot returned to Deligny by 0.027s a few laps later, then Francot beat him by just 0.006s.

His 1m27.616s lap stood as the benchmark for 22 minutes, eventually being beaten by Slater. He improved on his next two laps after that to lower the pace to 1m26.755s, then made another gain of 0.129s three laps later.

Slater headed back out at the end of the second hour for some flying laps and improved by further 0.033s. He continued to be the fastest driver for another 25 minutes, and it took a 1m26.446s from Deligny to usurp him.

With less than 14 minutes to go, Slater got within 0.024s of Deligny, and a few minutes after that Van Amersfoort Racing’s Pedro Clerot lapped 0.103s shy of Deligny’s pace. A second covered the top 19.

Test results

The post Deligny tops Red Bull Ring testing as four debutants join FREC field appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: F4 Middle East

Reno Francot has signed with PHM Racing for a part-time programme in Italian Formula 4 and its sister multi-national E4 championship.

The 17-year-old Dutchman already knows the German team well, having raced for it in F4 Middle East at the start of 2025.

He claimed a win and three other podiums in that campaign to come fifth in the standings, and since then has been racing for MP Motorsport in Spanish F4.

In its winter championship he was 12th in the standings with a best finish of fourth, missing a round due to a F4 Middle East clash, and in the main championship is currently sixth in the points table with two podiums.

Francot will return to PHM’s line-up in this weekend’s Italian F4 round at Mugello, and it has not been confirmed which of the remaining three rounds he will do after that. The Barcelona round clashes with Spanish F4’s trip to Jerez.

E4, formerly known as Euro 4, has a three-round schedule consisting of two events in Italy and one in France.

PHM says that following Francot’s spells with the team in the Middle East and now in Europe, there is a “long-term vision [that] is leading this agreement towards the best possible future” beyond 2025.

Francot made a starring cameo in the United Arab Emirates-based Formula Trophy series for F4 cars last year, making the podium in his two races and coming 10th in the standings. His main programme was in Italian F4, where he was 14th in the points table.

The post Reno Francot joins PHM Racing for part-time runs in E4 and Italian F4 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Dutch Photo Agency.

MP Motorsport has announced Reno Francot as its sixth signing for the upcoming Spanish Formula 4 season.

The 17-year-old from the Netherlands is currently in his third year racing in F4, and in the last month has already spent two weekends racing for MP as he joined its Spanish F4 Winter Championship line-up. He came 12th in the standings there with a best finish of fourth.

That was his second series of 2025, having begun the year with a full F4 Middle East campaign driving for Akcel GP. He was fifth in the points there, with one win and three other podiums.

“I’m really excited to be part of MP Motorsport’s line-up for the F4 Spanish championship this year,” said Francot. “They are one of the top teams in, arguably, the most competitive F4 series in Europe and bring a massive amount of experience to the track.

“With the F4 experience that I have gained over the past two seasons, I’m aiming for everything to click in this Spanish campaign with MP.”

Francot had previous experience of F4 racing in Spain from a Formula Winter Series cameo in 2024 and a guest outing in Spanish F4 in 2023 which was with MP. That was his rookie year in cars, and his primary focus was F4 Central European Zone where he was championship runner-up with Jenzer Motorsport.

He remained with the team for the move to Italian F4 in 2024, and had a podium-free run to 14th in the standings. Prior to cars, Francot came fourth in the 2021 FIA Karting Academy Trophy.

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Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

Jules Caranta and Vivek Kanthan topped practice for Eurocup-3 and Spanish Formula 4’s winter champiosnhips at Algarve on Friday.

Before the event, Campos Racing revised its driver rotation plan to bring in Enzo Tarnvanichkul in the second of its Red Bull-branded cars and have Ernesto Rivera drive it next month at Motorland Aragon rather than the other way around.

Another change to its line-up was Spanish F4 race-winner Lucas Fluxa replacing Tsolov’s fellow FIA F3 racer Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak.

Also joining the field this weekend is Zack Scoular, who is driving for Palou Motorsport ahead of his main series campaign with the team, and Valerio Rinicella (who won both races of 2024’s non-championship Eurocup-3 event) replaces Matteo Comparatto at MP Motorsport.

Caranta topped FP1, setting a 1m39.261s to pip team-mate Kacper Sztuka by 0.094 seconds and MP’s Maciej Gladysz by a further 0.001s. Fluxa was fourth, 0.128s off the top, and Drivex School’s Juan Cota was fifth fastest. It was incredibly close further down the order, as just 0.104s split Palou Motorsport’s Luciano Morano in eighth and MP’s Alexander Abkhazava in 15th. A further five drivers were within three quarters of a second of Caranta, and Scoular was down in 24th place.

Tarnvanichkul was quickest in FP2, setting a 1m39.600s to edge Gladysz by 0.08s. Caranta and Sztuka trailed by 0.28s in third and fourth, and Campos’s Jesse Carrasquedo Jr was fifth. Fluxa was 0.451s off Tarnvanichkul, and a second covered the top 15.

