Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Formula 2 race-winner Zak O’Sullivan has secured a seat in Super Formula for 2025, Toyota has announced.

O’Sullivan stepped up to F2 for 2024 with ART Grand Prix and won the Monaco feature race after a late pit-stop under safety car conditions as well as the sprint race at the Hungaroring. However, he vacated his seat before the final three rounds while sitting 14th in the standings, citing funding reasons, and was replaced by fellow Williams junior driver Luke Browning.

He was a late addition to the post-season SF rookie test at Suzuka this month with Kondo Racing and has now been named as a race driver for the team, replacing Kazuto Kotaka alongside Kenta Yamashita.

Kotaka, the 2022 Super Formula Lights champion, moves to TGM Grand Prix – which switches from Honda power to become a team for Toyota development drivers – together with Hibiki Taira, who was SF Lights runner-up in 2023 and contested four SF rounds last year for Team Impul in a car also driven by Theo Pourchaire, Nyck de Vries and Ben Barnicoat.

Impul welcomes an all-new line-up of Jota World Endurance Championship hypercar driver and former FIA F3 racer Oliver Rasmussen and long-time Nissan GT ace and 2017 Japanese F3 champion Mitsunori Takaboshi. Sacha Fenestraz, the 2019 Japanese F3 champion, returns to SF with TOM’S after two seasons in Formula E with Nissan.

Toyota has also confirmed plans for other drivers in its Driver Challenge Program, headed by F2 racer Ritomo Miyata. While Miyata will drive for ART in his second season in F2 – effectively replacing O’Sullivan – he will do with the support of a new collaboration between rival squad Hitech and Toyota, to be known as ‘Hitech TGR’.

Seita Nonaka, who finished third in his third season in SF Lights this year after being Japanese F4 champion in 2021, will serve as a reserve driver in SF alongside a racing campaign in Super GT’s GT300 class.

Rikuto Kobayashi will continue in SF Lights with TOM’S after finishing runner-up in 2024 having graduated to the series as Japanese F4 champion.

For Jin Nakamura, who was runner-up to Kobayashi in F4 and fourth in SF Lights this year, there will be a switch to Formula Regional with an R-ace GP drive in the Middle East and European championships.

Frenchman Esteban Masson will resume his single-seater career in SF Lights with TOM’S alongside an LMP2 drive in the European Le Mans Series. The 2021 French F4 and 2023 Eurocup-3 champion has gained Toyota support after racing a Lexus in WEC’s GT3 class and testing its hypercar this year.

Yuki Sano also joins SF Lights with TOM’S after finishing fourth in Japanese F4 and winning four races from as many starts in FRegional Japan.

Kiyoshi Umegaki and Tokiya Suzuki, who finished seventh and 10th in Japanese F4, will add FRegional Japan programmes alongside continuing in F4, where they will be joined in the TGR-DC Racing School line-up by Yuzuki Miura, Takahiro Kikuchi, Megumu Suzuki and Masana Muto.

The post Zak O’Sullivan makes Super Formula switch as Toyota reveals line-ups appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: FocusPackMedia – Marcel Wulf

The lack of Formula 1 opportunities is leading young up and coming drivers to look for other career paths to become professionals earlier than they used to do, and endurance racing has become a popular choice.

Not long ago it was often said that reaching F1 was not that difficult, rather that staying for more than one or two seasons was. Nowadays, it is the other way around with teams being reluctant to sign rookies to their line-ups. Then once you make it, the chances of retaining your seat seem to increase considerably. That and the ever-increasing budgets have combined to push many young drivers out of the F1 ladder early in their careers as they pursue their dream of becoming professional racing drivers.

The European Le Mans Series in particular has become a popular destination for single-seater graduates in 2024. Formula Scout visited the paddock during the opening round at Barcelona to learn about what tempted them to enter this six-round championship of four-hour races as well as what they made of their early days in endurance racing.

Felipe Drugovich was one of those who joined the series this year, and he did so with Vector Sport. The 2022 F2 champion “needed to do something” after not being able to step up to F1. The Aston Martin F1 reserve driver found the LMP2 a “fun” car to drive and ELMS “a good championship to keep you sharp”, and he is also taking part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans behind the wheel of Action Express Racing’s Cadillac V-Series.R.

F1 is still Frederik Vesti’s “focus” as well. However, without an opening in the pinnacle of motorsport for 2024, the 2023 F2 vice-champion joined Cool Racing for the ELMS campaign and Le Mans “to continue learning and building, adding bricks, to the foundation I’ve already created”.

“I’m here to do a lot of laps in a fast race car, practise qualifying, continue to work on my race pace and so on,” said the Mercedes F1 reserve driver, who labelled the ELMS field as “the strongest it’s ever been”.

While Drugovich and Vesti still keep their F1 dream alive, others have fully transitioned from the F1 world into a more relaxed but still highly competitive atmosphere. Fellow former F2 racer Clement Novalak is approaching his first endurance racing campaign with Inter Europol Competition “as calmly as I can”.

“It’s quite nice being in this paddock. It’s a lot more chilled I think than when we were in Formula 2, Formula 3. Obviously, everybody still wants to get a good result. But, you know, I think it’s been a natural step for me. I’ve always been quite good in long runs, let’s say, and then trying to keep my tyres and so on in F3 in sprint races. So, coming to endurance races, it’s kind of a natural step.”

