Photo: Palou Motorsport

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Photo: F4 Spain

The grid is growing for Spanish Formula 4’s main and winter championships, the latter of which starts next month.

G4 Racing has announced the Karras brothers, Jean Paul and Philippe Armand, will be in its line-up for both seasons after running the pair in 2025.

They started their single-seater careers in F4 Central European Zone two years ago, with two fourth places putting Philippe Armand 16th in the standings. He then represented Greece in the Motorsport Games’ F4 event, qualifying seventh, finishing 12th in the qualification race then retiring from the main race.

Sainteloc Racing signed the brothers for the 2025 Spanish F4 Winter Championship, in which both failed to score. They continued with Sainteloc for round one of the main championship, then did the last three rounds with G4. Jean Paul was the lead brother in the standings after both finished a race in the top 10 at the last round.

TC Racing, the F4 team founded by Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois that is now active in karting too with its TC Junior Team, will run Beau Lowette in the two Spanish F4 championships.

The 16-year-old Belgian is a single-seater rookie who has raced in European karting over the last three years. He was Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals runner-up in the Rotax Junior class in 2023, and has been in senior classes since.

In Rotax Senior he was 2024 RMC Winter Cup runner-up and 13th in Belgium’s BNL Series, and on OK karts was 13th in WSK’s Euro Series, 27th in its Final Cup and 31st in the CIK-FIA European Championship.

Completing an F4 paddock switch for 2026 is Pablo Riccobono Bello, who came 16th in the centrally-run French F4 last year and will do a double Spanish F4 programme with Global Racing Service. He joined the team ahead of the main championship’s 2025 season finale.

Racing in Spanish F4, but yet to be confirmed for the winter championship grid, are Jorge Bruno and Max Radeck at Drivex School. The team now has six drivers, with at least three to be entered under the ‘DX Racing Team’ banner.

Bruno is already a race-winner in single-seaters, having spent 2025 in Formula 2 Argentina (a relaunched entry-level series for halo-shod cars previously known as Argentinian Formula Renault 2.0 and then Formula Nacional Argentina). As a part-timer he took a victory and two other podiums en route to 10th in the standings.

Radeck is from Portugal and has primarily competed in his home country’s karting scene.

Monlau Motorsport also has two drivers signed for Spanish F4 later in the year: Rahim Alibhai and Miki Blascos.

American racer Alibhai came 22nd in a part-time USF Juniors campaign last year, finishing eighth on his debut, and the 15-year-old is a member of Fernando Alonso’s A14 Management scheme.

Blascos did three Spanish F4 rounds in 2025 with Monlau and was 24th in the standings.

The post Grid grows for 2026 Spanish F4 Winter Championship appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Tecnicar Motorsport will make its Eurocup-3 debut at Jerez this weekend, running USF Pro 2000 runner-up Ariel Elkin.

It had previously been announced that Spanish team Tecnicar would join the grid in 2026 when Eurocup-3 goes from being a Formula Regional-based series to a third-tier competition by introducing the Dallara 326 chassis.

Elkin, 18, came fourth in USF Juniors last year then leapt up to the third-tier USFP2000 for 2025. As a rookie he claimed three victories, three poles and will likely test an Indy Nxt car in the off-season as he evaluates where to race next year.

Alan Orzynski, currently second in the Formula 4-spec Skip Barber Formula Race Series, will become the fifth different driver this year to race Drivex School’s #15 entry in Eurocup-3 at Jerez, while Palou Motorsport is without Luciano Morano (who is yet to score this season) and has replaced him with Brazilian F4 points leader Heitor Dall’Agnol.

In the supporting Spanish F4 championship, there are also line-up changes for this weekend. Drivex’s other #15 car will appear for the third time this season, and will be driven by Rafaela Ferreira.

The 20-year-old Brazilian was fourth in her home F4 championship last year, and this year has been driving for Campos Racing in Europe. She came 24th in the Formula Winter Series standings as a part-timer, and is currently 11th in the all-female F1 Academy championship.

TC Racing is without Santiago Baztarrica, who sits 20th in the points table, and its three-car line-up will be completed by Brazilian driver Rogerio Grotta. He was seventh in Brazilian F4 last year, winning one race, and is currently ninth in the 2025 standings after two rounds.

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Calling themselves a “human resource development motorsports team” and seeking to bring team personnel up the ladder as well as drivers, Delightworks will enter SF with one car in 2026 and it will be driven by Nobuharu Matsushita.

