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[Frood]

And finally, it's the first weekend for the Eurocup-3 Spanish Winter Championship. Eurocup-3 started a couple of years ago as a lower-cost alternative to Formula Regional Europe, and has really strengthed over the two years it has been active. This year they will be holding their first Winter Championship, with 8 races over a three-round off-season championship for drivers to stay race-ready over the break.

 

(And no, they still haven't resolved the champion from the main season last year...)

 

 

Calendar

Round 1: Jerez (08-09 Feb)

Round 2: Algarve (21-23 Feb)

Round 3: Aragón (28-30 Mar)

 

Line-up for Round 1:

Team              Drivers                         What did they do last year?

Allay Racing      Emil Hellberg (SWE)             Guest driver in Eurocup-3
                  Linus Hellberg (SWE)            Guest driver in Eurocup-3

Campos Racing     Jules Caranta (FRA)             3rd in French F4, 15th in F4 UAE
                  Jesse Carrasquedo (MEX)         8th in Eurocup-3, 24th in FR Middle East
                  Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak (THA)  9th in FR Middle East, 24th in FIA F3
                  Francisco Macedo (POR)          21st in Spanish F4, 35th in FWS
                  Kacper Sztuka (POL)             27th in FIA F3
                  Nikola Tsolov (BUL)             11th in FIA F3, 11th in Eurocup-3

Drivex            Victoria Blokhina (KGZ)         27th in Eurocup-3
                  Juan Cota (ESP)                 3rd in Spanish F4, 6th in FWS
                  Preston Lambert (USA)           31st in Spanish F4, 36th in FWS
                  Lenny Ried (GER)                27th in Spanish F4, 38th in FWS
                  Oscar Wurz (AUT)                F4 CEZ champion, 29th in Spanish F4

GRS Team          Cristian Cantú (MEX)            30th in Spanish F4

MP Motorsport     Alexander Abkhazava (KAZ)       9th in Eurocup-3, 15th in FR Middle East
                  Andrés Cárdenas (PER)           2nd in FWS, 14th in Spanish F4
                  Mattia Colnaghi (ITA)           Spanish F4 champion, 18th in FWS
                  Matheus Comparatto (BRA)        Brazilian F4 champion
                  Emerson Fittipaldi Jr. (BRA)    5th in Eurocup-3, 20th in FR Middle East
                  Maciej Gładysz (POL)            3rd in FWS, 4th in Spanish F4

Palou Motorsport  Isaac Barashi (GBR)             20th in Eurocup-3, 29th in FR Middle East
                  James Egozi (USA)               6th in Spanish F4, 9th in FWS
                  Alceu Feldmann Neto (BRA)       14th in Brazilian F4
                  Hideg Ádám (HUN)                17th in Spanish F4, 20th in FWS
                  Luciano Morano (FRA)            24th in Eurocup-3

Saintéloc Racing  Lorenzo Castillo (MEX)          35th in Spanish F4, 46th in FWS

Allay Racing are a new, family-run team to the series, and field Swedish brothers Emil and Linus Hellberg. I expect we'll see very little from them, given neither brother has ever raced a full season in single-seaters previously, and they are both old enough to have children racing in the series – Linus is the younger of the two at 36; Emil is 48!

 

Campos Racing have a decent line up with a lot of experience. The Red Bull Academy link-up continues, with new signings Jules Caranta and Nikola Tsolov present for the first round, and Ernesto Rivera and Enzo Tarnvanichkul to be swapped in later on. Caranta looked good in his first season racing cars, whereas you'd expect Tsolov to be crushing the field, given he has two season of FIA F3 under his belt. Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak and Kacper Sztuka also have F3 experience, and, like Tsolov, really should be at the front of the field. Jesse Carrasquedo has looked much-improved over the last half a year or so, and was fighting for podiums in the first two rounds of FRMEC. He should be up the front here, too. Finally, the team have signed Francisco Macedo, who showed sporadic speed in Spanish F4 but really doesn't deserve to be stepping up to faster machinery.

