Photo: Top Speed

ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato converted pole into victory in the opening Formula Regional Middle East race at Dubai Autodrome.

Saturday’s action began with the first of two qualifying sessions, and Kato set a 1m53.167s lap mid-session that would not be beaten. MP Motorsport’s Alexander Abkhazava got closest, 0.083 seconds off Kato’s pace, and just 0.013s split Kean Nakamura-Berta (Mumbai Falcons), Rashid Al Dhaheri (R-ace GP) and Yuki Sano (R-ace) who were all within 0.17s of pole.

Half a second split the top 11, and a second covered the top 24 on pace. Pinnacle Motorsport’s title outsider Alex Powell qualified 12th.

Kato was immediately defensive when race one began, moving to the inside, to the outside, back to the inside and then to the outside again on the long run to the opening corner. He also weaved down the back straight, but by then he already had a gap to Abkhazava.

His lead stood at 0.9s for several laps, and he began pulling away further on lap five. But it took until lap 10 to be 1.2s clear, and after building a 1.475s gap it was soon reduced back to 0.9s. Kato had the pace advantage again on the final lap, being victorious by 1.335s.

The fight for third was similarly calm after lap one. Al Dhaheri tried the outside into the braking zone at the end of the back straight on lap one, then tried again through the corner before the esses. Nakamura-Berta ran wide at the next hairpin, and Al Dhaheri got past but then went too wide exiting the corner and the extra steering input required after allowed Nakamura-Berta to get back alongside and reclaim third into the final corner.

Nakamura-Berta defended down the straights on lap two, and soon had a 0.8s gap. In the race’s second half he grew it to 1.2s, and in the final two laps pulled away even more.

Trident’s Maximilian Popov climbed from eighth to fifth on lap one, and had to get defensive at the end of the back straight on lap two as both Sano and team-mate Emanuele Olivieri tried passing him on the inside.

Sano began attacking again on lap 13 of 16, making a dive at the same place. It did not work, and there was another attempt on lap 14 but he still could not break Popov’s defenses.

There was more drama outside of the points. Mumbai Falcons’ Sebastian Wheldon and G4 Racing’s Artem Severiukhin collided on lap six, and MP’s Jesse Carrasquedo parked up at the pitlane exit on lap nine after running in 11th place.

Rodin Motorsport’s Reza Seewooruthun also stopped on track, having previously been chasing Powell. Through the rest of the race, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Francisco Macedo was filling his mirrors and repeatedly tried to get past him using the outside line into turn one. Powell held on to finish 12th and take reversed-grid pole for race two.

Race results (16 laps)

The post Kato converts pole into victory in FRME’s first Dubai Autodrome race appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: FRME

ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato topped Formula Regional Middle East pre-season testing at Yas Marina Circuit this week as the grid grew ahead of this weekend’s opening round.

Kean Nakamura-Berta led Mumbai Falcons team-mate Sebastian Wheldon in session one on Tuesday, with Pinnacle Motorsport’s Alex Powell beating Wheldon by 0.053 seconds to top the slower session two.

Wheldon pipped Van Amersfoort Racing’s Dion Gowda by 0.016s in session three, but did not improve on his previous best laptime.

Kato concluded Tuesday by lowering the pace to 1m48.053s in session four, leading MP Motorsport’s Christian Ho by 0.11s and Powell by 0.137s.

Powell set a 1m48.519s to top session five by 0.105s over Trident’s Maximilian Popov, with a 0.285s gap to MP’s third-placed Alexander Abkhazava.

ART GP’s Kabir Anurag was 22nd, but jumped to first in session six with a 1m48.857s, topping the timesheet by 0.184s over Kato while Race Performance Motorsport’s Jan Przyrowski trailed by 0.485s in third.

Anurag improved to 1m48.829s in session seven, denying Wheldon top spot by 0.01s and Ho by 0.027s. Kato was fourth, 0.137s behind.

VAR’s Francisco Macedo set a 1m48.358s to top session eight by 0.212s over Powell and 0.229s to Ho, with a second splitting the top 22.

During testing, nine drivers were announced as joining FRME’s grid. R-ace GP’s line-up now exceeds its car count, as Gerrard Xie will race in rounds one and two then Emanuele Olivieri will contest rounds three and four.

Euroformula and GB3 race-winner Xie spent 2025 in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, and last year R-ace ran Olivieri to the Formula 4 Middle East title and second in the FIA F4 World Cup.

The Prema-run Mumbai Falcons team has promoted Salim Hanna, new Williams Formula 1 junior Nakamura-Berta and Wheldon from its F4 squad. Wheldon came third in Italian F4 and fourth in E4 last year, while Hanna was fourth and seventh.

Macedo, who was 14th in Eurocup-3 last year, has joined VAR for FRME and the FRegional European Championship while Trident has told Formula Scout that Luka Sammalisto has left its 2026 FREC line-up but not shared why.

CL Motorsport will run Michael Belov, Newman Chi and Enea Frey in FRME after fielding them part-time in FREC last year.

The ultra-experienced Belov came seventh in FREC’s 2022 season, 11th in FRME predecessor the FRegional Asian Championship and 13th in the FRegional-spec Formula Renault Eurocup back in 2020, and last year was 15th in both FREC and the FRegional-based Eurocup-3.

His 2026 team-mates primarily spent 2025 in F4. Chi came fifth in Italian F4 and ninth in F4 Middle East, while Frey was ninth in Formula Winter Series and 14th in E4.