Photo: FocusPackMedia – Jan Patrick Wagner

Arthur Leclerc also felt it was the right time for a change after a tough 2023 F2 season. Now he combines his ELMS programme with Panis Racing with competing in the Italian GT Endurance championship with Scuderia Baldini as well as his Ferrari F1 development driver duties.

“We started really well the [2023] season, and then all of a sudden we had a loss of pace after the Monaco crash, which you could not explain. Since this I think my time was about just to change the trajectory. I’m now in LMP2 and my target now is clearly to try and push to go to Hypercar.”

Not only those who have reached the last step of the F1 ladder make the switch. Many drivers opt for an early career path change, with the budget and the greater opportunities to become professional playing a key role in their decisions.

“We had the post-season test with ART. We were quite happy with how it went and it just didn’t come together,” explained Inter Europol’s Ollie Gray, who had stepped up with Carlin to F3 from British F4 in 2023. “Then when this opportunity arose, it was clear. I think you’ve seen so much success from people that have done it in the past.

“It was no chance for us to get to do another year in F3 with a big part of it being the cost coming into next year, and then staying in for F2 was even more further away. So I obviously would like to have a better year last year just to show that I can do it at a high level. But I think if you look at the grid of ELMS, you could argue that it’s even stronger than any of the feeder series.”

“If it’s clear that F1 is not going to happen, it’s definitely not a bad thing to move to this type of racing early,” affirmed Jonny Edgar. The Briton moved on after three seasons of F3, where he showed speed that never fully materialised in results. In fact, his sole podium appearance came with a victory in the 2023 feature race at Monza as he saw off his time in the championship.

“Especially LMP2, I think people are starting to realise more and more it’s a good option for a career in motorsport, especially with how popular sportscars is becoming with all the manufacturers interest in WEC and IMSA with the new rules. It’s a good time to be moving into this type of racing.”

The Briton was “really happy” when he learnt late on 2023 that he would be joining Louis Deletraz and Robert Kubica in TF Sport’s ELMS line-up for the 2024 season.

Photo: FocusPackMedia – Jan Patrick Wagner

“They’ve taught me a lot about just every aspect of the racing: full course yellows, pit-stops, advice on driver changes, what’s the best way. I mean, also just driving the car, saving tyres they’ve been really helpful, both Robert and Louis.

“Especially Robert, he has so much experience that it is very good to be teammates with. Setting up the car also, he’s really good at kind of knowing what the car needs to be faster, especially for the race stints. So that’s been good. And also just the attention to detail he has with a lot of things is something I’ve not seen before with a teammate.

“The things they ask for help [not just] them, but help everyone in the team, which is what’s important in this type of racing,” Edgar remarked.

“The opportunity to be doing IMSA was confirmed quite late,” he said about doing the enduros in Sean Creech Motorsport’s Ligier JS P217. “It’s good to be doing both of these [ELMS and IMSA enduros] because instead of having just six races I have 11. I have more chances to be in the car, more testing.”

Maceo Capietto transitioned even earlier, but for him it made “a lot of sense to go straight from FREC to LMP2”.

“It’s very difficult at the moment to go up the formula ladder. In the end, if you have the contact and the opportunity to move from single-seaters to endurance racing and you know you won’t go far in the single-seaters for budget reasons, it’s best to go as early as you can.

“You do the switch early, and then the people here they look at you, for example, other teams. Everybody’s looking at you. You’re in the spotlight here.”

Capietto expected the season to be “a learning process for everyone” due to the lack of experience of both the team and its drivers. It is Iron Lynx’s first time operating an LMP2 squad, although it doing so in association with Proton Competition. The Frenchman will also take part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans as part of Proton’s LMP2 class entry.

Although he’s in GTs, Eurocup-3’s maiden champion Esteban Masson has also joined the ELMS grid with Kessel Racing in his transition to endurance racing. He also drives in the World Endurance Championship as he aims to become a “professional driver”.

“It’s a whole new world for me,” he said. “My mentality is I’m a racing driver and I want it to be my job, and I need to adapt to every car I have.

“ELMS is a really good championship because you get quite a lot of track time honestly, which is good when you come from single-seaters because you don’t have so many chances to drive apart from the races.

“Then obviously it’s one of the top endurance racing championships, so that’s why we can see so many big names. And it’s making me really happy to be driving with all of these good drivers.”

Photo: FocusPackMedia – Marcel Wulf

Single-seater graduates also shared with Formula Scout their impressions of the car and the characteristics of this discipline.

“In terms of driving, it’s a bit more heavy, so it’s a bit more tricky in slow speed corners to rotate compared to a F2,” Leclerc explained. “There is less downforce as well, so a bit more work on the high speed as a driver. The big difference as well is this long-term race where you need to look really a lot after your tyres. One lap pace is not counting so much. It’s really a long term where you want to bring the car and bring the tyres to finish the race the best possible.”

Vesti added: “It reminds me of F2, maybe something in between F2 and F3. Even on pace, I think it’s around, yeah, in the middle between F3 and F2. And for sure in qualifying when they just put 10 litres of fuel and new tyres, it’s a really fast car, and it’s enjoyable to drive.”

The minimum weight for LMP2 cars in ELMS is 930kg and its Gibson GK428 V8 engine produces 580hp. Meanwhile, the minimum weight including the driver in F3 is 698kg with an output from the Mechachrome engine of 380hp, which contrasts with F2’s 750kg and 620hp. In terms of laptime, ELMS’ pole position time at Barcelona was a 1m28.071s. When F3 tested there the week after the fastest lap recorded was a 1m26.646s, while F2’s benchmark the following week was 1m23.139s.