 

Drivex are also here in numbers, but unlike Campos and MP Motorsport, seem to spread their resources way too thinly to ever seem competitive. The two stand-out drivers will likely be Juan Cota, who, once he started winning in Spanish F4 last year, was probably the strongest driver in the second half of the season. Oscar Wurz is an F4 champion, though in the weak Central European series, and it remains to be seen whether he can emulate his father Alex, or even brother Charlie. Lenny Ried, Preston Lambert and Victoria Blokhina have shown little aptitude for racing previously, and will likely be towards the back of the field. 

 

GRS will enter one car, for Cristian Cantú. Cantú struggled in F4 for the new TC Racing team last year, and was comprehensively blown away by team-mate Gabriel Gómez. I don't expect he'll show much driving for GRS, either.

 

MP Motorsport is likely the strongest team in Eurocup-3. Emerson Fittipaldi Jr. is technically the highest-placed returnee from last year, but realistically he was carried to 5th in the championship by a good team rather than via good driving, and I wouldn't expect him to challenge for the title. More interesting is their strong contingent stepping up from Spanish F4, including last year's surprise champion, Mattia Colnaghi. The Italian-Argentinian racer has to be one of the favourites this year if he can manage the step-up to bigger cars well. Similarly, Maciej Gładysz was also a surprisingly strong contender in F4, and will look to make a similar jump. Andrés Cárdenas looked very strong in Formula Winter Series, but flattered to deceive in the main championship. The Peruvian obviously has pace, but needs to be able to unlock it more often. Alexander Abkhazava moves across from Saintéloc, where he was acutally a present surprise in EC-3 last year - having looked like a backmarker in F4, he often challenged for podiums after stepping up, and will want to continue that progression with MP. Finally, another F4 champion makes the step up with MP, this time the 2024 Brazilian F4 champion, Matheus Comparatto. It remains to be seen how strong Brazilian F4 is, and so Comparatto comes in as someone very difficult to place.

 

Palou Motorsport have struggled to make much impression over the last two years, but the team run by 3-time IndyCar champion Álex has its sights set a little higher this year. Their main challenger will be James Egozi, a veteran of a couple of years in Spanish F4, and a Red Bull reject who will be looking to show Dr. Marko that he was wrong to drop him. Ádám Hideg is one of the few Hungarian hopes currently on the ladder, and showed flashes of speed in an otherwise uncompetitive team in F4 last year. The team also features two Eurocup-3 veterans in Isaac Barashi and Luciano Morano, though neither has ever shown anything other than middling pace. Finally, they have the relatively inexperienced Alceu Feldmann Neto, whose only major open-wheel racing was a half-season backmarking in Brazilian F4, and so will have very little expectactions coming into the season.

 

Finally, there is a single-car effort from Saintéloc Racing, who field Lorenzo Castillo. Castillo has very little in the way of previous results to his name, and will likely only make up the numbers.

Edited by Frood, 08 February 2025 - 13:09.

[midgrid]

Thank you for the updates, Frood! For a good few years now, I recognise most of the names coming into F3 from your and William Hunt's posts.

[FLB]

This has given Lindblad his super licence: Lindblad crowned Oceania champion, F1 super licence in hand

[UncleSam]

He'll be announced as 2025 FP1 rookie driver for Red Bull and/or Racing Bulls I guess. It's 2 times per car as of this season so that can add up to 8 FP1 outings under his belt by the end of the season. https://autoaction.c...ice-in-for-2025 If they allow him to start at 17 we'll see him before the summer break https://formulascout...rlicence/120124

Edited by UncleSam, 09 February 2025 - 18:14.

[Anja]

Polish drivers winning both the winter series races today... Is this real life? 

[Bleu]

He'll be announced as 2025 FP1 rookie driver for Red Bull and/or Racing Bulls I guess. It's 2 times per car as of this season so that can add up to 8 FP1 outings under his belt by the end of the season. https://autoaction.c...ice-in-for-2025 If they allow him to start at 17 we'll see him before the summer break https://formulascout...rlicence/120124

 

Since teams are hesitant to put rookie drivers on street circuits and sprint race weekends are obviously no-no, that would leave four chances after his birthday (Zandvoort, Monza, Mexico City, Abu Dhabi).

 

I fully expect Red Bull family to have multiple drivers on practice runs, which also allows both teams to use rookie driver in the same session.

