Thought I'd get the ball rolling on this one - the current fourth tier on the FIA ladder.
The main interest is, of course, directed towards the Formula Regional European Championship (FRECA) but the first series of the year will be the off-season Middle East and Oceania (the ex-Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand) starting in January.
Formula Regional Oceania Championship
In 2024, it was the British-born Pole and now F3-bound Roman Biliński who eased to the title with M2 Competition, with a decent experience advantage in Formula Regional machinery over his rivals. However, he did fail to win the headline event - the New Zealand Grand Prix - which went the way of local man Liam Sceats, who later went on to race in USF Pro 2000.
The series is often well-subscribed, and also has a decent amount of cross-pollination with the American ladder, with European drivers tending to opt for the Middle East route. Indeed, one of the series' main teams, Kiwi Motorsport, now has a tie-up with Chip Ganassi Racing as a development team.
The calendar is made up of 5 rounds of three races each - Races 1 and 3 being standard grid races, and Race 2 being a reverse grid race.
Round 1 (10-12 Jan) – Taupo
Round 2 (17-19 Jan) – Hampton Downs
Round 3 (24-26 Jan) – Manfeild (not a typo - this always looks wrong to me!)
Round 4 (31 Jan-02 Feb) – Teretonga
Round 5 (07-09 Feb) – Highlands (Race 3 is the New Zealand Grand Prix)
The grid is currently as follows (to be updated as necessary):
Team Drivers What did they do in 2024?
Giles Motorsport Will Brown (AUS) Australian Supercars champion
Alex Crosbie (NZL) 4th in F4 USA, 5th in FR Oceania
Tommy Smith (AUS) 8th in FR Oceania, 20th in FIA F3
Barrett Wolfe (USA) 5th in F4 USA
Kiwi Motorsport Jett Bowling (USA) 3rd in FR Americas, 12th in FR Oceania
James Lawley (CAN) 9th in FR Americas
Nicolas Stati (AUS) 2nd in Australian F4, 2nd in F4 USA
M2 Competition Nikita Johnson (USA) 2nd in USF Pro 2000, 11th in GB3
Arvid Lindblad (GBR) 4th in FIA F3, 13th in FR Middle East
Sebastian Manson (NZL) 2nd in FR Japan, 21st in FR Oceania
Michael Shin Woo-hyun (KOR) 4th in FR Oceania, 6th in Euroformula
Enzo Yeh Rui-heng (TWN) 14th in F4 UAE, 23rd in Italian F4
Matías Zagazeta (PER) 25th in FIA F3
mtec Motorsport Patrick Heuzenroeder (AUS) 12th in GB3
Nicholas Monteiro (BRA) 13th in USF Pro 2000
Josh Pierson (USA) 14th in IndyNXT
Shawn Rashid (USA) 17th in GB3, 27th in USF Pro 2000
Zack Scoular (UAE) 15th in British F4, 17th in F4 UAE
On paper, you'd expect Arvid Lindblad to blow this field away, if he's as good as Red Bull think he is, and it appears he's been put here simply for easy super licence points. However, Red Bull have tried this before with Dan Ticktum, and that didn't exactly turn out as planned... Even in the event of Lindblad faltering, you'd expect the champion to come from M2 Competition again. Nikita Johnson has shown plenty of speed in the US, and already has experience outside the US with a part-season of GB3. Michael Shin also has a decent amount of experience in these cars and finished 4th last year, so with experience of the circuits, I think he'll also be up there. Matías Zagazeta is a veteran of F3, albeit in a backmarker car, so he'll also likely be up there. M2's less experienced pair of Sebastian Manson and Enzo Yeh are more of a wildcard, but Manson has a year of FR Japan and is a local, so I expect he'll appear on a few podiums here and there. Yeh is a former Ferrari Academy hopeful, but had an anonymous year in F4 last year, and is one of the least experienced drivers on the grid.
Giles Motorsport probably has the next best line-up. Alex Crosbie was Giles' top finisher in 2024, finishing 5th overall with a podium to his name, and with plenty of experience in New Zealand, should be challenging for podiums again. More interesting is the signing of Will Brown, the reigning Supercars champion. Brown hasn't started an open-wheel race in over 5 years, but has built up a good CV whilst racing with one of the best teams in Australian motorsport. Perhaps he's looking to emulate Scott McLaughlin's shift to open-wheelers...? Tommy Smith didn't look too out-of-his-depth in FROC last year, though wasn't exactly a front runner either. Barrett Wolfe will likely be a backmarker, as he barely troubled the podium in F4 USA last year despite most races only attracting 6 or 7 cars.