“You don’t have all the cool looking wings that you would have in F2 and F3, but it surprisingly generates a huge amount of downforce,” said Novalak. “It’s been fun, and it’s generally quite an easy car to get to grips to. I’ve not had to change too much to my driving style. It fits me quite well, which is nice. It’s not been too much of an adaptation. It’s just been a progression.”

Traffic management was highlighted by single-seater graduates as one of the main challenges they were facing in its adaptation to the discipline. The other was sharing the car with other two drivers. Although those are two characteristics intrinsic to endurance racing, there has not been any major dramas in getting acquainted with them. Conversely, drivers have been welcomed those challeges positively.

“It’s always tricky because there is this such a difference of speed,” said Leclerc. “Actually, it’s not easy because it’s as well different level of drivers. There is sometimes bronze, there is sometimes silver. There can be a bit unexpected lines or unexpected brakes or whatever. So it’s quite hard. And I think you need to be quite cautious in the traffic, and I think it’s key as well to win as many times as possible in traffic to try to make the difference in the long term race.”

“Obviously, having multiple classes on track with you at the same time is a big aspect” Gray agreed. “And this is where you can probably lose the most time.”

Photo: FocusPackMedia – Marcel Wulf

Vesti also pointed out at the slower pace of LMP3 and GT3 cars as something to bear in mind during the races, especially when it comes to lapping them.

“You can win a lot of time in the race if you take a lot of risk, but you can also lose the race in one second if you make a mistake. So you need to take care and just judge that.”

“In the races, you need to be really intelligent, know where to overtake, where not to overtake. So that’s a really good thing,” claimed Drugovich, who admitted to be “excited” about sharing the car with other drivers.

“Comparing my driving style with other driving styles and see which direction we should take with the set-up and stuff like that, it’s interesting. Obviously, you need to not only think about your race and your car, you need to think about other people’s, you know, the other teammates as well and how they drive the car and how they need the car for the race. So it’s very interesting to see that.”

“You’re not working just for yourself anymore,” Gray said. “You’re working as a team. But this is something that I’ve felt that it is quite easy on my side.”

Gray’s Inter Europol car-mate Novalak described himself as a “team player” and to be enjoying the cooperation between drivers.

“You have to make compromises in terms of what each driver wants and needs and what the underlying car also needs. So it’s nice to have these discussions as a three, and rather than that, you know, having those discussions as teammates where you’re, you know, you’re trying to improve the car, but you’re also trying to beat one another. These guys are now on your team, so you’re all working towards the same shared goal. It’s quite enjoyable. I like it.”

“From my side, I try to maximise myself first, go as fast as I can, and then I try to help my teammates as well,” explained Vesti. “We speak about the car. We analyse the data together, the video. In the end, if I’m very fast and my teammates are lacking or the opposite, then the car is not the best. So all three drivers have to work together. And I think at Cool Racing we have a good mentality on how to work together and push our teammates in the right direction. All of us. So it’s a team effort and it’s about having the average fastest team.”

Meanwhile, Leclerc remarked the fact that you are never fully comfortable in the car.

“We need to have a car that is fitting for all of the three drivers,” he commented. “It’s something stupid, but the seat position, I have two small teammates, so I need to just put the legs a bit more towards me. I’m touching the throttle some times I’m braking. It’s really different. You are never feeling completely perfect with the car, but it’s a big work we are doing us three as we are a team to try to fit everyone.”

Photo: FocusPackMedia – Marcel Wulf

Edgar also touched on comfort inside the car, but conversely to Leclerc he is fully pleased with the driving position he has achieved.

“I thought I’d have to be more compromised on fitting in the car, but in both cars here and in IMSA with my seat insert I’m really comfortable, and the pedals and steering are pretty much where I’d want them.

“In terms of driving, the cars are really similar to a F3. The adjustment has been easier than I expected just because of how similar a lot of things are. So that’s been good. It only really took me a few laps each time to get used to both of the cars.

“In the Oreca, we sit on the left; in the Ligier, it is on the right. So that changes a bit the feeling,” Edgar explained as he compared both cars and championships. “Then obviously, in ELMS we have way more power, the car is a bit lighter. But one of the big differences is just the feeling in driving, the tyres.

“With Michelin in IMSA, you push quite a lot more; whereas Goodyear is a bit more about tyre saving. A little bit more like a Pirelli, what I’m used to. So it’s quite different in terms of that. Especially on tracks like here [Barcelona], we have to manage a lot of tyres for the whole stint. We have to double stint all the sets, whereas in IMSA you have tyres that don’t drop off as much and for maybe half the race, you double stint them and at the end of the race, it’s always new tyres every stop and pushing flat out kind of.

“It’s a bit different the styles of racing and just also with regulations. Different in a lot of ways, but still pretty similar in many other aspects.”

The American leg of his 2024 programme has posed Edgar the biggest challenges as he is still getting acquainted with the work ethic and culture in the United States. Nevertheless, this is “good for the future”.

“It’s just a bit different [in America] like kind of how the teams work. Also just a lot of rule differences of pit stops, different procedures between teams of like even just driver changes. Obviously the tracks are a bit different. The American tracks are a lot more old school, not much run off. So I’m enjoying them so far.

“Coming from F3, ELMS is very similar in terms of how the teams are working, the tracks, kind of how you have to drive for saving tyres.”

The post The single-seater graduates finding a new home in endurance racing appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Eurocup-3

Esteban Masson became the first ever Eurocup-3 champion in 2023. Instead of progressing up the single-seater ladder, he switched career path to endurance racing for this year. What was behind the move?

