Feeder Series reviews a decisive weekend of junior single-seater action featuring three races apiece from Formula Regional Middle East, F4 Middle East and the Formula Winter Series.

By Feeder Series

While the big story off track in junior single-seaters was the reveal of the new Tatuus T-326 chassis to be used in FRegional competition from 2026 onwards, the track action threw up some surprises.

Both the FR and F4 Middle East championship leaders endured winless weekends at Yas Marina, though only in the former did the title picture meaningfully change. The title picture in FWS, meanwhile, hinges on the outcome of an appeal over Leo Robinson’s disqualification from the two qualifying sessions and the first race.

Meanwhile in the Asian Le Mans Series, which both Formula Middle East series supported, two junior single-seater graduates took their first car racing titles. The #25 Algarve Pro Racing squad featuring Valerio Rinicella – who is set to race in Eurocup-3 this year – won the LMP2 class with a third win from six this past weekend. In the LMP3 class, 2024 Eurocup-3 driver Theodor Jensen won the title with the #26 Bretton Racing squad, which took two class podiums this weekend.

1. FRegional Middle East: Slater takes two wins to keep title fight alive
2. F4 Middle East: Nakamura-Berta and Powell win to keep championship hopes alive
3. Formula Winter Series: Gomez extends points lead as Robinson faces DSQ appeals

FRegional Middle East: Slater takes two wins to keep title fight alive

Freddie Slater repeated his double victory at the Yas Marina Circuit four weeks after he first found glory at the track in FRegional cars. Finishing ahead of championship rival Evan Giltaire in all three races, the British driver closed the gap from 39 points to just 17 throughout the penultimate race weekend of the 2025 series.

Each of the two title rivals took a pole position, giving them two extra points to add to their totals. Giltaire set the fastest lap of a 1:49.944 in the first qualifying session with Slater just one-tenth behind. In the second session, Slater set a 1:49.372 with a bigger gap of 0.347 seconds splitting him and Giltaire. 

Slater got a strong start to steal the race lead from Giltaire heading into the first corner. The first safety car came out at the end of lap two, and Slater nailed the restart at the end of lap three, keeping Giltaire behind him. 

R-ace GP’s Ugo Ugochukwu appeared a contender for the win during the latter stages of the race, overtaking Giltaire at the final chicane on lap eight before starting to chase down Slater. Still, he could not stop Slater from taking his first victory of the weekend. Ugochukwu finished nine-tenths behind and Giltaire rounded out the podium. 

With the grid reversed for race two, R-ace GP’s Akshay Bohra started on pole, which he converted into his maiden win. The Indian driver maintained the lead during the safety car restart at the end of lap three and kept the hard-charging Nikita Bedrin behind during the final lap. In what was only his second FR Middle East race this season, the Saintéloc Racing driver finished just 0.152s behind Bohra, while Brando Badoer joined them on the podium after starting fifth on the grid.

Meanwhile, Slater passed Giltaire for seventh on lap 12 after a failed attempt on lap six. The move helped Slater gain two more crucial points in the championship fight, while both drivers were elevated one place by Enzo Deligny’s post-race penalty for gaining an advantage over Giltaire by going off track at Turn 9.

At the start of the final race, Giltaire battled Slater for position heading into the opening corner, forcing the Briton to defend the inside to maintain first place. Giltaire continued to hound Slater at the start of the second lap before Nikita Bedrin and Everett Stack’s crash on the pit straight brought out the safety car on lap four.

After 13 laps, Slater took his second victory of the weekend and his fourth at the circuit in 2025, with Giltaire and Ugochukwu following him home. 

Despite Slater’s success throughout the weekend, which saw him close the gap by 22 points, Giltaire still leads the drivers’ standings with 227 points. Slater, now 17 points behind, is on 210 points. Badoer has fallen behind in the standings with 154 points and is now under threat from Ugochukwu with 151 points. They are the only four still in contention for the drivers’ title.

