Over the weekend, Yas Marina hosted the opening rounds of Formula Regional Middle East and F4 Middle East as FR Oceania wrapped up its second round of 2025 at Hampton Downs. Feeder Series tells you what went down in each.

By Feeder Series

The new Formula Middle East package got underway this weekend with the first of two rounds held in a seven-day span at the Yas Marina Circuit. The two series will hold their next races Wednesday and Thursday of this week in a rare mid-week round.

Early favourites are already emerging in both FR Middle East and F4 Middle East, with Freddie Slater and Emanuele Olivieri taking two wins each in their respective series.

Three more rounds of FR Oceania remain, but the series’ first trophy has already been decided, with New Zealander Zack Scoular winning the Tasman Cup awarded after the series’ first two rounds.

1. FRegional Oceania: Lindblad extends lead as Manson secures maiden win
2. FRegional Middle East: Slater leads after taking convincing double victory
3. F4 Middle East: Olivieri takes early points lead after battles with Nakamura-Berta

FRegional Oceania: Lindblad extends lead as Manson secures maiden win

Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad extended his FR Oceania championship lead to 25 points in Hampton Downs with wins in races one and three, the latter of which secured him the Dorothy Smith Memorial Cup.

Lindblad converted pole to victory in race one by a 0.530-second margin over Scoular. The M2 Competition driver created a gap almost immediately at the start while Scoular fended off reigning Supercars champion Will Brown for second place. 

In the reverse-grid race Sunday morning, Sebastian Manson took his maiden win in the series starting from second on the grid. Manson overtook polesitter and M2 Competition teammate Nikita Johnson after the American driver went slightly wide at Turn 2 on the first lap.

The New Zealander held his position for all 18 laps, winning by a 0.916s margin over Johnson.

Lindblad, who had started eighth on the grid, secured the final spot on the podium. He made up four positions on the first lap and later passed Patrick Heuzenroeder at Turn 2 on lap 12 after a hard-fought battle. 

In the third race, Scoular put polesitter Lindblad under pressure at the start, with the two side by side heading into Turn 1. Lindblad, however, held on to his position and edged ahead, eventually winning the race by a 2.911s margin. 

Brown, who was pushing to chase down Scoular for second, spun on lap 11 of 23 and dropped to eighth, giving Josh Pierson third place. He held it until the end of the race as Brown fought Michael Shin for seventh but couldn’t pass the Korean driver.

F3 driver Matías Zagazeta, who was second in the championship standings heading into Hampton Downs, had a difficult weekend. Starting seventh for the first race, he finished 16th after sustaining damage to his front wing.

He then spun into the gravel between Turns 6 and 7 in qualifying two and dropped three places on the grid from fourth to seventh. He came home fifth in race three after finishing 11th from 16th on the grid in race two.

Six podiums in six races has given Lindblad the championship lead with 164 points, ahead of Scoular with 139. Johnson, who finished fourth in the third race, now third in the standings with 116 points, one point ahead of Pierson. 

As the top-placed driver from Australia or New Zealand after the first two rounds, Scoular has also won the series’ Tasman Cup.

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Arvid Lindblad, 1:28.074	Zack Scoular, +0.059s	Josh Pierson, +0.110s
Race 1 (18 laps)	Arvid Lindblad, 26:53.099	Zack Scoular, +0.530	Will Brown, +1.475
Qualifying 2	Arvid Lindblad, 1:27.746	Zack Scoular, +0.372	Josh Pierson, +0.424
Race 2 (18 laps)	Sebastian Manson, 26:58.886	Nikita Johnson, +0.916	Arvid Lindblad, +2.283
Race 3 (23 laps)	Arvid Lindblad, 34:06.907	Zack Scoular, +2.911	Josh Pierson, +7.506

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Arvid Lindblad, 164	M2 Competition, 303	Zack Scoular, 139
P2	Zack Scoular, 139	MTEC Motorsport, 265	Enzo Yeh, 58
P3	Nikita Johnson, 116	Giles Motorsport, 153	Nicolas Stati, 36
P4	Josh Pierson, 115	Kiwi Motorsport, 78	Barrett Wolfe, 25
P5	Will Brown, 109
P6	Matías Zagazeta, 105
P7	Patrick Heuzenroeder, 102
P8	Michael Shin, 87
P9	Sebastian Manson, 85
P10	Shawn Rashid, 63

Report by Kaylene Lau

Read the previous round’s report here.