The 31-year-old SF and Super GT race-winner, who won in Formula 2 as a Honda protege, will also take on a two-fold management role. It will combine technical leadership with fronting the team’s driver development in junior single-seaters.

Established by gaming company Delightworks, the team’s first racing venture was the 2024 Formula Regional Japanese Championship season finale. It entered one car, with its development driver Yugo Iwasawa at the wheel, and made the podium on debut.

It was due to continue racing in FRJC for 2025, but instead moved up to the third-tier SF Lights series as a two-car operation. Yusuke Mitsui currently sits eighth in the standings, with a best finish of fourth, while Souta Arao and Iwasawa have shared the second car but neither have scored in the first three rounds.

Delightworks’ cars have received technical support from Toda Racing, which will also be heavily involved in vehicle operations for the SF programme due to its extensive experience as an engine-builder as well as a racing team.

Toda has a race-winning history in SF Lights, but dropped off the grid this year as it aligned itself with Delightworks’ entry.

Another junior single-seater outfit looking to move up the ladder is TC Racing, founded by Belgium and Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. His career CV includes four La Liga titles and third place in the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

He launched his team with the help of Spanish former Formula 1 driver Roberto Merhi in late 2023 and it has been racing in Spanish Formula 4 since then. Its best finish so far is a fourth place, and the team now has an Esports spin-off.

Eurocup-3 announced that TC Racing will join its grid next year as it goes from being a FRegional-based series to a third-tier entity by upgrading to machinery and technical regulations very similar to SF Lights.

Courtois has attended several F1 races this year, and in trackside interviews with broadcasters has mentioned that he seeks to take TC Racing into F2 and FIA Formula 3 on F1’s support bill. For that to be possible, during the current cycle of technical regulations, Courtois would need to wait for another team to sell their entry and assets in either championship.

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Photo: Fotospeedy

Euroformula is committed to continuing being an alternative to FIA F3 for drivers based in Europe, but there’s now another Spanish-run third-tier single-seater series on the continent seeking the same market space

The pyramid to Formula 1 can sometimes be a tricky one to draw out, since Formula 2 and Formula 3 are now the names of spec championships rather than actual formulas, and Formula 4 is actually the fifth-tier category below Formula Regional.

This is all ignoring the Road to Indy, where there are open-wheel cars going from the second down to the fifth tier and all designed to prepare drivers for IndyCar. The third and fourth tiers there aren’t really comparable to Europe’s.

The F3-level third tier currently consists of the FIA F3 Championship and Euroformula (with Japan’s Super Formula Lights series using the same cars) for contemporary machinery, then there are some series still using the last generation of F3 cars.

FRegional, and championships using FRegional-based cars, fill the fourth tier. The category is incorporated into the name of all the FIA-certified championships except for the planned AU3.

Launched as FRegional Australia but rebranded before getting underway, it cancelled its pre-season test and inaugural race event at late notice this May due to an issue with shipping cars from New Zealand. It also left it very late to cancel what would have been round two in June. Last month it should have raced at Sandown, but instead the 2025 season was called off.

The other FRegional-spec series without the name is Ultimate Cup Series’ Formula Cup, which uses the Tatuus T-318.

That car has been the design inspiration or basis of several other chassis from the Italian manufacturer, including the F3-T318 used in Eurocup-3, FRegional Oceania’s FT-60 and for the more bespoke MSV GB3-025 raced in GB3 to ensure it remains on par with European rivals.

Photo: Fotocar13

GB3 had previously used a heavily upgraded Tatuus design that sat between FRegional and F4 in performance, and which was upgraded again to be reused this year in the formerly F4-spec GB4. In 2026, Britain has a de facto fourth-tier single-seater championship in GB3, one that sits just below in GB4, and then the truly fifth-tier British F4.

There will be lots of car changes in FRegional next year, as both Tatuus and Ligier introduce second-generation chassis.

Eurocup-3 will not be adopting the new Tatuus T-326, since it will instead be adopting a whole new technical ruleset.

Last week it announced it will be becoming a third-tier series from 2026 onwards, and will do so by switching to the ‘new’ Dallara 326 car with power supply from TOM’S-developed 1.6-litre turbocharged Toyota units.

The ‘326’ designation belongs to a bodykit in development for the six-year-old F3-level Dallara 320 car, and which will be remarkably close in specification to the ‘324’ bodykit introduced to SF Lights last year and in Euroformula this season.