Half of the races in Eurocup-3’s inaugural season last year were won by Campos Racing’s Esteban Masson, but it took until the eighth and final round at Barcelona for him to have a perfect weekend of pole, victory and fastest lap in both races. He went into that event with a one-point lead, and won the title by 30.

Mid-season he also joined Formula Regional European Championship newcomer Sainteloc Racing, contesting six out of 10 rounds and coming 16th in the standings with a podium and three other points finishes.

Masson had scored just a single point in his rookie FREC season in 2022, which was split between FA Racing by MP and ART Grand Prix, and rather than spend a third year in FRegional he moved into sportscar racing for 2024.

Formula Scout caught up with him during the opening round of the European Le Mans Series where he is racing a Ferrari 296 GT3 for Kessel Racing.

“Sometimes it’s better for me to do a step back to do three further. And that’s I think exactly what we did,” Masson said of the decision he and his management took to go to Eurocup-3 last year.

“The choice to go with Campos, which was a really good team in the Eurocup-3. We prepared the season really well. I prepared mentally on my side before the season, and I knew from race one I wanted to win the championship. That was my aim and we worked super hard to do so. And we did. And this created me opportunities this year.

“So I’m really happy about the work I did, the team did, and all the people around me did last year. And that’s where it brought me today. So I’m super happy to be in this paddock today and can’t wait to see what the future will bring.”

Esteban Masson’s racing CV

Masson – who won the French Formula 4 title in 2021 as a rookie – was one of two single-seater champions racing full-time in Eurocup-3 and his run of four victories from the first eight races earned him a private GT3 test at Barcelona in autumn, where gentleman driver Takeshi Kimura was also present.

He performed well and secured a seat alongside Kimura in Kessel’s Ferrari 488 GTE Evo for the World Endurance Championship’s season-ending Bahrain Eight Hours, which took place the week before Eurocup-3’s finale.

“He [Kimura] was pleased about how I was driving,” Masson said of the test. “Then I had the opportunity to start in Bahrain as he was searching for a Silver[-graded] driver, which I was, and then everything went like natural. He was happy about the race we did together and I had the opportunity to do the WEC [this year] and now we do ELMS. So I’m driving with him all season.”

The WEC and ELMS sporting regulations state that GT3 line-ups “must include at least one Bronze driver, plus another Bronze driver or a Silver driver”. The Bronze-graded driver is usually a paying gentleman driver, who often influences the rest of the line-up. In Masson’s case, he is sponsored by Kimura to compete in both championships.

“From the first time we met, it went naturally and he asked me to be there with him, and at the moment, it’s going not too bad. I’m trying to help him as much as I can and trying to improve myself at the same time.”

Masson came fifth in class on his WEC debut, but has finished no higher than 14th in class in the three races he has done this year with Auto Sport Promotion Team. In his two ELMS races he has finished ninth in class and suffered a retirement.

“It’s a whole new world for me,” he continued. “I have a lot of things to learn and to discover as [ELMS’ season opener] is only my third [sportscar] race, but I’m super grateful to be here. I made my debut last year in Bahrain with Kessel, so I’m happy to be back with them. It’s a great opportunity for me to do ELMS next to my WEC programme to have a lot of races and improve on the small things I need to work on.

Photo: Focus Pack Media – Marcel Wulf

“I don’t have any specific results aim or goal, should I say. I’m just here to improve and to do my job as much as I can and to try to help as well my team-mate. Because in this new discipline, we drive with three drivers in the car and we have one Bronze as well. So I try to help him as much as I can and to improve compared to the Pro. So it’s a different mentality.”

Three-time Stock Car Pro champion and two-time Le Mans 24 Hours class winner Daniel Serra is the experienced hand in Kessel’s line-up, and in the WEC it is three-time World Touring Car champion, two-time WEC champion and Formula E podium-finisher Jose Maria Lopez alongside Kimura and Masson in ASP’s Lexus RC F GT3.

Masson reckons the key to fighting at the front is working to make Kimura one of the fastest Bronze-graded drivers.

“WEC and ELMS at the moment are championships where the Bronze driver is making quite a lot of difference because the differences between Bronze drivers are bigger than between Silvers or Platinum drivers. So the goal is to help our Bronze and to try to make him improve on the weekend and [over] the year and as well as on the set-up, to try and help him as much as we can and make the car quite like compliant to him,” he explained.

“I’m driving two different types of cars, two different manufacturers. So obviously the car doesn’t behave the same. You have quite a few differences on the way of driving, but I think that’s as well my job as a driver, to be able to adapt to every car, every condition, every tyre you have.

“At the moment it’s not going too bad. I think I’ve been quite fast, and I think now the point I need to work on is on the races to be able to improve. The outlap, the strategy, how I push from the start to the end because the stints are a lot longer.

“I have a lot of things to learn, and I’m happy about it. To learn so much stuff is entertaining for me as well as a driver. I’m happy to have so many good people around me, with ASP Team and the Kessel Racing team. I’m really well integrated in both teams. Now I’m trying to take the maximum out of the good people I have around me to try to improve during the year.”

Kimura, Masson & Lopez (Photo: Antoine Evora)

Masson repeatedly expressed his satisfaction with his current racing home, with his seats earned purely off performance, therefore he is not actively looking for a single-seater return. Notwithstanding, he is not closing any doors for himself.