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Evan Giltaire, 1:49.944	Freddie Slater, +0.137s	Ugo Ugochukwu, +0.303s
Qualifying 2	Freddie Slater, 1:49.372	Evan Giltaire, +0.347s	Rashid Al Dhaheri, +0.355s
Race 1 (15 laps)	Freddie Slater, 30:33.054	Ugo Ugochukwu, +0.900s	Evan Giltaire, +5.195s
Race 2 (15 laps)	Akshay Bohra, 30:14.093	Nikita Bedrin, +0.152s	Brando Badoer, +5.342s
Race 3 (13 laps)	Freddie Slater, 31:37.728	Evan Giltaire, +0.813s	Ugo Ugochukwu, +1.266s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Evan Giltaire, 227	Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited, 322	Freddie Slater, 292
P2	Freddie Slater, 210	ART Grand Prix, 293	Rashid Al Dhaheri, 245
P3	Brando Badoer, 154	R-ace GP, 253	Ernesto Rivera, 179
P4	Ugo Ugochukwu, 151	PHM Racing, 154	Taito Kato, 158
P5	Théophile Naël, 125	Saintéloc Racing, 151	Akshay Bohra, 129
P6	Rashid Al Dhaheri, 120	Pinnacle Motorsport, 130	Jack Beeton, 124
P7	Enzo Deligny, 102	Evans GP, 8	Kai Daryanani, 84
P8	Kanato Le, 89	Origine Motorsport, 4	Reza Seewooruthun, 82
P9	Jin Nakamura, 73	Akcel GP, 4	Aditya Kulkarni, 72
P10	Ernesto Rivera, 67		Hiyu Yamakoshi, 69

Report by Tori Turner

Read the previous round’s report here.

F4 Middle East: Nakamura-Berta and Powell win to keep championship hopes alive

F4 Middle East’s third round at the Yas Marina Circuit featured, for the first time this season, three different winners and no victories for Emanuele Olivieri. Although Kean Nakamura-Berta cut Olivieri’s championship lead from 51 to 48 points, he was unable to take further advantage of the championship leader’s difficult weekend. 

Saturday began with R-ace GP’s splitting the pole positions, as Olivieri took pole for the first race and Alex Powell for the third. Tomass Štolcermanis started the first race from second and beat Olivieri off the line as the latter was noted for a potential jump start. 

Behind the pair, Nakamura-Berta passed Powell for third before Štolcermanis made a mistake at the final chicane on the opening lap and was overtaken by Olivieri, Nakamura-Berta, and Powell in quick succession.

The running order at the front did not change during the race, but Olivieri was handed a 10-second jump start penalty after the race, dropping him to fourth and giving Nakamura-Berta his first victory of the season. They were followed on track by the rookie podium of Salim Hanna, Oleksandr Bondarev and Chi Zhenrui. The final Prema of Sebastian Wheldon, who stalled on the grid, recovered and took one point for 12th position. 

Fu Yuhao started on reverse-grid pole in a chaotic second race before Reno Francot passed him for the lead at the end of the second lap. Hanna secured his first overall podium with an overtake on Chi Zhenrui for third on the same lap before eventually moving into second as Fu faded. Powell went from eighth to third to complete the podium. 

Several top contenders were affected by incidents. Štolcermanis and Al Azhari both suffered an incident on lap two and fell out of the points; the Latvian eventually recovered to 10th. Oleksandr Savinkov lost his front wing and had to pit for a replacement on the opening lap. Olivieri and Bondarev made contact at the end of the opening lap, and the championship leader sustained a puncture and eventually retired from the race.

He was saved from a blow to his championship lead when Nakamura-Berta broke his front wing partway through the race and was forced to pit from eighth. The Mumbai Falcons driver came home 21st.

Powell took his third victory of the season in the final race after starting from pole. Štolcermanis maintained his starting position of second despite several challenges from Olivieri, who finished third. Nakamura-Berta finished just behind them in fourth. 

Hanna finished fifth and scored his eighth rookie victory of the season, his seventh consecutively, ahead of Bondarev. 

For its final round, F4 Middle East heads to Lusail, a track on which none of the drivers have raced. Olivieri leads the drivers’ championship with 269 points, while Nakamura-Berta and Powell remain in contention with 221 and 207 points respectively.  

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Emanuele Olivieri, 1:55.571	Tomass Štolcermanis, +0.192s	Alex Powell, +0.264s
Qualifying 2	Alex Powell, 1:55.330	Tomass Štolcermanis, +0.043s	Emanuele Olivieri, +0.055s
Race 1 (16 laps)	Kean Nakamura-Berta, 31:06.194	Alex Powell, +4.686s	Emanuele Olivieri, +7.164s
Race 2 (16 laps)	Reno Francot, 31.14:371	Salim Hanna, +1.512s	Alex Powell, +9.193s
Race 3 (15 laps)	Alex Powell, 31:35.461	Tomass Štolcermanis, +0.368s	Emanuele Olivieri, +0.715s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Emanuele Olivieri, 269	R-ace GP, 460	Salim Hanna, 280
P2	Kean Nakamura-Berta, 221	Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited, 396	Chi Zhenrui, 219
P3	Alex Powell, 207	Prema Racing, 140	Oleksandr Bondarev, 199
P4	Tomass Štolcermanis, 175	Akcel GP by PHM Racing, 139	Cole Hewetson, 148
P5	Reno Francot, 137	Yas Heat Racing Academy, 129	David Cosma Cristofor, 144
P6	Salim Hanna, 108	Evans GP, 46	Yuta Suzuki, 112
P7	Sebastian Wheldon, 78	Xcel Motorsport, 32	Emily Cotty, 109
P8	Adam Al Azhari, 76	Pinnacle Racing, 6	Taha Hassiba, 84
P9	Chi Zhenrui, 62	QMMF, 3	Bader Al Sulaiti, 84
P10	August Raber, 53		Kyuho Lee, 63

Report by Calla Kra-Caskey

Read the previous round’s report here.