Test results

The post Kato tops FRME testing in new car as grid grows before round one appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: ACI Sport

Taito Kato will warm up for his rookie FIA Formula 3 Championship campaign with ART Grand Prix by racing for the team in Formula Regional Middle East.

The 18-year-old Japanese racer will contest three rounds out of four in the FIA regional trophy, missing the season finale at Losail on February 11-13 due to it clashing with F3’s sole pre-season test at Barcelona.

It will be Kato’s second time racing in FRME, having also been part of ART GP’s line-up in the Middle East last year. After winning the 2024 French Formula 4 title as a rookie, Kato stepped up to FRegional for a double programme. He came 12th in FRME with one podium, and finished in the top three twice en route to seventh in the FRegional European Championship.

“I’m so excited to be competing in the FRME with ART GP. A new challenge awaits me, but I will give my best performance together with my team,” said Kato.

His last FRegional mileage came two months ago when he contested the FIA FRegional World Cup-awarding Macau Grand Prix with ART GP. In the opening free practice session he was fastest, but could not quite maintain that frontrunning pace. He was eighth in the first qualifying session, fourth in FP2 and Q2, and finished fifth in both the qualification and main race.

ART GP’s team principal Sebastien Philippe said returning to FRME “allows Taito to start his 2026 season in a competitive environment before moving on to his FIA F3 commitments”.

Kato is a Honda junior, and the Japanese automobile manufacturer has announced the 2026 programmes of the other drivers it supports in junior single-seaters.

Kotato Shimbara, who came fourth in Japanese F4 last year with two wins and three poles, will step up to the F3-level Super Formula Lights with B-MAX Racing. The team will run Sho Momose and Kazuma Kurosawa in Japanese F4, with Momose having come sixth in 2025 with two podiums while Kurosawa graduates from the Honda Racing School to Honda junior status.

Kota Tsuchihashi is the latest winner of the HRS scholarship, but will not be a Honda junior as he is sent to race in French F4.

The post ART GP’s Taito Kato to warm up for F3 with second go at FRME appeared first on Formula Scout.

40. Akshay Bohra

New entry • FRegional rookie won in Europe and Middle East

Photo: ACI Sport

Photo: ACI Sport

Having pulled off something of an upset by beating Freddie Slater to win the E4 title in 2024, Bohra stepped up to Formula Regional with R-ace GP and made a strong impression for a rookie, winning races in both the Middle East and European championships.

His Middle East win in Abu Dhabi was one of only five races (out of 15) in which he scored points, so he ended up only 14th in the standings there, but his European campaign was far more consistent. There he failed to score just five times out of 20, and came sixth in the standings as the next-best first-year driver after champion Slater.

He joined the top five in winning a race, doing so at Imola from pole position after pipping Slater to pole by 0.027 seconds, and setting the fastest lap as he kept the eventual champion at bay. There were five other podium finishes, including second to an irrepressible Slater at a damp Hockenheim.

Perhaps surprisingly, the Indian-American seems short of options to continue building career momentum in Europe, with a switch to Super Formula Lights on the horizon after testing recently with TOM’S.

39. Noah Stromsted

Down 8 • FIA F3 rookie showed strong pace

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Trident started the 2025 FIA Formula 3 Championship as the team to beat, and Stromsted utilised that to finish two of the first three feature races in second place and set the fastest lap in both races of round three at Imola.

As other teams caught up with the tricks Trident nailed straight away, Stromsted scored less frequently but still got the job done usually in feature races (with only four drivers outscoring him in those) and at Spa-Francorchamps he claimed his maiden victory in the sprint race.

The rookie, who graduated from FREC, came sixth in the standings, was in contention to make the top four and he was an impressive fifth best on single-lap and race pace through the season.

Stromsted qualified in the top three at three different circuits, with his worst weekend being Monaco where he crashed in practice, was down the order in qualifying, retired from the sprint race and was 18th the next day.

38. Ean Eyckmans

New entry • Strong progress as single-seater rookie yielded second in Spanish F4

Photo: All Road Management

Photo: ACI Sport

Single-seater rookie Eyckmans had a stellar 2025, which included racing in FRegional.

Chosen last year as the winner of the Richard Mille Young Talent Academy scholarship, his main programme was in Spanish Formula 4 with MP Motorsport, which began with the Winter Championship. Two podiums and a pole put him sixth in the standings, and he was the second-best rookie.

The start of his main championship campaign didn’t go to plan, as a second place was Eyckmans’ sole points-scoring result in the first five races. But following that he was on the podium seven times in the next eight races, ending with his first victory in round five at Jerez. A win and two third places in the last two rounds made him the championship runner-up behind compatriot Thomas Strauven and ahead of Jan Przyrowski and Rene Lammers, and the top rookie by over 130 points.

During the summer, Eyckmans stepped up to FREC with Race Performance Motorsport, and he topped the rookie classification in three races as well as scoring twice to come 19th in the standings and second in the rookie classification’s points table.

37. Jules Roussel

New entry • Fought for French F4 title and won FIA F4 World Cup in Macau

Photo: Macau GP Organising Committee

Photo: Macau GP Organising Committee

Roussell was 11th in French F4 with one podium last year, and improved in his sophomore season to two victories, six runner-up finishes and only missing out on second in the standings on victory countback.

Spa was Roussel’s strongest weekend, as he claimed his maiden pole and took home both of his wins.