Only three drivers improved their pace: Tarnvanichkul, who was eighth fastest overall, and Allay Racing’s Emil and Linus Hellberg.

There are also changes to Spanish F4’s entry list at Algarve. MP has a sixth car out for Reno Francot, who is currently fifth in F4 Middle East and was 14th in Italian F4 last year, and making their single-seater debuts with Cram Motorsport and Tecnicar Motorsport respectively are Alexandar Bogunovic and Nacho Tunon.

Slovenian teenager Bogunovic was fifth in the FIA Motorsport Games’ junior karting event, sixth in the Trofeo delle Industrie’s OK Junior class and seventh in the FIA Karting Academy Trophy in 2022, but lacked strong results when he stepped up to senior karting in 2023.

Tunon, from Spain, finished 15th in the CIK-FIA World championship three years ago when racing on OK karts, and was 13th in the Italian championship. Last year he raced on KZ2 shifter karts and was 18th in the CIK-FIA European championship.

Campos’s Kanthan was the pacesetter in FP1, a 1m44.699s putting him a third of a second ahead of team-mate Jan Przyrowski. Thomas Strauven made it a Campos 1-2-3, and Drivex’s Christopher Feghali was the only other driver within a second of Kanthan.

Kathan improved to 1m44.506s in FP2, and Przyrowski reduced his advantage to 0.145s. Strauven was third again, only 0.276s behind, and MP’s Rene Lammers and Rodin Motorsport’s Nathan Tye were 0.5s back in fourth and fifth.

The majority of drivers set new personal bests, with only 11 of the 36 not improving.

Results round-up
Eurocup-3 winter series practice
1 Jules Caranta Campos Racing 1m39.261s
2 Kacper Sztuka Campos Racing +0.094s
3 Maciej Gladysz MP Motorsport +0.095s
4 Lucas Fluxa Campos Racing +0.128s
5 Juan Cota Drivex School +0.174s
6 Oscar Wurz Drivex School +0.277s
7 Mattia Colnaghi MP Motorsport +0.328s
8 Enzo Tarnvanichkul Campos Racing +0.339s
9 Luciano Morano Palou Motorsport +0.377s
10 James Egozi Palou Motorsport +0.421s

Spanish F4 Winter Championship practice
1 Vivek Kanthan Campos Racing 1m44.506s
2 Jan Przyrowski Campos Racing +0.145s
3 Thomas Strauven Campos Racing +0.276s
4 Rene Lammers MP Motorsport +0.565s
5 Nathan Tye Rodin Motorsport +0.566s
6 Christopher Feghali Drivex School +0.621s
7 Ean Eyckmans MP Motorsport +0.717s
8 Alfio Spina TC Racing +0.874s
9 Miguel Costa Campos Racing +0.895s
10 Matus Ryba Campos Racing +0.942s

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Photo: F4 ME

Akcel GP by PHM Racing’s Reno Francot claimed his first Formula 4 Middle East win in the reversed-grid race at Yas Marina Circuit.

Francot started on the front row alongside Xcel Motorsport’s Yuhao Fu, and the pair broke clear of the rest of the pack through the first two laps. At the final chicane, Francot dived down the inside of Fu to take the lead, and never looked back.

There was chaos behind, as R-ace GP’s Alexander Savinkov lost his front wing and pitted, Prema’s Sasha Bondarev got into trouble, then R-ace’s points leader Emanuele Olivieri retired in the pits with a problem at the rear of his car on lap two.

Yas Heat Academy’s Adam Al Azhari was soon pit-bound too, and Oliveri’s main title rival Kean Nakamura Berta was sixth until he damaged his front wing, lost several positions on lap 10 then pitted.

Fu also had a downwards trajectory, but it was not a sudden drop. He had a five-second penalty for track limits abuse, which meant maintaining second was a near impossiblity. On lap six, Mumbai Falcons’ Salim Hanna Hernandez pulled off a great move at Turn 16 on him then defended through the rest of the lap to ensure Fu did not get back ahead.

Next up was R-ace’s Alex Powell, who had dived past Prema’s Newman Chi at the chicane on lap four and attacked Fu all through lap seven. He got alongside exiting the hairpin, then had the inside line for the chicane where he completed his move.

Chi was on Fu’s gearbox by lap 11, and he got defensive. That brought Yas Heat’s August Raber and Prema’s Sebastian Wheldon onto their tails, and it was a four-car train until Chi had a big lock-up at Turn 16 on lap 14 and went off. He rejoined without losing a place, and had to work hard to keep Raber behind a few corners later, and that allowed Fu to break clear.

Wheldon got on the inside of the two ahead as they began lap 15, but backed out entering turn one. Raber stayed committed and overtook Chi, but now Fu was out of reach. Once the penalty was applied he dropped to eighth, with Mumbai Falcons’ Arjun Chheda also profiting. He had been busy holding off Evans GP’s Martin Molnar.

Tomass Stolcermanis was was fourth on lap two, but dropped way down the order and had to go on a recovery drive. The Mumbai Falcons driver made it back up to 10th, as he passed R-ace’s Emily Cotty at the final chicane on the last lap.