Formula Winter Series: Gomez extends points lead as Robinson faces DSQ appeals

US Racing’s Gabriel Gomez extended his championship lead to 35 points over his closest rival, Hitech’s Leo Robinson, in the Formula Winter Series.

That Gomez would be the pacesetter once again was clear since the collective tests, in which he collected just three track-limit violations in the 97 laps he completed and – along with teammate Kabir Anurag – had a field-best average position of 4.67.

Gomez took pole position for all three races by setting the fastest and second-fastest laps in the first qualifying session and topping the second session on Saturday morning, as Robinson secured second for all three races.

As in the first two races at Portimão, Robinson, who had a new clutch for this weekend, had a better start than Gomez, but he could not get past the Brazilian on the run down to Turn 1. 

Three separate incidents throughout the race caused three safety car periods. Still, Gomez kept his lead and won the first race without a threat.

On Saturday evening, Robinson was disqualified from both qualifying sessions and the first race for having wishbone covers on the front wheel tethers of his car. The disqualification meant he would have started the second and third races from 31st instead of second.

Hitech, however, appealed the decision the same evening, series organisers Gedlich Racing confirmed to Feeder Series. Robinson’s second place was provisionally reinstated, and he started the second and third races from second position. The final results of both qualifying sessions and the three races are currently “pending of appeal stewards’ decision no. 5”.

Gomez had a bad start in race two and dropped from first to fourth at the start. While Robinson initially had the lead, US’ Maxim Rehm after the first safety car restart of the race closed up and got past in Turn 8 before going on to take his first win of the season. Robinson came second and his Hitech teammate Fionn McLaughlin crossed the line in third, but the Irishman received a five-second time penalty for jumping the start, dropping to eighth. 

In the third race, a familiar pattern emerged and Robinson took the lead from Gomez in Turn 1, though Gomez fought until Turn 2. New winner Rehm, starting from sixth position, battled teammate Anurag early on for fourth but lost out to him after the pair went wide on lap two, enabling Dante Vinci to get past as well. Two safety car periods caused by incidents in the midfield interrupted the race, but Robinson went on to take his first win – provisionally – of the season, ahead of Gomez and Maksimilian Popov. 

At the season’s midway point, Gomez has extended his lead in the drivers’ championship to 132 points, 34 more than Robinson has. Popov is third with 52 points. Should Robinson be disqualified, he would drop to sixth in the drivers’ championship and Gomez’s lead would grow to 83 points over Popov.

Results*	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Gabriel Gomez, 1:33.573	Leo Robinson, +0.371s	Maxim Rehm, +0.475s
Qualifying 2	Gabriel Gomez, 1:33.415	Leo Robinson, +0.239s	Maksimilian Popov, +0.323s
Race 1 (18 laps)	Gabriel Gomez, 32:51.914	Leo Robinson, +1.206s	Maxim Rehm, +2.083s
Race 2 (20 laps)	Maxim Rehm, 32:57.149	Leo Robinson, +1.585s	Gabriel Gomez, +2.430s
Race 3 (19 laps)	Leo Robinson, 32:58.763	Gabriel Gomez, +0.714s	Maksimilian Popov, +1.219s

Standings*	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Gabriel Gomez, 132	US Racing, 218	Fionn McLaughlin, 49
P2	Leo Robinson, 98	Hitech GP, 157	Dante Vinci, 24
P3	Maksimilian Popov, 52	Van Amersfoort Racing, 76	Thomas Bearman, 22
P4	Fionn McLaughlin, 49	Jenzer Motorsport, 46	Artem Severiukhin, 4
P5	Maxim Rehm, 46	Maffi Racing, 4	Andrea Dupé, 0
P6	Kabir Anurag, 41	AS Motorsport, 2	Teodor Borenstein, 0
P7	Edu Robinson, 38	Campos Racing, 0	Simon Schranz, 0
P8	Andrija Kostić, 28	Renauer Motorsport, 0	Alba Hurup Larsen, 0
P9	Enea Frey, 26	AKM Motorsport, 0	Payton Westcott, 0
P10	Dante Vinci, 24	Cram Motorsport, 0	Aleksandr Ruta, 0

Report by Finjo Muschlien

Read the previous round’s report here.

Header photo credit: Formula Regional Middle East Championship