There was only one track where he didn’t make the podium, and while his failure to meet the chequered flag four times was twice the number of his title rivals, he only had one more points-free race than Arthur Dorison who edged him to the championship runner-up spot.

Roussel got to go up against French F4 champion Alexandre Munoz again in the FIA F4 World Cup, and thoroughly outperformed him. Fourth in practice was followed by sixth in qualifying, second in the qualification race and then victory in the all-important main race. He took the lead on the opening lap, and outwitted the drivers who then tried to challenge him.

36. Taito Kato

Up 11 • Made big gains across his sole year in FRegional

Photo: ACI Sport

Photo: ACI Sport

Honda protege and 2024 French F4 champion Kato joined ART Grand Prix to race in FREC and FRME this year and the World Cup in Macau.

His FRME campaign may have included a podium in the second round, but he was far behind both of his more experienced team-mates Evan Giltaire and Kenato Le and had an average finishing position lower than 10th place.

It was totally different in FREC, where his average race result improved to 8.7 and he came seventh in the standings, far ahead of Le and a lot closer to Giltaire.

At Spa and Paul Ricard he made the podium, and in the Monza season finale he finished both races in fourth. In qualifying the field is split in two, and Kato was second in his group twice and third fastest twice too.

In Macau he impressed too as one of the leading rookies. He topped free practice, was fourth in qualifying, then finished fifth in both races.

35. Joshua Duerksen

Down 17 • Podium spree showed AIX’s F2 potential

Photo: FIA

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Duerksen maximised AIX Racing’s pace in Formula 2 at rounds where the team was competitive, making the podium at six circuits and bookending the season with victories. His year-ending win in the Abu Dhabi feature race from eighth on the grid was a repeat of what he did as a rookie with the team in 2024.

Six of Duerksen’s podiums came in the last eight races, and they rocketed him from 15th to ninth in the standings.

He was 13th fastest in the field on single-lap pace, but fifth on race pace and for podiums and laps led (including those behind the safety car) he was only bettered by two drivers. All of AIX’s points were scored by Duerksen.

But there were also lows for Duerksen. In Monaco he crashed out of both races, which was one of six rounds he failed to score in, and in Jeddah and at Spa he was towards the back of the grid.

34. Emanuele Olivieri

New entry • Won F4 Middle East title and starred in Macau

Photo: F4 ME

Photo: F4 ME

Three-time Le Mans 24 Hours-winning Rinaldo Capello is the godfather of Olivieri, and his guidance has so far turned him into an impressive talent at single-seaters’ entry level.

Although the Italian only scored 15 points across 33 races in three championships last year, he was with a midfield team in AKM Motorsport where being a podium threat was unlikely regardless of his abilities. Switching to R-ace GP for 2025 therefore added a bit of pressure to show what his true potential was, and he instantly delivered in F4 Middle East where he beat his team-mate Alex Powell (a third-year F4 racer) to the title. His season featured six wins, five poles and only two races off the podium.

Olivieri’s title-winning margin raised expectations for Italian F4, where Prema is the dominant team. Although Olivieri was R-ace’s lead driver again, and he started the season with two podiums, he only took home two more trophies during the season and came seventh in the standings with two poles to his name.

The FIA F4 World Cup in Macau marked another time to shine, with no team advantages at play, and Olivieri was third in practice and qualifying, won the qualification race with a stunning overtake and finished runner-up in the main race.

33. Alexandre Munoz

New entry • French F4 sophomore made a big step to win 2025 title

Photo: KSP Reportages

Photo: KSP

Munoz wasn’t one of the big names in his domestic karting scene or in international competition, and when he moved into single-seaters last year on home soil in French F4 he started on the back foot by missing the season opener and retiring from his debut race.

Following that he was rarely near the points, only scoring twice and having an average finishing position of 14.7 until the final two races. His season changed then, as he won the reversed-grid race at Paul Ricard and followed it up with fifth in the season finale. That was his best result by some margin in a race using a grid set from qualifying.

The turnover of drivers each year in the centrally-run championship, and that final round of 2024, meant Munoz was perceived to be a likely title contender for this season.

He delivered on that promise, winning all four of the main races across the first two rounds and having three of those victories come from pole. In the reversed-grid races of those rounds he came fourth twice, and while his form was never quite a dominant after that he was still on the podium at least once every round, took a fourth pole at Spa and in the final round became champion before the final race which he won.

Munoz then contested the FIA F4 World Cup in Macau, but crashed in qualifying and retired from both races.

32. Yuto Nomura

New entry • Dominated SF Lights as a rookie

Photo: Super Formula Lights

Photo: Super Formula Lights

Honda junior Nomura spent three years in F4, culminating in the 2024 Japanese title, but it only took one season for him to not only become a frontrunner in the third-tier Super Formula Lights championship but utterly dominate it and earn a Super Formula seat for 2026.

After finishing second in all three races of the season opener (losing a win to a five-second penalty), then failing to score at Autopolis, he won 12 of the remaining 13 races over the next four rounds and his title-winning margin was equivalent to almost five wins’ worth of points.

Round one at Suzuka was the only time Nomura didn’t claim a pole position, as he took both at Okayama, Sportsland Sugo and Twin Ring Motegi, and was on pole for one race at Autopolis and at Fuji Speedway.