[Peat]

 Can't tell what Will Brown is getting out of it.  

 

I guess I got my answer!

Linblad clearly the class of the field, but impressed by how Brown adapted and was quick enough. The stars aligned for him to take the Grand Prix.

[jonklug]

Lindblad is the real deal. As a RBR fan I am excited for his future! 

[tyker]

Lindblad is the real deal. As a RBR fan I am excited for his future! 

I'm not sure that winning in New Zealand confirms that and his short career has had some highs and lows thus far but Red Bull seem to have a lot of faith in him.

[UncleSam]

Since teams are hesitant to put rookie drivers on street circuits and sprint race weekends are obviously no-no, that would leave four chances after his birthday (Zandvoort, Monza, Mexico City, Abu Dhabi).

I fully expect Red Bull family to have multiple drivers on practice runs, which also allows both teams to use rookie driver in the same session.

Yes, Isawa can do some FP1 runs and Hadjars first 2 GP weekends FP1s count as rookie FP1s. RB juniors Pepe Marti and Oliver Goethe both are over 25 super license points and over 18 years so they can also do FP1s.

Edited by UncleSam, 10 February 2025 - 20:40.

[Frood]

FROC Round-Up for the New Zealand Grand Prix Weekend:
 
Race 2

Spoiler

Nikita Johnson started on reverse-grid pole and held off Nicholas Monteiro into the first corner. Behind him, there was chaos, as Patrick Heuzenroeder touched wheels with Matías Zagazeta going into the first chicane. Heuzenroeder, with broken suspension, spun across the grass at the chicane and back across the track in front of Zagazeta. The Peruvian took evasive action, but made contact with Michael Shin, who in turn had Arvid Lindblad on his outside. Shin's car received terminal damage; however, Lindblad came off even worse, having nowhere to go but straight into the concrete wall on the outside of the track. Lindblad's car was heavily damaged in the resultant impact, so much so that it would not be repairable in time for the Grand Prix. Both the Supercars drivers also had to take avoiding action across the grass and ended up at the tail end of the field. The safety car was needed to clear away Heuzenroeder and Lindblad's damaged cars, and the race was neutralised until Lap 6. Johnson and Monteiro immediately broke away from third-placed Shawn Rashid at the restart, and the race was fairly static from that point on. Johnson started to eke away from Monteiro in the closing stages, with Rashid posing no threat in third, but similarly not being pressurised by fourth-placed Zack Scoular. The only further interest in the Top 10 was Jett Bowling spinning out of a potential season-best 7th late on.
 
Johnson held on to take a first win of the season, which was ultimately deserved based on the form he's shown throughout the championship. Monteiro finished an impressive second, having never really shown front-running pace until this weekend; similarly, Rashid held on for his first podium of the season. Rashid certainly isn't the fastest driver in the field, but he's shown decently well for someone who didn't start racing until his mid-twenties. Scoular lost points to Johnson in the race for runner-up in 4th, with Seb Manson a quiet fifth and Matías Zagazeta surviving the first-corner fracas to take 6th. Nicolas Stati took advantage of team-mate Bowling's late mistake to finish 7th, whilst the first lap mess and subsequent difficulty to pass elevated the back row buddies James Lawley and Barrett Wolfe to their respective best results of the season in 8th and 9th. Alex Crosbie finished a frustrated 10th, having been stuck behind the slow Wolfe all race.

 
New Zealand Grand Prix

Spoiler

With M2 Competition not having the time to repair Lindblad's car before the final race of the season, they received special dispensation from the rest of the teams to allow them to run the series' spare car for Lindblad. Heuzenroeder was due to start third behind compatriots Broc Feeney and Will Brown, but received a 3-place grid drop for causing the Lap 1 melee in the reverse-grid race.
 
As the lights went out, Feeney - admitting that he'd had only two practice starts in the car before the race - made a poor getaway, and Brown easily swept into the lead, with the fast-starting Scoular also making it past the pole-sitter as they went through the chicane for the first time. Lindblad got held up slightly by Feeney as they went through the chicane, and was passed by Shawn Rashid who had qualified an impressive sixth. Brown immediately pushed hard on the first lap, and with Scoular defending hard from Feeney, pulled out almost two seconds on Scoular by the end of Lap 1. Feeney got himself off-line trying to pass Scoular, though, and ended up being passed himself by Rashid, who held his nerve around the outside of the final corner to nab fourth.
 