FRegional Middle East: Slater leads after taking convincing double victory

Freddie Slater has solidified himself as the prime candidate for the 2025 FR Middle East drivers’ title after claiming two wins and as many pole positions to lead the standings by 26 points after the first of five scheduled rounds.

After setting the fastest lap in both qualifying sessions – thus earning four additional points – 2024 Italian F4 and F4 UAE champion Slater took a commanding victory in race one with a 7.434-second gap over Mumbai Falcons teammate Rashid Al Dhaheri.

The Emirati driver fended off a late charge from ART Grand Prix’s Evan Giltaire for second. Behind them, PHM Racing’s Brando Badoer and Red Bull junior Ernesto Rivera of Pinnacle Motorsport engaged in a battle for fourth that went the way of the Italian, who beat his rival by just 0.072s.

With the reversal of the race one’s top 10 forming the starting grid for race two, 17-year-old Kanato Le started from pole position. The Japanese driver defended his lead into Turn 1 on the opening lap as countryman and ART teammate Taito Kato stalled from fourth on the grid.

Despite the pressure exerted by the pursuing Théophile Naël as well as two safety car interventions, Le held the lead throughout to score his first FR-level win ahead of the Frenchman on ART’s first weekend in the series.

R-ace GP’s Enzo Deligny rounded out the podium, with teammate and reigning Macau Grand Prix winner Ugo Ugochukwu finishing 0.644s behind him in fourth.

After finishing sixth in race two, Slater was once again on pole for the final race of the weekend. Despite a slower getaway compared to second-placed Giltaire, the Briton kept the lead throughout the opening lap and then took off, winning the race by 3.437s.

Giltaire came home second, with Jesse Carrasquedo capturing his first podium of 2025 thanks to a decisive move on Rivera at Turn 6 with 11 minutes left on the clock. The Red Bull junior eventually finished fifth after Naël overtook him with four laps to go for fourth.

With 74 points, Slater leads Giltaire by 26 points in the drivers’ standings, ahead of Naël with 43, Badoer with 37 and race two winner Le with 34.

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Freddie Slater, 1:49.551	Evan Giltaire, +0.070s	Rashid Al Dhaheri, +0.202s
Qualifying 2	Freddie Slater, 1:48.854	Evan Giltaire, +0.465s	Ernesto Rivera, +0.635
Race 1 (17 laps)	Freddie Slater, 31:37.835	Rashid Al Dhaheri, +7.434s	Evan Giltaire, +10.065s
Race 2 (14 laps)	Kanato Le, 31:17.356	Théophile Naël, +1.047s	Enzo Deligny, +4.091s
Race 3 (16 laps)	Freddie Slater, 31:53.458	Evan Giltaire, +3.437s	Jesse Carrasquedo, +7.613s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Freddie Slater, 74	Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited, 98	Freddie Slater, 94
P2	Evan Giltaire, 48	ART Grand Prix, 66	Ernesto Rivera, 55
P3	Théophile Naël, 43	R-ace GP, 47	Rashid Al Dhaheri, 52
P4	Brando Badoer, 37	Pinnacle Motorsport, 47	Taito Kato, 45
P5	Kanato Le, 34	Saintéloc Racing, 43	Reza Seewooruthun, 33
P6	Enzo Deligny, 29	PHM Racing, 37	Aditya Kulkarni, 22
P7	Rashid Al Dhaheri, 28	Evans GP, 3	Jack Beeton, 18
P8	Ernesto Rivera, 24	Akcel GP, 2	Lorenzo Castillo, 17
P9	Jesse Carrasquedo, 23	Origine Motorsport, 0	Everett Stack, 16
P10	Ugo Ugochukwu, 18		Jaden Pariat, 14

Report by Daniele Spadi 

F4 Middle East: Olivieri takes early points lead after battles with Nakamura-Berta

Surprise contender Emanuele Olivieri took his first two F4 victories in both of F4 Middle East’s standard-grid races to leave round one with the lead over Kean Nakamura-Berta. 

