The year might be coming to an end, but racing certainly is not. After lengthy calendar delays, F4 NACAM looks to begin their season this weekend. Feeder Series tells you all you need to know about the 2024-2025 F4 NACAM season. 

By Laura Anequini

This weekend marks the start of F4 NACAM’s eighth season. Last year, Pedro Juan Moreno won the championship by securing 11 wins and finishing inside the top eight in all races he competed in. Despite the impressive stats, only four points separated Moreno from runner-up Cristian Cantú, who had seven wins and no finishes outside the top 10. Moreno now races in the Ligier European Series, while Cantú is in Spanish F4. 

The main difference from 2023 is that this season’s drivers will race with the Gen-2 F4 NACAM cars. Last year, it was announced that the championship would be switching from the Mygale M14-F4 chassis to the Tatuus T-421, with tyres provided by Pirelli. With the support of FEMADAC for importing the cars, the final cost of each of these vehicles is €88,000, plus €2,500 in packaging related themes. 

In addition, three new teams were announced to be entering the championship: Alessandros Racing, ProRally and the HRI Racing Team. However, it is unclear if they will be racing the opening round, as they haven’t announced  a driver up to this point.

Similarly from the previous season, the winner receives an invitation to the Ferrari Driver Academy’s Scouting World Final in Italy, with support from Escudería Telmex in Mexico.

The calendar

The championship was supposed to start in June; however, the start of the season was delayed several times for unspecified reasons. The F1 support round was maintained in all calendar’s editions, but it was only in September that the final calendar was published. The series will also have one international round, going to Panama for the first time.

• Round 1: Autódromo Hermanos Rodrígues, Mexico City (25–27 October)
• Round 2: Autódromo Miguel E. Abed, Amozoc (23–24 November)
• Round 3: Autódromo Hermanos Rodrígues, Mexico City (16-17 December)
• Round 4: Autódromo Hermanos Rodrígues, Mexico City (31 January – 1 February)
• Round 5: Autódromo Hermanos Rodrígues, Mexico City (1- 2 March)
• Round 6: Autódromo de Panamá, Panamá (5-6 April)
• Round 7: Autódromo Hermanos Rodrígues, Mexico City (2-3 May)

The format

The weekend format remains unchanged. Each round consists of two 30-minute free practice sessions followed by a 20-minute qualifying session. Pole position for race one is awarded to the driver who sets the fastest lap in qualifying, while race three is determined by the driver’s second-fastest lap in the same session. The starting grid for race two is set by reversing half of race one finishing order.

The points system for all races is the same as in F1.

Where to watch

With the exception of this weekend’s opening round, all rounds will be available to stream on Parc Ferme TV with Italian commentary. Live timing will be available on Race Monitor.

Teams and drivers

Ram Racing

Ram Racing was the first team to confirm its participation in the championship. For the past two seasons, the team has fielded the championship-winning drivers, with Pedro Juan Moreno securing the title in 2023 and Juan Felipe Pedraza in 2022. Up to this point, the team has announced three drivers for the season.

The team first announced Max Mora and Alan Zezzati. Both drivers are making the step up from karting, and this will be their first season in single-seaters. 

Joining them is Zaky Ibrahim, who also enters his first season in single-seaters but follows a different path than his teammates. Ibrahim is currently in his third season of the Mexican Copa 1.8 Championship, where he sits fourth in the standings.

Alessandros Racing

Alessandros Racing is one of the newly announced teams joining F4 NACAM. Although this will be their first season in the championship, they are not new to the game. The team participates in many other different championships, such as NASCAR Mexico, Super Copa and Copa Notiauto. The team announced they would compete with four cars full-time this season, but part of the lineup is still unknown. In addition, they will also be supported by Campos Racing in Europe. 

Joining them is Alex Bobadilla. This year, he was announced to be racing in F4 U.S. with International Motorsports; however, he did not join the championship and is actually racing with the team in Formula Fara, with a best finish of seventh.

Helio Meza is also joining the team this season. The 16-year-old from Texas has several national titles in karting, and previously joined Alessandros Racing in September. He raced with them at the Trucks Mexico Series and Super Copa, winning a round in ovals for the first time

José Carlos Hernández returns to the championship this year, after having raced in the last round of the season last year to which he finished second in race two. He continued karting this year.

José Martínez is the last driver part of the team’s line-up. The 15-year-old is stepping up from karting and is joining the team for his first season in single seaters.

RRK Motorsports

Returning to the championship is RRK Motorsports. The team, who also has a karting background, is back in F4 NACAM after opting out before 2023. Their last appearance was in 2022, when one of their drivers, Manuel Roza, finished third in the standings.

Cristian Cantú is the name that stands-out in the lineup. Cantú, who finished second last year, is currently racing in Spanish F4, sitting 30^th in the standings. However, it was not announced whether he would be racing the full season or only the F1 support round.

Also joining the team is Alex Franco. The 14-year-old, DEForce Development driver will make his single-seaters debut after spending the last two years in karting. Curiously, Franco was first announced to be racing in the championship with Ram Racing;, however, a team representative told Feeder Series that the announcement wasn’t confirmed. He was later announced to be racing with RRK Motorsports.

Deko Abiakel, who finished second in the Formula 4 Global Shootout Program, was also seen with the team in the championship official media commitments. However, there has not been any official announcements whether he will be racing with them this season.

RRK Motorsports’ 2024 lineup: Cristian Cantú, Alex Franco & Deko Abiakel

Santinel Racing Team

Santinel Racing was the last team to announce they would be joining the championship. Marco Alquicira, who was part of their line-up last year, finished fifth in the championship.

This year, Horia Chirigut is the only name confirmed to be joining them until now. The 44-year-old from Romania is a former rally driver and, this year, participated in several championships, including Mexico’s Copa 1.8, Porsche Carrera Cup Italy and Copa Notiauto Mexico TCR. 

Header photo credit: F4 NACAM