The last time there was a rookie champion in Japanese F3/SF Lights was Sacha Fenestraz in 2019, but he had already done a season in FIA European F3. Nick Cassidy had 12 races of F3 experience before winning the 2015 title, so Ryo Hirakawa in 2012 was the last true rookie champion before Nomura.

31. Myles Rowe

Re-entry • Made history with improved second season in Indy Nxt

Photo: James Black

Photo: Travis Hinkle / Penske Entertainment

Rowe rejoins the list after being placed 17th in 2023, when he won the USF Pro 2000 title as a rookie.

He has spent two years in Indy Nxt since then, with Force Indy a permanent part of his entry which was co-run by HMD Motorsports in 2024 and then Abel Motorsports for 2025.

Having come 11th with a best finish of fourth as a rookie, Rowe improved to fourth in the standings as a sophomore and in the oval race at Iowa Speedway in summer he claimed a landmark first victory for black drivers in Indy Nxt.

Rowe ended the season with a second win at Nashville Superspeedway from ninth on the grid, was on the podium in both races on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course, finished second at Gateway and was third at Portland.

He was the top scorer on ovals, and had the third-best race pace in the field. For 2026 he will stay with Abel.

Written by Peter Allen & Ida Wood

The post Formula Scout Top 50 Drivers of 2025: 40-31 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: ACI Sport

ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato set the pace in the first of the two 40-minute practice sessions for the Macau Grand Prix.

First to the top was R-ace GP’s Enzo Deligny, leading team-mate Jin Nakamura. Prema’s Freddie Slater then became his closest rival eight minutes in, with Evans GP’s Charlie Wurz then getting within a second of Deligny on his next lap.

Slater was in his tow and posted the first sub-2m20s lap of the day, as team-mate Rashid Al Dhaheri went third fastest.

Kato took over that position 12-and-a-half minutes in, 0.597 seconds off Slater’s 2m19.911s benchmark, and Nakamura improved in fourth before red flags waved due to Evans GP’s Hiyu Yamakoshi losing his rear-right wheel while on track.

Green flags waved again 21 minutes in, and five minutes later Nakamura got within 0.296s of Slater. KCMG Pinnacle Motorsport driver Mari Boya reduced the gap to 0.215s a few seconds later, before team-mate Theophile Nael lowered the pace to 2m19.438s.

Deligny had clean air and when he crossed the line he went fastest by 0.83s, and 40s later Kato rose to second with a laptime 0.204s off.

Wurz later set a personal best in fourth, then Boya was 0.012s slower than Kato with his next effort. Nael, in his slipstream, lowered the pace again to 2m18.107s and the next driver to challenge him was Slater who got within 0.12s of his benchmark.

Kato next crossed the line with just over 10 minutes to go and set a 2m18.804s to go gastest, with team-mate Kanato Le 0.792s off in fourth before yellow flags waved at Lisboa due to Deligny going off.

Slater’s response was a 2m17.450s, snatching back top spot by 0.354s, and on his next lap Le improved again in fourth.

The Pinnacle drivers continued to run together and Boya got within 0.292s of Slater with seven minutes remaining, only for Nael to instantly demote him as he lapped 0.078s faster. Yellow flags appeared at turn 10 due to a driver stopping, but personal bests were still set and Nakamura went fifth fastest by four-and-a-half minutes to go by lapping in the 2m17s.

Shortly after, Slater seta 2m16.742s that put him 0.922s clear. Deligny moved ahead of Nakamura in the final four minutes, then Kato went 0.33s quicker than Slater with just over three minutes to go. Le was 0.831s off his team-mate, but that was good enough for third, as their other team-mate Evan Giltaire took fifth place.

New benchmarks in sectors three and four were set by Boya after that, but when he crossed the line he was 0.171s shy of Kato, while Deligny improved to 2m17.016s in fourth with one-and-a-half minutes left of FP1.

Le went fourth and Giltaire set a personal best in sixth during the final minute, and after the chequered flag Slater missed out on beating Kato by just 0.044s.

Deligny found more pace to be 0.319s back in fifth, with Giltaire improving yet again in sixth to edge ahead of Le.

Free practice results

The post ART GP’s Taito Kato tops FP1 for the Macau GP appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

ART Grand Prix has announced Taito Kato will join its FIA Formula 3 Championship squad for 2026, completing its line-up.

The single-seater sophomore was French Formula 4 champion last year as a Honda junior, winning five races, making the podium in seven others and claiming four podiums.

He then stepped up to Formula Regional this year with ART GP, starting off with the Middle East championship where he was 12th in the standings with one podium. In the European championship he made the podium twice and was seventh in the points table, and this weekend he will contest the FIA World Cup-awarding Macau Grand Prix.

“I’m genuinely excited about the new challenges awaiting us next year,” said Kato. “I’m really thrilled to be driving for ART GP in F3 next year and to be driving with the same team as I did in FREC.”

The 17-year-old’s team-mates will be fellow Japanese driver and his FRegional team-mate Kanato Le, and Eurocup-3 race-winner Maciej Gladysz.

“Taito integrated perfectly into the team this season in FREC,” said ART GP’s team principal Sebastien Philippe.

“He showed strong adaptability, great discipline, and a lot of potential that is just waiting to be fully expressed at the highest level. Moving up to FIA F3 is the natural next step in our collaboration. He’s still young, but he has already demonstrated real maturity in his driving and a clear desire to improve with every session. We’re excited to continue this journey together.”