Kiwi Motorsport took Patrick Woods-Toth to 3rd in FROC last year, and later to the FR Americas title. However, I'm not seeing much strength in their 2025 line-up so far. Jett Bowling is the most likely candidate for good results, as he ran the full FROC season in 2024 and also had experience in both FR Americas and FRECA. James Lawley has so far struggled for decent results in his open-wheel career, but all of his racing so far (F4 USA in 2023, FR Americas in 2024) have been with an underfunded single-car team, so he now has more of an opportunity to make the most of. Nicolas Stati finished as a runner up in two different F4 series last year, but didn't really impress greatly in either, losing out the F4 US title to a single-car team driver and finishing a long way behind his team-mate James Piszcyk in Australian F4.
mtec Motorsport failed to win a race in 2024, and I don't see that changing with their 2025 line-up. Josh Pierson, with his sportscar and Indy NXT experience, is probably their most likely suspect to challenge for good results. Zack Scoular may be one to watch out for; I don't think he could show his true pace in British F4 last year with a team that was new to the series. Patrick Heuzenroeder has GB3 experience, which may help him, though he was never a true front-runner there. Nicholas Monteiro and Shawn Rashid will likely only make up the numbers.
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Formula Regional Middle East Championship
On the Middle Eastern side in 2024, it was Tuukka Taponen who ran away with the title for R-ace GP. Initially, Taylor Barnard challenged him, but after Round 1, he found another gear and eased away over the course of the season, before embarking on a year in FRECA. He ended up a long way ahead of Barnard, who in turn was a long way ahead of third-placed - and eventual FRECA champion - Rafael Câmara.
2025's grid is currently not as clear as that for FROC - despite starting in just under three weeks' time, only 7 drivers have currently been confirmed. However, we'd expect to see broadly similar teams that enter FRECA, with a few extra entries for FRMEC stalwart teams such as Evans, Pinnacle, and PHM.
Like FROC, the calendar is made up of 5 rounds of three races each - Races 1 and 3 being standard grid races, and Race 2 being a reverse grid race. The calendar only consisted of Dubai and two layouts of Yas Marina in 2024, but has expanded for 2025 - a welcome return to Kuwait Motor Town after the track provided some great action in 2023 (EDIT: unfortunately, the Kuwait races have been dropped). Jeddah is also appearing on the calendar for the first time.
Round 1 (17-18 Jan) – Kuwait Motor Town Yas Marina
Round 2 (22-24 Jan) – Kuwait Motor Town Yas Marina
Round 3 (07-09 Feb) – Dubai Autodrome
Round 4 (14-16 Feb) – Yas Marina
Round 5 (25-27 Feb) – Jeddah
The grid is currently as follows (as of 10-Jan-2025)
Team Drivers What did they do in 2024?
ART Grand Prix Evan Giltaire (FRA) 7th in FRECA
Katō Taito (JPN) French F4 champion
Le Kanato (JPN) 18th in FRECA, 23rd in FRMEC
Evans GP Kai Daryanani (IND) Formula Trophy UAE champion, 8th in Australian F4, 12th in British F4, 31st in Italian F4, 33rd in Euro 4
PHM Racing/Akcel GP Brando Badoer (ITA) 5th in FRECA, 10th in FRMEC
Aditya Kulkarni (IND) 19th in GB3
Jaden Pariat (IND) 3rd in Indian F4
Everett Stack (USA) 27th in Italian F4, 30th in Euro 4, 30th in F4 CEZ, 34th in F4 UAE
Prema Racing Doriane Pin (FRA) 2nd in F1 Academy, 10th in F4 UAE, 27th in FRECA
R-ace GP Akshay Bohra (IND) Euro 4 champion, 4th in Italian F4
Nakamura Jin (JPN) 4th in Super Formula Lights
Saintéloc Racing Lorenzo Castillo (MEX) 35th in Spanish F4, 46th in Formula Winter Series
Théophile Naël (FRA) 9th in FRECA, 11th in FRMEC
Yaroslav Veselaho (UKR) 33rd in FRMEC, 35th in FRECA
Not much to go off of with the 7 currently confirmed drivers. I'd hope Doriane Pin would be challenging for at least podiums with some FRECA experience under her belt. Taito Kato is an interesting one, emulating his countryman Ayumu Iwasa by winning French F4 at the first time of asking, though at 16, he is a few years younger than Iwasa was. His ART team-mate, Kanato Le, has shown occasional speed with a fairly poor G4 Racing in FRECA, especially in wet conditions, and could be someone to keep an eye on. Akshay Bohra has generally driven very maturely in F4, beating the very fast Freddie Slater to the Euro 4 title, but losing out considerably over the course of the Italian F4 season in 2024. His team-mate Jin Nakamura is a relative unknown, and this will be his first series outside of Japan. Kai Daryanani can call himself an F4 champion, after winning the recent UAE Trophy, but that was arguably only because Rashid Al Dhaheri missed the final round. The Hong Kong-based Indian driver has driven in 141 F4 races, which makes him the second-most prolific F4 driver since FIA F4 started in 2014 - and he did all of those races in just two years! Whilst it's good to have some Ukrainian representation in the form of Saintéloc's Yaroslav Veselaho, the former drifting champion has shown no discernible talent over the last two years, and I don't expect anything different this year.
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I'll post more on the other Formula Regional series for 2025 further into the year once the grids become more clear.
Edited by Frood, Yesterday, 17:01.