“The opportunity I got from [ASP sponsor] Akkodis and Toyota to race in the WEC with the Lexus programme and Kessel Racing to be in the ELMS. I mean, they both are taking quite a lot of time in the season. But I’m super grateful to be there and I’m pushing to do my best in this new discipline for me,” he stated.

“Of course, it depends on the opportunity that we get. I don’t have anything planned on the single-seater side, but it depends mainly of what it is and when it is [if an opportunity arose] because I have quite a busy schedule at the moment.

“We are trying to do our best to prepare the future as well. Because my aim is to be professional driver and at the moment the best path would be to stay in endurance racing, GT racing, as it’s going really well at the moment. But I’m never closed to anything. So at the moment nothing in view. But maybe it can be possible. We never can say no.”

Also it is still too early to talk about the future as “for the opportunities to come, I need to work first of all on my 2024 season”.

A smile appears on Masson’s face when he hears the word ‘Hypercar’. The top class of WEC machinery is “of course making me dream; it’s something I would like to try”. 

The post Why Eurocup-3’s first champion is now in GTs rather than single-seaters appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: IMSA

Indy Nxt star Nolan Siegel and FIA Formula 3 Championship race-winner Jonny Edgar will team up together to race in this year’s Daytona 24 Hours.

The pair have been signed by Sean Creech Motorsport to race a Ligier JS P217 in IMSA’s LMP2 class which they will share with Lance Willsey and three-time overall Daytona 24H winner and two-time IMSA champion Joao Barbosa.

Siegel came third in the Indy Nxt standings last year as a rookie and is already confirmed to be continuing in the series with HMD Motorsports, while Edgar spent three seasons in FIA F3 and started to look at moving into endurance racing last summer. He made his sportscar debut in the 2023 British GT finale, driving a Garage 59-run McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.

Another driver recently announced as joining the Daytona 24H grid is Clement Novalak, who has signed with LMP2 team Inter Europol by PR1/Mathiasen Motorsport. He is also in a four-driver entry, with one of his team-mates being former Vanwall driver and 2016 Formula V8 3.5 champion Tom Dillmann.

Novalak won the 2019 BRDC British F3 title, came third in the 2021 FIA F3 Championship and took his first Formula 2 win en route to 17th in the standings last year. He will contest all of IMSA’s Endurance Cup races with Inter Europol, and do a full European Le Mans Series campaign where he will share his car with FIA F3 graduate Ollie Gray and one other driver.

“I’m thrilled to be racing this year at the Daytona 24H in IMSA with Inter Europol,” said Novalak.

“It was amazing to test with them last year for my first time on American soil, and I’m really looking forward to racing with them. I’ve matched well with the boys and girls over at IEC/PR1, and they’ve really helped me out in getting comfortable with the car, so I can’t wait to be back in the car.”

Gray became a Williams junior in March 2022 after coming seventh in British Formula 4 and 15th in F4 United Arab Emirates, and with his Formula 1 backing he was able to move to Rodin Carlin. He was runner-up in the 2022 British F4 season, then 28th in the FIA F3 Championship with the team last year.

“I’m very excited to be joining Inter Europol for the 2024 ELMS season,” said Gray. “They’ve been very successful in the past, winning Le Mans in 2023, which is an amazing achievement, and I’m super excited to get going in this new chapter of my career.”

IndyCar-bound reigning ELMS champion Kyffin Simpson – who came 10th in Indy Nxt last year – has added the Daytona 24H to his 2024 schedule. He will race for DragonSpeed.

In the World Endurance Championship’s new LMGT3 class, replacing the long-running GTE category, Auto Sport Promotion Team has signed 2021 French F4 champion and 2023 Eurocup-3 champion Esteban Masson. He will share a Lexus RC F GT3 with two-time WEC champion Jose Maria Lopez.

The post F3’s Jonny Edgar and Indy Nxt’s Nolan Siegel team up for Daytona 24H appeared first on Formula Scout.

40. Enzo Fittipaldi

Down 26 • Scored more F2 podiums, and a breakthrough win

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

Fittipaldi surprised with Charouz Racing System in Formula 2 last year, but was unable to win, and after becoming a Red Bull junior he joined Rodin Carlin in an attempt to make the ultimate step. Carlin had come second in the teams’ standings in 2022.

His 2023 season was pretty much like the previous one. He finished in the points more often, but scored two fewer points, in a campaign that was shorter by three races. Fittipaldi improved his championship position too, but only by one place as he came seventh in the standings, and en route to outscoring team-mate Zane Maloney he achieved a desired maiden win.

That success came in a sprint race though. It was at Spa-Francorchamps, where Fittipaldi enjoyed his best weekend of the year as following up his win by finishing third in the feature race after fending off Maloney in the closing laps.

In 2024 he will be Van Amersfoort Racing’s lead driver, with his F2 experience to be used in the development of the new car.

39. Rafael Camara

Down 2 • Consistently strong in FRegional but couldn’t break into the title fights

Photo: FRECA

Photo: Prema

It is difficult to shine when your team-mate is Andrea Kimi Antonelli, but Camara managed to showcase his talent for the second year in a row alongside the young Italian star.

The Ferrari junior made his Formula Regional debut at the start of the year in the Middle East championship, where he finished third with six podiums to his name but no wins. Therefore he was far from challenging champion Antonelli and even PHM Racing’s championship runner-up Taylor Barnard who was 21 points ahead.

In the European championship he claimed pole positions, podium and wins, but again was never in the title fight.