Kato was fastest in one of FIA F3’s post-season test sessions at Barcelona.

The post Taito Kato completes ART GP’s 2026 FIA Formula 3 line-up appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato led the second afternoon of FIA Formula 3’s post-season test at Barcelona, in a session where long runs were the focus.

James Wharton was first to the top with a 1m30.262s set seven minutes in, which Prema team-mate Enzo Deligny swiftly beat by 0.019 seconds.

Kato’s first flying lap came less than two minutes later and was a 1m28.767s which would not be beaten. Prema’s Louis Shortly after Sharp went fourth fastest, 1.681s off the pace.

Eight drivers had lapped at a representative pace after 23 minutes, at which point Wharton improved to 1m30.188s. He was now ahead of Deligny, but 1.421s off Kato.

It took another 10 minutes before a third of the 30-car field had lapped at a comparable speed, which came at the start of long runs for some, and slotting in behind the top four 41 minutes in were Hitech GP’s Jin Nakamura and Fionn McLaughlin.

Half of the field had now been out for more than just sighter laps, a number which soon expanded to 20 while yet to even leave the pits were Hitech’s Joseph Loake (ruled out after an incident in the morning session) and the drivers of DAMS and MP Motorsport.

McLaughlin moved ahead of Nakamura by 0.004s at the end of hour one of three, but Nakamura reclaimed fifth place by setting a 1m30.587s as hour two began.

The track became busier and after 75 minutes DAMS’ drivers had begun their first long runs while Campos Racing’s Ugo Ugochukwu and Trident’s Noah Stromsted laid down their first flying laps after only driving at an unrepresentative pace in hour one. AIX Racing’s Brad Benavides also improved slightly in seventh place.

MP’s Alessandro Giusti set his first lap 84 minutes in, and team-mate Mattia Colnaghi only did a sighter before returning to track and posting his first laptime 10 minutes later in the session’s second half.

The next 45 minutes were quieter, with only a few drivers on track at a time and no changes to the order.

Ugochukwu broke into the top 10 with 36 minutes to go, and nine minutes later Stromsted went fifth fastest. His 1m30.536s lap was 1.769s slower than Kato’s benchmark.

DAMS’ Niko Lacorte then demoted Ugochukwu to 11th with two improvements, and Benavides found a gain of 1.107s but only rose one spot back up to seventh. His team-mate Fernando Barrichello left it until six minutes to go to complete his first lap, and on his single run managed to go 11th fastest.

There were more changes to the top 10 in the last 10 minutes, with Stromsted setting a 1m29.797s eight minutes from the end to reduce Kato’s advantage to 1.03s and then pitting. His team-mate Matteo De Palo then set two laps good enough for ninth.

Additional reporting by Jacob Awcock

Afternoon session results

The post Kato fastest in long run-focused final FIA F3 test session at Barcelona appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Macau Grand Prix

The full entry list for the 2025 Macau Grand Prix has been published, with 27 drivers lining up to win the second edition of the FIA Formula Regional World Cup.

Two-time grand prix winner Charles Leong is returning with Prema, last year’s winning team team R-ace GP is returning with three FRegional frontrunners, while Pinnacle Motorsport, Sainteloc Racing and TOM’S are all entering two cars each.

The other five teams — ART Grand Prix, Evans GP, PHM Racing, Trident and Van Amersfoort Racing — are all fielding three-car line-ups.

ART GP will run its FRegional European Championship line-up of Evan Giltaire, Taito Kato and Kanato Le, who sit sixth, ninth and 14th in the standings there with one round to go. Giltaire and Le drove for the team in Macau last year, with both retiring.

Evans GP will field Hiyu Yamakoshi, 16th in FRegional Middle East at the start of this year and currently eighth in FREC, alongside teenaged brothers Charlie and Oscar Wurz.

Charlie, the older of the two, has spent three years in single-seaters’ third tier and took two FIA Formula 3 Championship podiums this season. He entered Macau in 2023, and retired.

Oscar, the 2024 Formula 4 Central European Zone champion, was 14th in Eurocup-3’s winter series at the start of 2025 and is currently 18th in the main championship. He will miss the season finale since both it and the Macau GP take place on November 14-16.

PHM Racing has signed Euroformula title contender Jose Garfias, Eurocup-3 champion and Eurocup-3 winter series runner-up Mattia Colnaghi and FREC part-timer and FRegional Oceania points-scorer Enzo Yeh. Colnaghi was classified 14th in the 2024 Macau GP.

Noah Stromsted and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, who both won races en route to sixth and seventh in the FIA F3 Championship this year, will drive for Trident alongside Reza Seeworuthun. He is contending to become GB3 runner-up at Monza this weekend

Completing the grid with VAR are Euroformula points leader Tymek Kucharczyk, FRegional Japanese Championship leader Kiyoshi Umegaki and Newman Chi. He will be the least experienced driver in the grand prix, having spent less than a year in car racing so far.

In that time the 16-year-old from mainland China has come fifth in the United Arab Emirates-based Formula Trophy and Italian F4, and ninth in F4 Middle East. He has FRegional experience from two FREC outings.

The post Wurz brothers to be team-mates and other F3 stars to race in Macau GP appeared first on Formula Scout.

50. Abbi Pulling

New entry • Never off the podium while dominating second F1 Academy season

Photo: F1 Academy

Photo: F1 Academy

Alpine junior Pulling finally made good on her potential  as she destroyed the field in the second season of F1 Academy.