Further back, Enzo Yeh made a mess of his braking into the slow chicane, and skated across the gravel before rejoining dangerously into the path of an innocent James Lawley, who clipped Yeh's front-right suspension, terminally damaging both cars. Lawley made it back to the pits, but the safety car was required to remove Yeh's machine.
 
At the restart, Feeney fell back from the leading three cars immediately, perhaps showing some inexperience in getting temperature into the tyres in open-wheelers. Lindblad tried to take advantage, but was held off by Feeney, who soon settled into a rhythm and starting to pressure Rashid ahead. Lindblad started to come under attack from Heuzenroeder, though the latter dropped out of the race a couple of laps later after hitting the wall in the final sector, and all his chances of taking second in the championship vanished.
 
As the laps wore on, Rashid started to fall away from Brown and Scoular ahead, and Lindblad made a couple of probing moves on Feeney into the hairpin, but never had the drive to pass him on the following straight. On Lap 14, Rashid's shock cover started coming loose, and he made a mistake which allowed Feeney to pass in the final sector. The next lap, however, Feeney made a mistake in the hairpin and allowed Rashid back through, as well as Lindblad and Michael Shin. Two laps later, Lindblad made a move stick on Rashid for third place, and set about reducing the four-second gap to Scoular ahead. Scoular had stayed close to Brown at this point, but never looked fast enough to make a move.
 
Over the final few laps, Lindblad drastically reduced the gap to Scoular, but he ran out of laps to make a difference. Will Brown duly won the race, becoming the first Australian to win the New Zealand Grand Prix for 50 years, and proving that he was versatile enough to make a leap into open-wheelers and immediately prove he was competitive. Scoular finished second, and with Johnson a quiet 8th, took the runner-up position in the championship, very impressive for someone with only one middling year in F4 to his name. Lindblad took the spare car to third place, cementing his championship win and taking home the superlicence points. Rashid impressed again to take 4th ahead of Shin and Feeney; Jett Bowling also had a quietly good race to 7th, with Johnson, Manson and Crosbie completing the Top 10.
 
A final word for Lindblad's fellow F3 veteran Matías Zagazeta, who turned an absolutely terrible performance. Penalised with a 5-second penalty for exceeding track limits on too many occasions, he then continued to transgress and got himself slapped with a drive-through penalty from the stewards. He promptly emerged from the pitlane and was immediately pinged for track limits again, and was awarded with a stop-and-go penalty for his efforts. At this point he appeared to simply give up and did not re-emerge onto the circuit.

 
Final standings

Spoiler

Pos  Driver                 Team              Pts
 1.  Arvid Lindblad         M2 Competition    370  (6 wins, 12 podiums, 6 pole positions, 6 fastest laps)
 2.  Zack Scoular           mtec Motorsport   314  (2 wins, 7 podiums, 1 pole position, 2 fastest laps)
 3.  Nikita Johnson         M2 Competition    305  (1 win, 6 podiums, 1 fastest lap)
 4.  Patrick Heuzenroeder   mtec Motorsport   264  (1 win, 4 podiums, 1 pole position)
 5.  Matías Zagazeta        M2 Competition    244  (2 wins, 4 podiums, 1 pole position, 1 fastest lap)
 6.  Sebastian Manson       M2 Competition    225  (2 wins, 2 podiums)
 7.  Josh Pierson*          mtec Motorsport   219  (3 podiums, 2 fastest laps)
 8.  Michael Shin Woo-hyun  M2 Competition    197  (2 podiums, 1 fastest lap)
 9.  Shawn Rashid           mtec Motorsport   169  (2 podiums, 1 fastest lap)
10.  Will Brown*            Giles Motorsport  158  (1 win, 3 podiums, 2 fastest laps)
11.  Enzo Yeh Rui-heng      M2 Competition    149  (best finish 4th)
12.  Nicholas Monteiro      mtec Motorsport   132  (1 podium)
13.  Alex Crosbie           Giles Motorsport  119  (best finish 7th)
14.  Nicolas Stati          Kiwi Motorsport   105  (best finish 7th)
15.  Jett Bowling           Kiwi Motorsport   101  (best finish 7th)
16.  Tommy Smith*           Giles Motorsport   85  (best finish 4th)
17.  Barrett Wolfe          Giles Motorsport   70  (best finish 9th)
18.  James Lawley           Kiwi Motorsport    54  (best finish 8th)
19.  Broc Feeney*           mtec Motorsport    35  (best finish 6th, 1 pole position)