Race results (16 laps)

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Photo: F1 Academy

Akcel GP and Pinnacle Motorsports have named their full line-ups for the upcoming Formula 4 Middle East season.

New team Akcel is competing with technical support from PHM Racing and has been born out of the Indian Racing Warriors project which planned to enter GB4 in 2024 in collaboration with Scorpio Motorsport. The team tested but never raced.

In F4 Middle East it will field the already announced David Cosma Cristofor, Hamda Al Qubaisi and Reno Francot.

Al Qubaisi, now 22, has been racing F4 cars since 2019 and won six races in F4 Middle East’s predecessor F4 United Arab Emirates. She has also won four races in the all-female F1 Academy series, and one in Saudi Arabian F4.

She came fourth in two F4 UAE seasons, was third in F1 Academy two years ago and fourth in the inaugural season of the Saudi Arabian championship last year. In 2022 she raced in Formula Regional, with a 12th place finish her best result.

Francot is entering his third year of F4 competition, having been runner-up in the Central European Zone championship as a rookie in 2023 then coming 14th in Italian F4 last year. The 17-year-old Dutchman also cameoed in other series.

Pinnacle has announced three drivers for F4 Middle East, but only one of those will be doing the full season.

Yuzhe Wang came fifth in Chinese F4 last year as a part-timer, then joined Pinnacle for the UAE-based and F4-spec Formula Trophy series and finished 22nd in the standings. The Chinese racer will race full-time in F4 Middle East.

Kyuho Lee and Yuta Suzuki will only do the first two rounds at Yas Marina Circuit taking place over the course of a week this month. Single-seater debutant Lee won the 2024 FIA World Cup for OK-N karts, and the South Korean also came 17th in the IAME Euro Series and 19th in the IAME Winter Cup for X30 Senior karts.

Suzuki came 34th and 21st in those two IAME competitions the year before, and in 2024 raced shifter karts in Europe, a variety of classes at home in Japan and also made his single-seater debut in the entry-level Super FJ category aged 16. He did 13 races in total, and in his sixth outing at Sportsland SUGO took a victory and a second place. He followed that up with victory at Twin Ring Motegi, and in the championship event at Suzuka was second in his semi-final and fourth in the final.

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Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

There will be new names on Spanish Formula 4’s 36-car grid at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit this weekend, including title contenders from two other F4 championships.

Coming from British F4 is Alex Ninovic, who is currently second in the standings with Rodin Motorsport after winning four races and taking 12 other podiums in the first 24 races.

The Australian will also be racing for Rodin in Spain, taking the place of Preston Lambert and competing as a wildcard driver. He did a full Spanish F4 campaign with the team, then known as Rodin Carlin, in 2023 and came 10th in the points table.

Joining Drivex School for this weekend is F4 Central European Zone leader Oscar Wurz, who is the 16-year-old son of former Formula 1 driver Alex.

Wurz is on the brink of claiming the F4 CEZ title with one round to go, having won two races this season with Jenzer Motorsport. He also came sixth in Saudi Arabian F4 at the start of 2024, and debuted in single-seaters with two Danish F4 rounds last year.

Reno Francot will be reuniting with Global Racing Service at Valencia, having done a Formula Winter Series round with them in March. Since then he has been racing for Jenzer in Italian F4, and is currently 13th in the standings. He was 2023 F4 CEZ runner-up with the Swiss team.

The final addition to the grid is Argentinian racer Gino Trappa, who has tested with Drivex and is currently fifth in Brazilian F4.

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Photo: Van Amersfoort Racing

Italian Formula 4 title outsider Hiyu Yamakoshi will return to Spanish F4 for this weekend’s round at Motorland Aragon.

The 17-year-old Japanese racer competed in multiple F4 championships last year as a single-seater rookie, coming fifth in French F4 with five podiums, 14th in an in incomplete Spanish F4 campaign with Tecnicar Motorsport and 22nd in F4 United Arab Emirates after only contesting two rounds with Pinnacle VAR.

He stuck with that combination for 2024, making an F4 UAE cameo with Pinnacle Motorsport in February then joining Van Amersfoort Racing in Italian F4.

Despite taking two wins, three other podiums and three poles from the first five rounds and occupying second place in the standings, he is 86 points off the championship lead in Italian F4 and unlikely to challenge for the title due to the domination of Prema’s Freddie Slater.

He will make his Spanish F4 return with the VAR-supported Monlau Motorsport, which is adding a fourth car to its line-up, and compete as a wildcard entrant.

Yamakoshi’s Italian F4 rival Reno Francot will also be joining the grid at Aragon, along with single-seater debutant Rafael Teran, with the Global Racing Service team.

Francot was the F4 Central European Zone runner-up with Jenzer Motorsport in 2023, and made a Spanish F4 cameo with MP Motorsport. The 16-year-old Dutchman began this year by joinging GRS for a Formula Winter Series outing, then returned to Jenzer for Italian F4 where he is currently 13th in the standings with a best finish of fourth.

Teran comes from Colombia and during his karting career races in Europe as well as North and South America.

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