The pressure was on Pulling after a winless 2023 and she had no answer to debutant Doriane Pin’s pace in the opening round in Jeddah, where pre-season testing had also taken place. But she was gifted a maiden win in race two when Pin was penalised for remaining at racing speeds after the finish, which seemed to give Pulling a huge confidence boost that she rode for the rest of the year.

From then onwards she seemed almost unbeatable in her Rodin Motorsport-run car, claiming 10 out of what would be 13 pole positions over the remainder of the season and converting eight of those into wins. She finished all 14 races on the podium – 13 of them in the top two – and even when a strange rescheduling quirk temporarily uncrowned her as champion, she responded perfectly to put it beyond doubt once more.

F1 Academy exists under a brighter media spotlight than any other Formula 4 series but Pulling never looked to be fazed as she closed the season out.

She also returned to British F4 this year with Rodin for rounds that didn’t clash with her main programme. Results there were more modest, but she took a reversed-grid win at Brands Hatch and second to the dominant Deagen Fairclough in the opening race at Thruxton. Next year she’ll hope to impress in a British-based series once more with a deserved step up to GB3.

49. Ugo Ugochukwu

Down 19 • Macau GP win salvaged arduous FRegional campaign

Photo: FIA

Photo: Macau Grand Prix

Tall, quiet, rapid, and caught smiling after he won junior single-seaters’ most prestigious race: the Macau Grand Prix.

McLaren junior Ugochukwu primarily drove for Prema this year, but his best performances came with other, less dominant teams.

In Formula Regional Middle East, driving a Mumbai Falcons-branded entry, Ugochukwu embarked on his first campaign above F4 (having cameoed in Formula 3 in 2023) and his tally of three podiums and seventh in the standings was not too bad given he went points-free in the first two races and if the season was one race longer he could’ve jumped his team-mates in the standings.

But when Prema headed to Europe, sophomore star Rafael Camara and fellow rookie James Wharton had a clear advantage over Ugochukwu for most of the season. Team principal Rene Rosin conceded that the American’s difficulties were not all of his making: issues with two engines led to a disqualification at Paul Ricard after the team felt it had no choice but to introduce a third powerplant, and he was only able to salvage his campaign by winning from pole in the final round at Monza.

A third of the way into the season he was 16th in the standings while Camara topped the table, and 40% of Ugochukwu’s total points tally came at Monza.

He had already proven race-winning capabilities at the FRegional level earlier in the year though, contesting three GB3 rounds with Rodin and claiming three podiums. He retired while fighting for third in his final race at Spa-Francorchamps, and prior to that his average finishing position had been 3.7.

For the FRegional World Cup-awarding Macau GP in November he joined R-ace GP, and he took pole, won the qualification race then after some restart antics led lights-to-flag in the main race around the trickiest of circuits. He keeps faith with Prema though for his step up to FIA F3 for 2025.

48. Tymek Kucharczyk

New entry • GB3 title contender amid funding uncertainty

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Kucharczyk had shown flashes of great speed when he arrived in GB3 with Douglas Motorsport in 2023 without achieving the results to show for it. Securing a seat with Hitech GP for 2024 would allow him to put that right.

Indeed, he led what would be a three-way title fight in the early part of the season, setting the qualifying pace at Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps and coming away with three poles and three wins from the two consecutive race weekends. He had the pace at the Hungaroring too, but an exclusion for a technical infringement and a further non-score cost him the points lead.

He bounced back strongly at another continental venue, Zandvoort, with his fourth win allowing him to reclaim the advantage. By now, however, he had been forced to tape over the logos of main backer Orlen on his racesuit as the Polish oil giant cut back its motorsport sponsorships. His win in the Dutch dunes would prove to be his last and his form wasn’t quite the same over the three British rounds that ended the season, as he slipped to third in the points.

While John Bennett, who beat Kucharczyk to second in the standings, makes the leap to Formula 2, Kucharczyk’s future remains uncertain but he would surely deserve to join champion Louis Sharp in stepping up to FIA F3.

47. Taito Kato

New entry • Honda-backed rookie triumphed in tight French F4 fight 

Photo: KSP

Photo: KSP

Kato emulated Ayumu Iwasa by arriving in French F4 with Honda backing and claiming the championship at the first attempt. But while Iwasa had already celebrated his 19th birthday by the time his COVID-delayed 2020 season had concluded, Kato was still only 16 when he clinched his title.

Just as Iwasa had taken on and defeated a second-year French F4 racer in Isack Hadjar, Kato faced more experienced competition in Belgian series sophomore Yani Stevenheydens, who seemed to have the edge on outright speed with eight pole positions across the year to Kato’s four. French rookie Jules Caranta made it a three-way battle, racing to four ‘feature race’ victories despite no poles, and doing enough to land Red Bull junior status.

All three had four wins to their name going into the final round but it was Kato that would claim a crucial fifth in controversial fashion, with a pass on Stevenheydens that was initially penalised post-race for taking place off track but successfully appealed. Once the pair clashed again in race three and Stevenheydens was penalised, Kato wound up as champion.

Having Honda legend Takuma Sato in his corner was invaluable for Kato, but to find success so soon in Europe demonstrates his potential, which he will continue to develop in a French environment by joining ART Grand Prix in FRegional.