*not a full-time entry

 

More FROC stats and an update from the other two Regional-level series to follow.

Edited by Frood, 10 February 2025 - 22:24.

[FLB]

Nor quite Formula Regional, but still:

 

[Frood]

Will catch up with the recaps of the past few weekends soon. Been going through a tough period at work and in the middle of buying a house at the moment, so I'm a little bit behind.

 

However, the result of last year's Eurocup-3 season has finally been resolved. Nothing came about regarding the alleged incident where MP Motorsport supposedly had their own car disqualified intentionally to ensure Javier Sagrera won the championship. However, the incident in Race 1 of the final round, where Sagrera's team-mate Emerson Fittipaldi Jr. cut the track to avoid being overtaken by Sagrera's championship rival – Christian Ho – has been re-evaluated, and Fittipaldi was retrospectively penalised. This handed Ho the win, and therefore the championship result has been overturned in favour of Ho as well.

 

It's not a great way to win a championship, but ultimately Ho was the better driver and deserves the title; this is likely the biggest day in Singaporean motorsport history, at least in the modern era.

Edited by Frood, 25 February 2025 - 16:35.

[Frood]

Really promise I'll get around to a Formula Regional update soon.

 

However, the new Tatuus GB3 cars have had their first proper test day. Here's the old car, for reference:

 

 

The new car is quite different. A funny looking beast from some angles.

 

 

 

 

 

[Muppetmad]

If it leads to better racing, then I'm all for it.

[billm99uk]

Its going to be an odd GB3 season if Freddie Slater dominates in the races he runs and then is absent half the time....

[Frood]

GB3 Championship
 
The Formula-Regional level GB3 starts this weekend at Donington Park. 2024 was the last year for the old Tatuus chassis, with a new car being introduced for 2025 (see previous post). The Mountune engine has seen a 30 hp bump in power (up to 280 hp); the aerodynamics have been thoroughly overhauled to generate 35% more downforce than the old car. The new car also features DRS, which will be interesting to see in GB3's shorter races. We'll see how the new car races this weekend.
 
Last year saw New Zealand's Louis Sharp take the title for Rodin, who has now progressed to FIA Formula 3 with the team. Runner-up John Bennett, driving for JHR Developments, jumped even further, now racing for VAR in FIA Formula 2. Arguably neither had the out-and-out speed of eventual 3rd place finisher, Hitech's Tymek Kucharczyk, though the Pole lacked the consistency of either of his championship rivals. Kucharczyk was not able to put together a sponsorship package to move up to FIA F3, and has moved over to Euroformula Open instead.
 
The championship continues to be well-subscribed, and two new teams have joined the grid this year. The first, Argenti, are running their cars in partnership with feeder series powerhouse Prema; the second, UAE-based Xcel Motorsport, are making their first tentative steps in Europe above a Formula 4 level, having only started racing outside of the Middle East last year. Arden have left the series; the cars they ran in partnership with Road to Indy ladder team Velocity Racing Development will instead solely be run by VRD this year.
 
The calendar is made up of 10 rounds of three races each - Races 1 and 2 being standard grid races, and Race 3 being a reverse grid race.
Round 1 (26-27 Apr) – Silverstone
Round 2 (17-18 May) – Zandvoort
Round 3 (31 May-01 Jun) – Spa-Francorchamps
Round 4 (05-06 Jul) – Hungaroring
Round 5 (02-03 Aug) – Silverstone
Round 6 (23-24 Aug) – Brands Hatch
Round 7 (04-05 Oct) – Donington Park
Round 8 (18-19 Oct) – Monza
 
The grid is as follows:

Team                   Drivers                     What did they do last year? 