Both of those championships also exclusively run the TOM’S engines, and Eurocup-3 has hired Engiser 101 to be its tuning partner for when it introduces them. The electronics will be the same, and the similarities extend to the GT Sport-run Euroformula and Eurocup-3 both being run by Spanish promoters.

On technical aspects, the main difference next year may well be tyres. Euroformula runs on Pirellis, Eurocup-3 will use a new compound from Hankook, and SF Lights is yet to name a supplier for after its current two-year deal with Kumho.

Since its launch in 2023, Eurocup-3 has done well to establish itself against the immensely popular FRegional European Championship with teams and drivers. Now it has its sights set on Euroformula, and arguably FIA F3 too, and what has been announced already about their 2026 seasons supports that.

2026 calendars

FIA F3 will support F1 for all 10 of its rounds next year, with street races in Melbourne, Monaco and Madrid’s new circuit.

The eight-round Eurocup-3 schedule will feature five of next year’s F1 tracks, including the planned ‘Madring’. Its race weekend there will take place in August, several weeks before F1 visits and will possibly make it the first ever championship to race on it. It will also visit Silverstone, which European series rarely visit due to having to ship cars to Britain.

Euroformula and the Formula Renault Eurocup (which used FRegional cars for its last two seasons in 2019 and ’20 before its assets were inherited by the FREC paddock) last raced there in 2019, and the all-female W Series only headed there in 2021 and ’22 due to being an F1 support and all of its entries being operated by a British team.

There are four F1 tracks on Euroformula’s 2026 calendar, since it has dropped the Red Bull Ring for a first ever trip to Misano.

In addition to a calendar, Eurocup-3 has announced it will have at least nine teams on the grid next year. Its four Spanish squads (Campos Racing, Drivex School, Global Racing Service and Palou Motorsport) will continue, along with Dutch outfit MP Motorsport, and stepping up from the Spanish F4 championship under the same promoter will be two more Spanish operations: Tecnicar Motorsport and the TC Racing team founded by goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois with the assistance of ex-F1 driver Roberto Merhi.

Total newcomers to the paddock will be British teams Double R Racing and Hitech GP, and Eurocup-3 aims to complete its grid with a 10th team.

Double R raced in Euroformula from 2019 to ’21, running future F1 and IndyCar drivers, and through its sister company Fine Moments ran all of W Series’ cars. Its last race outings were the final two rounds of the 2023 British F4 season, and it has been a test-only team since then.

Photo: Dutch Photo Agency

Euroformula will continue with Dallara’s ‘324’ bodykit next season, and has shared pictures from the manufacturer as it produces six more of them to be ready for use later in 2025.

A new name in the GT Sport paddock, starting with next month’s round at the Red Bull Ring, is Roland Rehfeld. The long-time team manager and then sporting director of PHM Racing retained that role for its F2 and FIA F3 squads when they were purchased by AIX Investment Group last year and rebranded, but as of this week he is no longer working for the team and has moved into a team management position at Euroformula dominator Motopark.

The FIA has confirmed to Formula Scout that FREC will switch to Toyota engines next year that will be built by Autotecnica since a deal with Alpine – that included branding of the championship and its Renault engines – ends this season. Tatuus’s second-generation T-326 chassis is set to succeed the T-318 after seven seasons of use, and two following the introduction of an update kit to reduce the physical effort required to steer the car.

ACI Sport will continue to promote FREC, and the FIA will support the Italian motorsport federation by providing technical expertise and staff (such as stewards and technical delegates) while helping revise its sporting and technical regulations.

The post The changes Europe’s major single-seater series are making for 2026 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Meritus GP

Spanish Formula 4 has announced its cars will start using “advanced sustainable fuel” this season.

French company ETS Racing Fuels will supply it, and its mix will contain “25% advanced sustainable components” this year. Over the course of four seasons it plans to introduce cleaner mixes, until the field is using a ‘100% sustainable’ fuel in 2028.

Quality controls will be introduced to ensure no team gains a performance advantage through the fuel.

There have been many drivers over the last week announced as entering Spanish F4’s 2025 season. MP Motorsport is close to revealing its line-up in full, having named Niklas Schaufler and Hudson Schwartz as signings.

Red Bull junior Schaufler recently turned 15, and made his single-seater debut with MP in Spanish F4’s Winter Championship season opener.

On OK Junior karts the Austrian won the 2023 Italian championship and South Garda Winter Cup, and last year won WSK’s Champions Cup and Super Master Series, was Champions of the Future runner-up and sixth in the CIK-FIA European championship. Schwartz is a third-year single-seater racer who has already come eighth in USF Juniors and USF2000.