In the first race, polesitter Olivieri briefly lost the lead to his teammate Alex Powell, who had a better start. Powell then immediately suffered a gearbox problem, falling to the back of the field and pitting for repairs during a safety car caused by an incident between retiree Fu Yuhao, Martin Molnár and Reno Francot. 

As Olivieri built his lead over Nakamura-Berta to the eventual winning margin of 6.571s, Powell cut through the field before making contact with Bader Al Sulaiti with two laps to go. . Both drivers retired, and Al Sulaiti received a five-place grid drop for race two for the incident.

Sebastian Wheldon quietly took third place behind Olivieri and Nakamura-Berta, while Salim Hanna took the rookie victory. Farah Al Yousef, who had been allowed to start both races despite not qualifying within 110% of the pole time, was the only other retirement. 

The reverse-grid race featured another first time winner in Tomass Štolcermanis, who took advantage of polesitter Cole Hewetson’s poor start and passed Adam Al Azhari early in the race. Behind him, Nakamura-Berta and Olivieri battled to the finish, with Olivieri overtaking Nakamura-Berta for second on the penultimate lap but being re-passed on the final lap. 

Powell, who had started from 26th, took advantage of a good start to rise to seventh ahead of an early safety car on lap five, deployed to recover Arjun Chheda’s stricken car. He then made it all the way up to fourth to complete an excellent recovery drive.

Powell’s bad weekend got worse in the third race as he stalled from pole, helping Olivieri to the lead. Štolcermanis overtook Nakamura-Berta off the line for second but ceded the position on a safety car restart caused by a collision between Chheda and August Raber. 

As Powell passed three cars at once for 14th position at Turn 6 on lap six, Taha Hassiba and Abdullah Ayman Kamel collided, causing another safety car. Just as it was about to end, Hanna’s Mumbai Falcons car stopped on track with a mechanical issue.

The race restarted with one lap remaining, during which Nakamura-Berta nearly passed Olivieri in another intense duel and crossed the line just 0.071s behind him. Štolcermanis stood on the third step of the podium, a further 0.067s behind, while Chi Zhenrui took the rookie victory from seventh. 

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Emanuele Olivieri, 1:55:708	Alex Powell, +0.123s	Kean Nakamura-Berta, +0.373s
Qualifying 2	Alex Powell, 1:55.241	Emanuele Olivieri, +0.015s	Kean Nakamura-Berta, +0.483s
Race 1 (14 laps)	Emanuele Olivieri, 30:51.898	Kean Nakamura-Berta, +6.571s	Sebastian Wheldon, 11.058s
Race 2 (15 laps)	Tomass Štolcermanis, 30:47.362	Kean Nakamura-Berta, +2.361s	Emanuele Olivieri, +2.897s
Race 3 (11 laps)	Emanuele Olivieri, 29:59.999	Kean Nakamura-Berta, +0.071s	Tomass Štolcermanis, +0.138s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Emanuele Olivieri, 80	Mumbai Falcons by Prema, 120	Chi Zhenrui, 70
P2	Kean Nakamura-Berta, 66	R-ace GP, 94	Yuta Suzuki, 57
P3	Tomass Štolcermanis, 54	Prema Racing, 58	Salim Hanna, 48
P4	Sebastian Wheldon, 38	Akcel GP by PHM, 35	David Cosma Cristofor, 41
P5	Reno Francot, 35	Yas Heat Racing Academy, 26	Kyuho Lee, 38
P6	Adam Al Azhari, 26	Evans GP, 13	Cole Hewetson, 38
P7	Chi Zhenrui, 20	Pinnacle Motorsport, 6	Emily Cotty, 31
P8	Alex Powell, 18	Xcel Motorsport, 6	Oleksandr Bondarev, 30
P9	Oleksandr Savinkov, 17	QMMF, 0	Bader Al Sulaiti, 12
P10	Salim Hanna, 15		Taha Hassiba, 12

Report by Calla Kra-Caskey

Editor’s note, 21 January 2025, 02:33 CET: This article was updated after publication to account for penalties applied after races two and three of FR Middle East. Additionally, the rookie points totals for Freddie Slater and Salim Hanna and the teams’ total for R-ace GP in F4 Middle East were updated to reflect the correct application of pole position points.

Header photo credit: Formula Regional MIddle East Championship