Argenti with Prema     Cui Yuanpu (CHN)            9th in British F4, 11th in Chinese F4
                       Lucas Fluxá (ESP)           8th in Spanish F4, 13th in FWS
                       Reza Seewooruthun (GBR)     3rd in British F3, 16th in UAE F4

Chris Dittmann Racing  Rashid Al Dhaheri (UAE)     4th in UAE F4, 10th in Italian F4
                       Divy Nandan (IND)           4th in Indian F4

Elite Motorsport       Bianca Bustamante (PHI)     7th in F1 Academy
                       Flynn Jackes (PHI)          21st in GB3
                       Will Macintyre (GBR)        5th in GB3

Fortec Motorsport      Mika Abrahams (RSA)         13th in British F4
                       Stefan Bostandjiev (BUL)    7th in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe

Hillspeed              Kanato Le (JPN)             18th in FRECA, 23rd in FRMEC
                       Freddie Slater (GBR)        Italian F4 champion, UAE F4 champion
                       Hiyu Yamakoshi (JPN)        3rd in Italian F4, 4th in Euro 4

Hitech TGR             Keanu Al Azhari (UAE)       2nd in Spanish F4, 3rd in F4 UAE
                       Deagen Fairclough (GBR)     British F4 champion, 7th in F4 UAE
                       Nikita Johnson (USA)        2nd in USF Pro 2000, 11th in GB3

JHR Developments       Kai Daryanani (IND)         1st in Formula Trophy UAE, 8th in Australian F4
                       Noah Lisle (AUS)            12th in Eurocup-3, 19th in FRMEC

Rodin Motorsport       Alex Ninovic (AUS)          2nd in British F4, 23rd in Spanish F4
                       Gianmarco Pradel (AUS)      4th in FWS, 8th in Italian F4
                       Abbi Pulling (GBR)          F1 Academy champion, 7th in British F4

VRD Racing             Hugo Schwarze (GER)         9th in GB3
                       Enzo Tarnvanichkul (THA)    12th in Spanish F4

Xcel Motorsport        Dion Gowda (IND)            11th in Italian F4, 11th in UAE F4
                       Patrick Heuzenroeder (AUS)  12th in GB3
                       Jack Sherwood (GBR)         5th in British F4

There's a whole host of promising drivers this year. Elite's Will Macintyre is the highest-placed returning driver from last year, finishing 5th with three wins, so will likely take some good momentum into this season. Hillspeed's Freddie Slater is probably the highest-rated driver on the grid, though will miss some rounds with prior commitments in FRECA, meaning the championship will likely be out of reach. Hitech's line-up will likely be strong, with runaway 2024 British F4 champion Deagan Fairclough, newly-signed Alpine junior Keanu Al Azhari, and GB3's youngest race winner, Nikita Johnson.  Rodin will also likely have plenty of speed, with the Australian duo of British F4 runner-up Alex Ninovic, Italian F4 race-winner Gianmarco Pradel, and reigning F1 Academy champion Abbi Pulling. 

 

The first quali of the year is complete, leaving us with the following grid for the season-opener:

 1. Slater         Hillspeed
 2. Pradel         Rodin          +0.556
 3. Lisle          JHR            +0.558
 4. Pulling        Rodin          +0.719
 5. Ninovic        Rodin          +0.750
 6. Johnson        Hitech         +0.853
 7. Daryanani      JHR            +1.003
 8. Yamakoshi      Hillspeed      +1.021
 9. Le             Hillspeed      +1.126
10. Gowda          Xcel           +1.142
11. Heuzenroeder   Xcel           +1.215
12. Macintyre      Elite          +1.217
13. Al Azhari      Hitech         +1.240
14. Fluxá          Argenti/Prema  +1.492
15. Seewooruthun   Argenti/Prema  +1.587
16. Fairclough     Hitech         +1.647
17. Cui            Argenti/Prema  +1.738
18. Schwarze       VRD            +1.756
19. Abrahams       Fortec         +1.967
20. Sherwood       Xcel           +2.023
21. Tarnvanichkul  VRD            +2.223
22. Bustamante     Elite          +2.489
23. Jackes         Elite          +2.719
24. Nandan         CDR            +3.664
25. Bostandjiev    Fortec         +3.673

[Ruusperi]

 

GB3 Championship
 
The Formula-Regional level GB3 starts this weekend at Donington Park.