Drivex School has signed Kaiden Higgins and Stepan Suslov. Australian junior karting graduate Higgins was seventh in the 2024 Rotax Max Challenge International Trophy, and Suslov comes across from sportscars. He moved from karts to the Iberian Supercars championship last year, driving an Aston Martin Vantage GT4. In the overall standings he was 22nd, and fourth in the classification for Bronze-graded drivers. He began testing in F4 last November.

Monlau Motorsport has three drivers signed: Lorenzo Campos, Alexander Jacoby and Francisco Monarca.

Angolan racer Campos made his F4 debut at the 2024 Motorsport Games, then contested a Spanish F4 round at Jerez. In 2023 he came third in the WSK CC on an X30 Junior kart, and was 16th in the FIA Karting Academy Trophy.

Jacoby was 40th in Spanish F4 and made a Brazilian F4 cameo in 2024, and Monarca steps up from Argentina’s karting scene.

Sainteloc Racing has also put together a three-car line-up, consisting of Christian Garduno and the Karras twins Jean Paul and Philippe Armand. Garduno is a Mexican karter with F4 test experience, and the Karrases are marginally more experienced. They cameoed in F4 Central European Zone last year, and Philippe Armand represented Greece in the Motorsport Games’ F4 event. The pair spent their karting careers in France.

Tecnicar Motorsport’s first signing is Saudi Arabian F4 runner-up and F4 CEZ race-winner Andrej Petrovic, Rodin Motorsport has added South Korea’s Kyuho Lee – winner of the 2024 FIA World Cup for OK-N karts and currently 17th in F4 Middle East – to its line-up and Argentinian junior karting champion Santino Panetta has joined TC Racing.

Many of the drivers entered last weekend’s Spanish F4 WC opener at Jerez. Schaufler and Schwartz are seventh and eighth in the standings, and further back are Petrovic (11th), Jacoby (18th), Lee (22nd), Philippe Armand Karras (23rd), Suslov (27th), Jean Paul Karras (28th), Monarca (29th), Panetta (30th), Garduno (32nd) and Campos (33rd).

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Photo: F4 Spain

Spanish Formula 4’s new winter series, dubbed the ‘Eurocup-4 Spanish Winter Championship’, was launched at Jerez on Friday with two test sessions.

There were 33 drivers in attendance, and two more are entered into the inaugural round of the series this weekend.

In the opening two-hour session, Jan Przyrowski set a 1m43.450s to lead team-mate Thomas Strauven by 0.31 seconds. There were part of a six-strong Campos Racing line-up, alongside Miguel Costa, Vivek Kanthan, Matus Ryba and Noah Monteiro.

Strauven came seventh in Spanish F4 last year, Przyrowski came 10th in Spanish F4 last year and Ryba was 28th. Costa, Monteiro and Kanthan are all stepping up from karting, and Monteiro is following in the path of his father Tiago who raced in Formula 1.

Tecnicar Motorsport’s Andrej Petrovic was third fastest in session one, 0.028s behind Strauven and 0.031s ahead of Drivex School’s Red Bull junior Christopher Feghali.

Saudi Arabian F4 runner-up Petrovic has two team-mates: fellow F4 sophomore Wiktor Dobrzanski and Sacha Van’t Pad Bosch. He starred in a United States F4 cameo last year, and turns 15 tomorrow.

Stepan Suslov comes across from racing GT4 sportscars to partner Feghali at Drivex, along with the Spanish F4-experienced Filippo Fiorentino and Brazilian F4 race-winner Gino Trappa.

TC Racing has expanded to three cars after running two in Spanish F4 last year, and the experienced Alfio Spina leads its line-up. He was the last driver in session one to get within half a second of Przyrowski’s pace, with the top 17 split by a second.

His team-mates are Santiago Baztarrica, who used to race in Formula Nacional Argentina and karting graduate Santino Panetta.

All but 12 of the drivers improved their pace in session two, while Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America racer Courtney Crone (ART Grand Prix) and Reno Francot (MP Motorsport) were absent. Francot is currently at Dubai Autodrome competing in F4 Middle East, while it is unclear if Crone will race.

Kanthan moved to the top of the timesheet, a 1m43.139s putting him 0.214s ahead of Strauven and 0.29s clear of MP’s Rene Lammers.