46. Jack Beeton

New entry • Second-best to supreme Slater in Italian F4

Photo: ACI Sport

Photo: ACI Sport

He may have been on the podium in close to half of the races in Italian F4 this year (10 out of 21), but that didn’t make him a regular victory contender due to the domination of Prema’s Freddie Slater.

Taking that sample of races, Beeton was on average (at the end of green-flag running in those races due to some ending behind the safety car) only 1.4 seconds off the lead so when he and US Racing were competitive he wasn’t being gapped by the dominant champion.

But Beeton also non-scored in a third of the races, so only just secured second in the standings against two drivers who were not podium contenders at as many circuits as he was.

He was a two-time podium-finisher in F4 United Arab Emirates, albeit with the AGI Sport team he won the 2023 F4 South East Asia title with, but with US Racing he was only able to take one podium in Italian F4’s sister series Euro 4.

In Formula Winter Series, which takes place in Spain, he took home three trophies from his first appearance at Motorland Aragon but was down the order in his second outing at Barcelona as his team was mostly off the pace.

Switching to Prema for the step up to FRegional next year will answer more questions about Beeton’s abilities given he has over 20 podiums but only three wins from 99 races in F4.

45. John Bennett

New entry • GB3 runner-up then shone after shock F2 step

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

2024 provided quite a turnaround in the career of Bennett, with a third year spent in GB3 ultimately yielding second place in the championship and an unexpected step up to F2.

After a promising first season of single-seaters in 2022 with Elite Motorsport was followed by a tough second campaign with Rodin Carlin – falling from eight to 10th in the standings – he joined JHR Developments for 2024 and made an immediate impression. After following the eventual champion Sharp home in the first race of the season at Oulton Park, he pulled off a bold pass around the outside of his rival in the treacherous conditions of race two to score a long-awaited maiden win.

He remained a consistent threat through GB3’s leg of races abroad, scoring another win at Zandvoort and one more next time out at Silverstone meant he closed to within four points of the lead. He wasn’t able to match Sharp’s form through the final two rounds, but did at least take the fight down to the wire.

Bennett’s career – which began with two years in the humble Ginetta GT5 Challenge – also took in series outside of Britain for the first time in 2024. His FRME campaign with Evans GP yielded only one point but did lead to a FREC outing at Zandvoort, where he qualified a strong sixth in his group.

Later came FIA F3 testing with Van Amersfoort Racing, which in turn led to him being called up for two F2 rounds with the team. He remarkably raced to 12th and then eighth in his first two races at Losail, and has secured the seat full-time for 2025.

44. Keanu Al Azhari

New entry • Fought for F4 titles in UAE and Spain

Photo: Spanish F4

Photo: Spanish F4

Category sophomore Al Azhari’s ability to fight for the title in two competitive F4 championships made for a very impressive 2024, albeit being another driver in the shadow of Slater in the UAE and losing out to a rookie in Spanish F4.

His winning form on home soil made it less of a surprise when he was then a podium regular in Europe, and he won seven races in total.

In F4 UAE he utilised the local experience of the Yas Heat Academy team, taking three poles out of four at the team’s home circuit in rounds one and two. Those were converted into two second places then a 10th place and a win in round two, but he took a reversed-grid win thanks to an opening lap charge that weekend too.

At Dubai Autodrome he claimed two podiums, and on the return to Yas Marina Circuit snatched the points lead from Slater, but in the Dubai finale qualified poorly and got a drive-through penalty in race one. Finishing fifth in race two actually grew his lead, but he came out of some scrappy racing in the decider with an eighth place finish and third in the standings.

Next were two FWinter Series outings with MP Motorsport, and in the first he converted a double pole into a win and a second place. An underwhelming Barcelona weekend still lifted him to seventh in the points table.

That was a warm-up for his full Spanish F4 season with MP, in which he was on the podium at every round and only once had a two-race spell of being podium-free. His consistency, with his wins and poles coming at three different tracks, meant once he claimed the points lead in the fifth race of the year he held it for 15 races and only lost it at the penultimate race as Barcelona again proved a weak point despite taking two podiums from the title-deciding weekend.

Al Azhari will pit himself against new rivals in 2025, and on new circuits, by heading to GB3.

43. Syun Koide

New entry • Honda junior sets up Super Formula graduation with Lights success

Photo: Super Formula Lights

Photo: Super Formula Lights

Koide is on the cusp of a promotion to Super Formula with B-MAX Racing, the team he won the Super Formula Lights title with.

The third-tier series uses the same car as Euroformula and is an alternative option for drivers who cannot afford to race in FIA F3 but actually operates more like F2 in that it acts as a proving ground for drivers targeting seats at single-seaters’ top level in Japan.

Now 25, Koide started his car racing career later than most who target open-wheel success as he was already in his 20s. But he impressed enough during an incomplete rookie Japanese F4 season to become a Honda junior from 2021 onwards, and he followed up one win in the championship that year with nine and the title in 2022.

Four victories for the one-car Toda Racing outfit in his rookie SF Lights campaign earned him his place at the crack B-MAX outfit for 2024 and he absolutely made the most of it with victories at every round bar one, six poles and a near-repeat of his 2023 efforts at Okayama when he went unbeaten. This time he won twice and took a second place on a wet track in race two.

Rain is a common challenge for drivers on the Japanese racing scene, and Koide proved more than capable of pulling off passes in tricky conditions between safety car interruptions. There was plenty of talent and experience on this year’s grid, and Koide convincingly became champion.