 

BTCC starts at Donington Park. GB3 in Silverstone

Is GB3 really part of Formula Regional? It's not listed on Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia...ormula_Regional

[billm99uk]

Well its Slater running away, with 'Australia' 2nd so far.

[billm99uk]

If it leads to better racing, then I'm all for it.

 

I would'nt say they are so far. Might just be Silverstone though?Silverstone

[Frood]

BTCC starts at Donington Park. GB3 in Silverstone

Is GB3 really part of Formula Regional? It's not listed on Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia...ormula_Regional

 

Yeah, not sure how I managed that despite getting it correct on the calendar 

 

It's not technically a Formula Regional series, but they're basically the same speed. The race pace difference at Zandvoort was about six tenths of a second last year, with the FRECA car being faster, but the new GB3 car is probably faster now. Gives fewer SL points than an FIA F4 series though!

Edited by Frood, 26 April 2025 - 14:50.

[Peat]

I would'nt say they are so far. Might just be Silverstone though?Silverstone

 

Yeah, DRS was pretty ineffectual. Also ended up with long DRS trains. 

Probably for the best tbh, the racing was pretty robust without them getting huge runs on one another. 

The car looks the part though, not entirely sold on that rear wing, but proportions wise they fit the F3 shaped gap quite nicely. The last iteration looked like diddy little toy cars. 

Edited by Peat, 28 April 2025 - 09:45.

[Frood]

Wasn't much competition in the first two races, to be honest. Slater completely blew the field away. The JHR also looks like a strong car, with Noah Lisle taking two second places - he's a driver who's never really shown front-running pace at any point in his career previously. His team-mate Daryanani was also well up the field and has also never shown much outright pace before. Hitech looks to be missing something, though podiums for Johnson in Race 2 and Al Azhari in the reverse-grid Race 3 masked that deficit a little.

 

Slater didn't fare quite as well in the reverse-grid race. He made up a few positions before spinning whilst attempting an overtake on Nikita Johnson, and took Johnson (and Gianmarco Pradel) with him.

 

Rodin look fairly strong, but had an absolutely miserable Race 3 with all three cars retiring. Abbi Pulling looks pretty much on par with her team-mates and was a strong 5th in Race 1. Sadly, she got taken out by the rather wayward Dion Gowda in Race 3 (who already managed to launch himself over the top of Keanu Al Azhari in Race 2).

 

On the opposite end to Pulling was Bianca Bustamante. She crashed in Qualifying, damaging her car enough to have to withdraw from Race 1. She then showed very little pace in the other two races and finished at the back in both.

[Peat]

Is it the same Slater who is running in FIA F3?

[Frood]

Is it the same Slater who is running in FIA F3?

Yes, Freddie. There is another Slater brother (Alfie) but he’s still in Ginetta Juniors at the moment.

Not sure Freddie will be back in F3 this year as FRECA is his main focus.

Edited by Frood, 28 April 2025 - 11:05.

[AlexPrime]

I watched Euroformula this weekend. Weak field, but lovely cars.

[LolaB0860]

I watched Euroformula this weekend. Weak field, but lovely cars.

That thing still exists?

[Frood]

Yep. They actually have a new car and a new team this year, so it’s actually in a slightly better state than it has been for the past few years. Motopark still run 6 cars, BVM have expanded to two cars, and Nielsen Racing have expanded into open-wheelers with three cars (plus enthusiastic amateur Paolo Brajnik is on the grid with his own car).

Grid strength is fairly poor. Tymek Kucharczyk looks the quickest driver but had issues with his starts. Yevan David made the most of Kucharczyk’s issues to take two wins. Nice to see a driver from an under-represented country take some limelight (Sri Lanka in David’s case).

Still, last year looks like it could have been the nadir for the series (what else could you call a dominant championship win by Brad Benavides?)

Edited by Frood, 28 April 2025 - 15:49.