Spanish F4 podium-finisher Lammers had four team-mates with him on track: Richard Mille Young Talent Academy shootout winner Ean Eyckmans, French F4 runner-up Yani Stevenheydens, USF2000 podium-finisher Hudson Schwartz and Red Bull junior Niklas Schaufler who is stepping up from karting.

Przyrowski and Spina were fourth and fifth again, ahead of Eyckmans, Petrovic, Feghali and Rodin Motorsport’s Nathan Tye. The F4 sophomore’s team-mates are Emma Felbermayr, who was due to race for the team in the rival Formula Winter Series in Iberia, and Kyuho Lee. He won the 2024 FIA World Cup for OK-N karts, and is currently 15th in F4 ME after doing the first two rounds.

Test results

The post Spanish F4’s new winter championship attracts 34-car grid for round one appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Gedlich Racing/Daniel Burgin

Spain now has a summer and a winter F4 championship, but are the results in the latter likely to paint an accurate picture of who will be at the front in the former this year?

When Formula Winter Series was launched last year in Spain, it had just three full-time drivers, 21 drivers in total and an average grid size of 10 cars. Spanish F4 meanwhile averaged a grid of 32, with 23 full-timers and 50 drivers in total.

But it was a very different picture three months ago when FWinter Series’ second season begun. This time there were 28 drivers who committed to the full four-round schedule, with 47 entrants in total and grid that averaged a massive 37 cars.

So as Spanish F4 returns to action this weekend, is it going to benefit from the increasing popularity of its winter counterpart?

There are 36 drivers signed up for this season, but Global Racing Service’s Alexander Jacoby will miss the season opener due to being underage and Gustaw Wisniewski is racing at Jarama this week for Tecnicar Motorsport in place of fellow single-seater rookie Adam Al Azhari who doesn’t reach the minimum age of 15 until round three. A round two replacement is yet to be named.

When he was a Sauber junior, Wisniewski came ninth in WSK’s Champions Cup and 17th in its Super Master Series for OK Junior karts, and on OK karts finished eighth in the South Garda Winter Cup and WSK Final Cup. After leaving Sauber’s ranks he came fifth in WSK’s Final Cup, eighth in its Euro Series and 11th in the Super Master Series, and on ROK Senior karts was third in the Polish championship.

Al Azhari, younger brother of Keanu (who was ninth in Spanish F4 last year), finished eighth in the Italian championship for OK-J karts in 2021 and graduates to F4 from senior karting. Last month he won the IAME Middle East Cup for X30 Senior karts.

The Tecnicar pair are not the only recent signings in Spanish F4, with several teams expanding their line-ups.

Photo: F4 Spain

TC Racing has been founded by Belgium and Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois with the assistance of ex-Formula 1 driver Roberto Merhi, and the new team has signed Cristian Cantu and Gabriel Gomez. Cantu comes from Mexico, where he has spent two years in his home NACAM F4 championship. He came sixth as a rookie, and was championship runner-up last year with seven wins, nine other podiums and three poles.

Gomez was Brazilian champion on OK-J karts in 2020, then on OK karts was Italian champion, CIK-FIA European championship runner-up, third in the WSK Open Cup and 10th in the CIK-FIA World championship. He finished 16th on his car racing debut in the 2023 Spanish F4 finale at Barcelona.

Cantu’s compatriot Ernesto Rivera completes Campos Racing’s six-car line-up. He was the X30 Junior winner at the 2022 USA SuperNationals, and last year won the USA Pro Tour and Winter Series in that category, the Florida Winter Tour on a ROK Junior kart as well as stepping up to KA100 Senior to win at the SuperNationals again. He made his single-seater debut in FWinter Series with Campos, and came 15th in the standings with one podium.

Drivex School has retained Juan Cota and Francisco Macedo after signing them for FWinter Series, where they came sixth and 35th. Cota took a win and a second place but missed a round, while Macedo finished no higher than 13th. Last year Cota came eighth in FWinter Series and 15th in Spanish F4 with the team, and Macedo was racing OK karts.

Two weeks ago Adam Hideg dropped an Italian F4 campaign with Jenzer Motorsport to join Cram Motorsport in Spanish F4, after taking a best finish of sixth and coming 20th in the FWinter Series standings with the former. He was world championship runner-up on OK-J karts in 2022 and when he stepped up to OK karts last year came 16th in WSK’s Final Cup.

Monlau Motorsport will field Tim Gerhards, Rehan Hakim and Lenny Ried. Gerhards did two FWinter Series rounds with Monlau and had a best finish of 16th. He was runner-up in the Rotax Max Euro Trophy for Rotax Junior karts back in 2020, and was 17th in the European championship for KZ2 shifter karts last year.