The Brazilian excelled in race one at both Spa-Francorchamps and the Red Bull Ring, as he won both quite comfortably from pole. He had pole again for race one at Monza but ended up in retiring due to a mechanical failure. The next day he had just overtaken Antonelli for the lead of race two when red flags waved and without a restart the results were taken from the previous lap. That meant he was classified second. Had it all gone right at the Temple of Speed, he would have been fourth in the championship as he only missed out on that position to VAR’s Kas Haverkort by one point.

Camara will stay with Prema for a second FREC season in 2024.

38. Enzo Peugeot

New entry • Pau excellence launched French F4 title bid

Photo: Enzo Peugeot

Photo: KSP Reportages

Peugeot conquered wet and dry conditions to win the Pau Grand Prix, and did so from third on the grid. He held that position in a five-car lead train until a safety car and then red flag period as rain hit. When racing eventually resumed a long time later, Peugeot bravely passed Kevin Foster for second then pressured Evan Giltaire until he found a corner with enough grip off-line to go past him into the lead.

There were then more laps spent behind the safety car, and after the final restart Peugeot pulled away to comfortably win.

The Pau weekend was the highlight of his French Formula 4 season, as he won race one and finished second in race two at the track before winning the grand prix. Furthermore, he was also a double winner at Misano and Ledenon. A reversed-grid race win at Spa-Francorchamps and podium at Nogaro helped his points haul, but left him just short of the title by four points after a far from ideal last round at Paul Ricard.

37. Louis Sharp

New entry • Won the British F4 title as a protege of his team’s owner

Photo: JEP

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Rodin protege Sharp already caught the eye as a rookie in British F4 in 2022. Despite not being old enough to contest the opening round, he won twice and finished fourth overall – before winning both F4 support races at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

He returned to British F4 this year with Carlin as a strong title and made a fine start, winning the season opener from the front row and the second race of the weekend from 20th on the reversed grid.

Sharp struggled to kick on from that over the following rounds as wins were shared around much of the grid, and impressively consistent rookie Will Macintyre took over the points lead.

But a double win at Croft after the summer break was the start of a stronger run-in for Sharp. Going into the Brands Hatch decider just one point ahead of Macintyre, he rose to the occasion to clinch a deserved title in convincing fashion.

36. Simon Sikes

New entry • Reaped the rewards of a full-time USF2000 programme

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Sikes managed to complete just about half a USF2000 season in each of the last three years, but moving from Legacy Autosport to Pabst Racing for 2023 meant he finally got to do a whole campaign. And even when he joined the team, he initially only had the budget for one test day.

The paddock already knew Sikes could be quick, as he got four podiums in a row in 2021, but the scale of his success this year was probably not predicted by many as he took six wins, eight other podiums, seven poles and nine fastest laps to win the title by 103 points. Only 26 points covered second to sixth in the standings.

Although Sikes didn’t have any unbeaten weekends, he did make the podium in all three races of the Portland finale as well as the Sebring and Toronto double-headers. His most dominant display was in race three at Mid-Ohio, where in 14 laps of green flag action he built a lead of 10.3 seconds. Sikes will stay with Pabst for the step up to USF Pro 2000.

35. Kush Maini

New entry • Surprise F2 package caught the eye

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Maini took a big risk stepping up to F2 after a bittersweet FIA F3 season where speed wasn’t accompanied with results, but he obtained high reward.

The Indian surprised everyone — his team included — with a rocket start to the season, which had him fourth in the standings with 49 points after ten races. He also stepped on the podium in the Melbourne sprint race.

The Indian would only score 13 more points over the remainder of the season as Campos Racing became less competitive and struggled with tyre degradation. Notwithstanding, he had the chance to showcase his talent in several qualifying sessions, with second at Silverstone and third at Yas Marina Circuit his best results.

His strong performances resulted in him becoming an Alpine junior ahead of the season’s last round, as well as being signed as Mahindra’s reserve driver in Formula E.

Now also mentored by F1 double world champion Mika Hakkinen, Maini will go up against 2023 FIA F3 champion and Fernando Alonso’s protege Gabriel Bortoleto at Invicta Racing (formerly known as Virtuosi Racing) in F2 next year.

34. Alessandro Giusti

Up 12 • Hot conditions in France opened the doors for winning FREC form

Photo: FRECA

Photo: Niels Broekema

Giusti built on his French F4 title from last year as he stepped up to FREC with G4 Racing, and proved he could take the challenge to more experienced drivers at that level.

The Frenchman debuted with seventh place at Imola then scored just a single point in the next nine races. Then at a hot Paul Ricard he stormed to pole and won race one convincingly, which he followed up with fifth place in race two. Giusti excelled again next time out at the Red Bull Ring, where he was second in race one then won race two from pole. He followed that up at Monza by inheriting race one victory after Antonelli and ART Grand Prix’s Marcus Amand hit penalties.

Those results lifted him to sixth in the standings, where he remained despite taking one point in the last five races, and he was second in FREC’s rookie classification. He outscored his team-mate Michael Belov, a FRegional veteran, by 87 points over 16 races.

33. Richard Verschoor

Down 11 • F2 underdog made marginal gains with his fourth team

Photo: Formula Motorspot Ltd

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

Like in 2022, Verschoor was often the underdog in F2, but this time with VAR. He came ninth in the championship with 108 points, scoring 89% of VAR’s tally to do the heavy lifting in earning them seventh in the teams’ standings.

A remarkable drive from 11th on the grid earned him his maiden feature race victory at the Red Bull Ring, the same place he was denied it the previous year due to not having enough fuel left in his car at the end of the race.