42. Max Garcia

New entry • Winning start to USF2000 season aged 14 set up title success

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Garcia was only 14 when the USF2000 season began in St. Petersburg, but any age concerns were shaken off by two poles that he converted into two wins and the points lead on a circuit he was too young to drive as a rookie in 2023.

In race one he made an error on the rolling start, but after a caution period looked impressive when pressuring drivers and pulled off moves that brought him back to the front of the field. He also lost the lead at the start of race two, but again found a way to reclaim first place.

The points lead remained in Garcia’s hands all the way to the end of the season, but it was more the inconsistency of his rivals rather than his own form that led to him becoming champion by 73 points, the equivalent of two wins and an eighth place.

A win at NOLA Motorsports Park (having now turned 15) was followed by two poles and a podium, and at Indianapolis Motor Speedway he won from sixth on the grid. Seventh place in USF2000’s only oval race followed, then another pole at Road America but no podiums. In the Mid-Ohio triple-header there was a single podium while his rivals picked up the poles and wins, but he was the weekend’s second-highest scorer.

Garcia led a Pabst Racing one-two in qualifying for race one on the streets of Toronto, and was 0.1846 seconds short of doing the double. But after leading the first half of race one he messed up a restart and finished third, with a fourth place following in race two. Again, he was the second-highest scorer though.

In the Portland finale the single-seater sophomore returned to winning ways, starting off with taking pole by just 0.0746s in a dry qualifying session. But a drive-through penalty for corner cutting in a sodden race one meant he had to charge up the field to earn second place. He then had to work hard from fourth on the grid to win race two, a result that sealed the title, and was runner-up in race three.

His scholarship prize for being champion will be spent on a step up to USF Pro 2000 with Pabst.

41. Max Taylor

New entry • USF Juniors champion fought for USF2000 title too

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Velocity Racing Development loyalist Taylor reaped the rewards of contesting three different series this year, just as he did as a car racing rookie in 2023.

Last year he won in USF Juniors, cameoed in United States F4 and had a best finish of sixth from a part-time USF2000 campaign, then for 2024 he did USF2000 and its immediate support series in full with a GB3 outing – also with VRD – on the side.

It actually took a while for Taylor to win in IndyCar’s support series, and swapping between two very similar but slightly different cars between weekends was as difficult as having to do the same thing on the three weekends where he could have a window as short as half an hour between hopping out of one car and being ready to drive the other.

But once it all clicked in USF Juniors, it truly clicked, and when he visited circuits in USF2000 he had already raced on in 2023 that experience in the bank also pushed him into race-winning form.

In the second half of the USF2000 season he won three races, took a second place, a pole position and secured third in the standings, while in the slightly slower USF Juniors machinery he had two victories, three other podiums, three poles and went from being two points behind in the title fight to winning the title.

That earned him a scholarship to spend on USF2000 for 2025, but instead he will move another step up the latter to USF Pro 2000 with VRD.

The post Formula Scout Top 50 Drivers of 2024: 50-41 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: KSP

French Formula 4 champion and Honda junior Taito Kato will move up to Formula Regional with ART Grand Prix in 2025.

Kato was confirmed as French F4 champion just last month after a messy end to his title fight with Yani Stevenheydens in the deciding round at Paul Ricard in October.

Stevenheydens appeared to have claimed the title in the final race, only to later be handed a 10-second penalty that dropped him to 11th in the results and made Kato champion by six points.

The championship outcome was then subject to an appeal by Stevenheydens and the Belgian federation – not against his race three penalty, but countering the overturning of a three-second penalty awarded that had originally been awarded to Kato for leaving the track and gaining an advantage on his way to winning race one. This appeal was ultimately dismissed by the French federation, leaving Kato as the champion.

The 17-year-old Japanese driver will contest the FRegional Middle East Championship with ART at the start of 2025 before embarking on the European series.

“We are delighted to welcome Taito to the team,” said ART boss Sebastien Philippe. “His performance and attitude have impressed us, and we believe he has the potential to deliver great results in both FREC and FRMEC. We are excited to work with him in this crucial phase of his career.”

Honda will send Rintaro Sato, son of former Formula 1 driver and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato, to race in French F4 next year after he was named as winner of the Honda Racing School scholarship. Sato Jr finished eighth in Japanese F4 this season in his first car racing campaign.

Kotaro Shimbara was also chosen as a HRS scholarship winner, as runner-up in the competition, and will drive for Honda Formula Dream Project with B-Max Racing in Japanese F4 in 2025. Shimbara finished third in Japanese F4 this year behind HFDP drivers Yuto Nomura and Ryota Hirachi while driving for Kageyama Racing, having previously competed in the series in 2022. Sho Momose, another HRS graduate, will be his team-mate.

Honda has confirmed that Nomura will step up to Super Formula Lights for HFDP with B-Max Racing.

Elsewhere in FREC, Trident has named Matteo De Palo as its first 2025 signing. The Italian driver came 17th in the points in his rookie season with Sainteloc Racing – with a best finish of fourth – after finishing fifth in Spanish F4 in 2023.

Sainteloc’s first announced driver is Tim Gerhards, who placed 20th in Spanish F4 this year with Monlau Motorsport, while Van Amersfoort Racing has confirmed it will retain Pedro Clerot, who ended his rookie campaign eighth in the points.

The post French F4 champion Taito Kato to race in FRegional with ART GP appeared first on Formula Scout.