[billm99uk]

Tymek Kucharczyk looks the quickest driver but had issues with his starts. 

 

He was by far from the only one either. Are Mecachrome doing the engines? 

 

Honestly, I hope its just rookies not knowing the cars quirks or the series is going to be a bit of a lottery.

[Frood]

FRECA will be starting this weekend. Grid is currently looking like this (pending whether KIC are going to turn up or not, which isn't looking likely currently). Akcel GP are new to the grid - they ran in Formula Regional Middle East earlier this year in conjunction with PHM Racing (who, confusingly, are now a separate entity to AIX Racing) but I haven't seen it confirmed whether that will be the case for the FRECA season:
 

Team                   Drivers                       What did they do in 2024?
 
AKCEL GP               Saqer Al-Maousherji (KUW)     5th in Saudi Arabian F4
                       Aditya Kulkarni (GBR)         19th in GB3 (+ 21st in FRMEC 2025)
 
ART Grand Prix         Evan Giltaire (FRA)           7th in FRECA (+ 2025 FRMEC Champion)
                       Katō Taito (JPN)              French F4 champion (+ 12th in FRMEC 2025)
                       Le Kanato (JPN)               18th in FRECA, 23rd in FRMEC (+ 8th in FRMEC 2025)
 
CL Motorsport          Valerio Rinicella (ITA)       17th in FRMEC, 20th in FRECA (+ 5th in Eurocup-3 Winter Series 2025)

G4 Racing              Arthur Aegerter (FRA)         9th in Ultimate Cup Series (F3R 13in Class)
                       Édouard Borgna (FRA)          19th in French F4, 43rd in FWS
                       Kacper Sztuka (POL)           27th in FIA F3
 
Prema Racing           Rashid Al Dhaheri (UAE)       4th in F4 UAE, 10th in Italian F4, 11th in Euro 4 (+ 6th in FRMEC 2025)
                       Jack Beeton (AUS)             2nd in Italian F4, 8th in Euro 4 (+ 13th in FRMEC 2025)
                       Doriane Pin (FRA)             2nd in F1 Academy, 10th in F4 UAE (+ 29th in FRMEC 2025)
                       Freddie Slater (GBR)          Italian F4 champion, F4 UAE champion, 2nd in Euro 4 (+ 2nd in FRMEC 2025)
 
R-ace GP               Akshay Bohra (IND)            Euro 4 champion, 4th in Italian F4 (+ 14th in FRMEC 2025)
                       Enzo Deligny (FRA)            8th in F4 UAE, 12th in FRECA (+ 5th in FRMEC 2025)
                       Nakamura Jin (JPN)            4th in Super Formula Lights (+ 10th in FRMEC 2025)

RPM                    Giovanni Maschio (ITA)        21st in FRMEC, 24th in FRECA (+ 23rd in FRMEC 2025)
                       Enzo Peugeot (FRA)            15th in FRECA, 24th in FRMEC
                       Enzo Yeh Rui-heng (TWN)       14th in F4 UAE, 23rd in Italian F4 (+ 11th in FROC 2025)
 
Saintéloc Racing       Nikita Bedrin (ITA)           5th in F4 UAE, 16th in FRECA, 19th in FIA F3 (+ 11th in FRMEC 2025)
                       Tim Gerhards (NED)            20th in Spanish F4
                       Yaroslav Veselaho (UKR)       33rd in FRMEC, 35th in FRECA (+ 26th in FRMEC 2025)
 
Trident                Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi (THA)  26th in FRECA
                       Matteo de Palo (ITA)          17th in FRECA, 18th in FRMEC (+ 19th in FRMEC 2025)
                       Ricky Liu Ruiqi (CHN)         15th in Chinese F4, 22nd in FRECA (+ 20th in FRMEC 2025)
 
Van Amersfoort Racing  Pedro Clerot (BRA)            8th in FRECA
                       Dion Gowda (IND)              11th in Italian F4, 11th in F4 UAE
                       Yamakoshi Hiyū (JPN)          3rd in Italian F4, 4th in Euro 4 (+ 16th in FRMEC 2025)
 

Edited by Frood, 30 April 2025 - 22:15.