Then he struggled at both Silverstone and the Hungaroring. However, he put his season back on track with strong performances in the Spa and Zandvoort feature races and then podiums in the Monza and Yas Marina sprint races.

Post-season he returned to F3 with Trident for the Macau Grand Prix, seeking to defend his 2019 FIA World Cup crown, but could only finish sixth after a weekend where he was never in the mix.

The Italian team has also obtained his services for the 2024 F2 season, and he is “eager to work tirelessly on developing the new car together”.

32. Esteban Masson

Re-entry (41st in 2021) • Bounced back from 2022 in style, at least in Eurocup-3

Photo: Campos Racing

Photo: Spanish F4

The 2021 French F4 champion needed to redirect his career after a tough 2022 FREC season where he drove for FA Racing and ART Grand Prix and scored a sole point. And he did so.

With limited budget, Masson signed with Campos Racing to compete in Eurocup-3 — a new continental FRegional-based series with restrained costs and an upgraded car.

He had a slow start to the season at Spa a with sixth and a seventh place, but soon got up to speed. He won twice in round two at Motorland Aragon, and would double up again at Zandvoort and Barcelona’s season finale. In between, he also topped the podium at Estoril and Valencia.

Masson went to Barcelona just one point ahead of main title rival Mari Boya and 15 points clear of Sebastian Ogaard. A perfect weekend there, scoring 56 out of 56 points, meant he was crowned champion with a 30-point advantage.

He also took part in selected FREC rounds with Sainteloc Racing, achieving better results than in 2022. His best was a second place on home soil at Paul Ricard. He was classified 16th with 39 points, having missed four of of the 10 rounds.

An excellent pirvate test  in a GT3 car earned him a drive in Kessel Racing’s GTE Am-class Ferrari in the World Endurance Championship finale at Bahrain, where he also shone. As a consequence, he is moving on to endurance racing in 2024 with ASP Team and will drive one of its Lexuses in WEC’s new LMGT3 class.

31. Dennis Hauger

Down 7 • Small improvements weren’t enough to regularly shine in F2

Photo: Red Bull

Photo: Red Bull

On the surface, Hauger’s second season in F2 looked much like his first, and once again he was with the reigning champion team. This time it was MP Motorsport rather than Prema, and like the previous year he took two wins and two other sprint race podiums.

He was also team-mate to Jehan Daruvala again. Last year Daruvala had the upper hand by 11 points and three positions in the standings, while in 2023 the gap was 54 points and four championship places but in Hauger’s favour against a team-mate in his fourth year in F2.

The start of the season didn’t go well for Hauger, with an engine issue putting him out of the Bahrain feature race and then red flags denying him a shot at pole in Melbourne. He finished second and first respectively in the sprint races at those two tracks, which stood as his only podiums until round nine at the Hungaroring where he took another sprint race win after a lowly qualifying position.

A sprint race podium and a retirement at Spa followed, and consistent scoring thereon meant Hauger came eighth in the standings. That didn’t meet Red Bull’s expectations, meaning he has lost his junior status for 2024, but he did end this year by returning to F3 and finishing second in the Macau GP.

The post Formula Scout Top 50 Drivers of 2023: 40-31 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Campos Racing

Esteban Masson completed a clean sweep in Eurocup-3’s final round at Barcelona to become champion of the series’ inaugural season, with a total of eight wins from 16 races.

The Campos Racing driver entered the event one point ahead of MP Motorsport’s Mari Boya and 15 points ahead of Sebastian Ogaard.

However, he gave them no chance to snatch the title as he scored all the 56 points that were up for grabs to finish 30 and 51 points clear of Boya and Ogaard respectively. Meanhile, Campos beat MP to the teams’ title by just two points.

“It’s just amazing, a huge day, a huge weekend overall,” Masson told Formula Scout. “I was prepared for it and we did the job we needed to do for the team and for myself and we won both championships.

“Last year was really hard since the beginning. My pace was good, but then we had difficulties with the team. Then I changed team, but my mindset was not really good. I got a bit lost last year, but this is part of my grow-up of this year.

“When I came without pressure during the winter test at the start of the year, I just was driving how I can do the best, and that’s how I just improved myself. Then with the team, obviously new car, new team, new category and new championship; for me, it was really nice to find straight away a good rhythm with everyone, and I think that this has been really crucial to this championship because straight away from the first round was quite decent.”

Nevertheless, Masson described the season as one with “ups and downs”, pointing out a double retirement at Jerez as a consequence of right-rear suspension failure in race one and being spun in race two as the worst moments, where “I lost a lot of points”.

The Frenchman also showed himself pleased to fight and eventually beat a more experienced driver like Boya to the crown.

“He has been really consistent and competitive all year,” he said of his rival. “It has been really nice to fight against him until the end, and to win it on the last race is good for me, obviously.

“He pushed me hard every race. Just to fight and to work every weekend was really important for us. It made us just extract the best of ourselves on this last weekend and we proved it with double pole and double win, which was my aim before the weekend.

“Every time you start the year you want to fight for the title. As a racing driver and a competitor, I always want to win. This was my aim at every race and as well in this one last event.”

The post Masson and Campos “extract the best” to triumph in Eurocup-3 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

Campos Racing’s Esteban Masson became the first ever Eurocup-3 champion with victory in the final race of the season at Barcelona.

Masson had the cleanest and fastest start from pole and quickly created a gap while some drivers took to the grass down the pit straight as they jostled for position. Drivex School’s Nick Gilkes used the inside line to get ahead of MP Motorsport’s Jose Garfias at turn one, but he then had a huge lock-up at turn four that dropped him behind Garfias and Masson’s sole title rival Mari Boya.