Photo: Dutch Photo Agency

Ried was 2022 ADAC Kart Masters champion on OK karts, and came 38th in his full FWinter Series campaign with Monlau.

Today GRS announced Jaden Pariat and Kirill Kutskov will complete its four-car line-up, although Kutskov is only confirmed for round one.

Pariat has plentiful single-seater experience, starting off in FLGB 1300 in his home country where he won, then doing two British F4 rounds in 2022. Last year he made a FWinter Series cameo and claimed one podium from his six British F4 outings.

Kutskov was the WSK Euro Series and world champion on OK karts in 2023, and in 2024 the Russian has come third in the inaugural Saudi Arabian F4 season with one win and seven other podiums and also taken a win in F4 Central European Zone.

Are any of the above signings likely to be contending for wins in Spanish F4 this season? The series has eight returnees from 2023, but two of those competed as guest drivers last year and never threatened the top 15 let alone the top 10 (Castillo and Cram’s Filippo Fiorentino), while Sainteloc Racing’s Maxi Restrepo finished no higher than 21st in his full season, Rodin Motorsport’s Thomas Strauven finished 13th in his cameo with MP Motorsport and Griffin Peebles scored just a single point with Tecnicar and has now moved to MP.

That teams him up with Keanu Al Azhari [pictured above], who took a podium and a pole in 2023, while Campos has Andres Cardenas who came eighth last year with a win, a second place and two poles despite missing a round.

But could Peebles actually be the title favourite ahead of those two? He has started 2024 in style, with four wins, three other podiums and four poles propelling him to the FWinter Series title by 21 points over Cardenas who took two wins and four other podiums. Cota and Al Azhari used their experience to each take a win, but came sixth and seventh in the standings after missing races.

Photo: Gedlich Racing/Daniel Burgin

MP’s car racing debutant Maciej Gladysz missed out on the podium’s top step but was immediately quick and came a distant third in the title race. He now knows four of Spanish F4’s seven tracks, so will be well set to impress in the second half of the season. The other highly rated karters who transitioned to cars in February didn’t quite have the same impact, with Nathan Tye, Rene Lammers – son of ex-F1 racer Jan – and Jan Przyrowski coming 17th, 19th and 22nd in the standings respectively. Tye and Przyrowski did miss two rounds, and Tye did get a pole, but their race results were not strong.

Red Bull junior and junior karting world champion Enzo Tarnvanichkul is Tye and Przyrowski’s team-mate at Campos, and his FWinter Series appearances didn’t even include a points finish. So it may well be that experience on the most part is what counts over karting pedigree this year, and that could put drivers like Cantu, Danish F4 champion Mikkel Pedersen, Brazilian F4 race-winner Fiorentino and Rodin’s F4 Western race-winner Preston Lambert in good stead.

One thing that is for sure that Campos and MP, the teams with the biggest line-ups and the ones who have already tasted plenty of on-track success in F4, will be the benchmark even if neither has a standout driver.

2024 Spanish F4 entries

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Photo: F4 Spain

Spanish Formula 4 has revealed that there will be more contenders in its teams’ championship next season.

Part of this is down to several of the series’ heavyweights having to enter their cars under multiple team licences rather than as a single entity consisting of four or more cars, while totally new teams have also been attracted.

The first of those is Palou Motorsport, set up this January by two-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou and his father Ramon. It made its race debut in Spain’s new Formula Regional-based Eurocup-3 series and claimed three podiums during the season. Palou is expected to field two cars in Spanish F4.

The other new entry is TC Racing, which has an even bigger name behind it as the team has been founded by Belgium and Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. He has won La Liga three times, the Premier League and Copa del Rey twice and the Champions League, Europa League and FA Cup once during his football career so far, as well as being part of the Belgium side that came third in the 2018 World Cup.

Courtois has launched TC Racing with the help of Spanish former Formula 1 driver Roberto Merhi, and Formula Scout understands former Spanish TV F1 commentator Jacobo Vega will be team principal of the two-car squad.

All nine Spanish F4 teams from 2023 will be returning, but with three teams having to split their entries. MP Motorsport will enter cars under the Karting Champions League by MP banner, with drivers coming up from the KCL to race for MP, Drivex School will have a sister DXR by Drivex team and Campos Racing will use the name of sponsor Griffin Core for the second group of entries in its fleet of cars.

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