There was a gap of 1.5 seconds between Masson and his chasing team-mate Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak after two sectors when the safety car was called due to Suleiman Zanfari and Miron Pingasov crashing out at turn two and Emmo Fittipaldi coming to a stop on track two corners later.

Racing resumed on lap five and Masson once again sprinted away from the field. He was 1.9s clear when the safety car appeared again on lap eight due to Carl Bennett crashing out at turn three on the previous lap.

The next restart was on lap 13 of 16 and it was a repeat job for Masson as he instantly made a gap then gradually added to it – setting the fastest lap on the way – in the remaining laps.

Gaps also quickly opened up between the drivers behind, with Garfias and his team-mate Boya isolated in third and fourth. Boya had to beat Masson to deny him the title, and instead Masson grew his end-of-year lead to 30 points with victory.

Bruno del Pino passed Gilkes under braking for turn one on the restart lap, and a lap later Gilkes had to take the escape road at turn two after running wide through turn one and it cost him further places. He ended up finishing eighth.

Race results (16 laps)

The post Masson claims Eurocup-3 crown with controlled drive to victory in finale appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Eurocup-3

Esteban Masson looks on course to claim the inaugural Eurocup-3 title later today after he put himself on pole for the final race at Barcelona.

There is a gap of 16 points between Masson and his title rival Mari Boya heading into race two of the weekend, and Boya will start sixth on the grid after a set-up gamble in an attempt to beat Masson failed.

Drivex School’s Nick Gilkes was the surprise rival to Masson at first in qualifying, with Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak third and Boya in fourth.

MP Motorsport’s Jose Garfias was next to rival Masson at the top, with the Campos Racing driver lowering the pace to 1m36.503s with eight minutes left of the session. He then improved again to grow his gap at the top of the timesheet to 0.417 seconds.

While Boya remained mired in sixth, Masson improved yet again to 1m36.310s as the clock counted down the final three minutes. Campos’s Inthraphuvasak reduced Masson’s advantage to 0.261s with a minute to go, as MP’s Boya headed to the pits.

The top two followed him in, while Garfias stayed out but was unable to improve his pace as he met the chequered flag.

Bruno del Pino qualified fifth, between Gilkes and Boya, with Francesco Braschi in seventh and Sebastian Ogaard – who dropped out of title contention yesterday – putting himself eighth on the grid.

Propping up the 19-car field was Global Racing Service’s Daniel Mavlyutov, who was a massive 4.178s off the pace.

Qualifying results

The post Masson on pole for Eurocup-3 decider as rival Boya’s set-up gamble fails appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Eurocup-3

Esteban Masson heads into Eurocup-3’s first ever title decider with a 14-point lead after winning the season’s penultimate race at Barcelona.

The Campos Racing driver dominated from pole, building a lead of 2.44 seconds on the opening lap and extending it on every lap of green flag action.

On lap three Daniel Mavlyutov spun out of the race and it meant the safety car was called out, and once racing resumed Masson got 1.6s clear of the rest of the field within a lap. He eventually finished 7.852s ahead of team-mate Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, who made a slow start from the front row but managed to hold on to second place throughout.

Jose Garfias was third after the opening lap action, followed by Francesco Braschi, Masson’s main title rival Mari Boya and Sebastian Ogaard. Boya got past Braschi following the safety car restart and by lap 10 he was close enough to MP Motorsport team-mate Garfias to force him to go defensive down the pit straight.

Two laps later Boya was applying pressure mid-lap, then on lap 13 they attempted to go side-by-side into turn one but thought better of it.

A second attempt on lap 17 was more committed but had a worse outcome, with Garfias covering the inside line and Boya sticking to the outside but then running over the kerbs on the outside of the corner. As he drifted back to the right, Garfias was moving to the left for the direction change of turn two and Boya caught his rear-right wheel.

It sent Garfias spinning off into the gravel, but only hampered Boya slightly as he moved up to third place. He had to hold off Braschi to the finish, and although the incident cost his team points it did merit a penalty – despite a post-race investigation – and also minimised his points loss to Masson.

The yellow flags that waved at turns one and two until the end of the race did not impact any battles behind since there were big gaps, with Ogaard finishing in fifth and with several seconds in hand to Bruno del Pino in sixth. However Ogaard did drop out of title contention with his result.

Race result (19 laps)

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Photo: Spanish F4

Esteban Masson claimed first advantage in the Eurocup-3 title decider at Barcelona with pole position for Saturday’s opening race.

Fresh from taking part in the final round of the World Endurance Championship in Bahrain last weekend in a Ferrari GTE car, Campos Racing driver Masson led both practice sessions on Saturday morning after rival Mari Boya had topped Thursday’s collective test.

Boya was the first driver to dip into the 1m36s with 10 minutes of qualifying remaining, but Masson soon shot to the top of the times with a 1m36.200s that would not be beaten.

Team-mate Tasanapol Inthrapuvasak got closest, 0.498 seconds away.

Jose Garfias moved up to third with his fial attempt of the session, putting himself ahead of his MP Motorsport team-mates Sebastian Ogaard and Boya, who is set to start fifth.

With two bonus points for taking pole, Masson is now three points ahead of Boya.

Emmo Fittipaldi qualified ninth after joining Palau Motorsport for the final round, behind Francesco Braschi, Bruno del Pino and Nick Gilkes.

Qualifying result

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