The Formula Winter Series and Eurocup-4 Spanish Winter Championship wrapped up their 2025 seasons over the weekend in Spain as Super Formula Lights and F4 NACAM kicked off theirs. We review everything that happened.

By Feeder Series

With the conclusion of the FWS and Eurocup-4 seasons also came the crowning of new champions in each. While Gabriel Gomez’s winning the FWS title was somewhat of a foregone conclusion entering the round, Thomas Strauven’s championship bid was much less secure.

Super Formula Lights featured the most drama before the weekend began with a series of withdrawals that took out several familiar names. Three-time master class champion Nobuhiro Imada and French rookie and endurance racing convert Esteban Masson both withdrew on the eve of the event with injuries. Masson’s replacement Seita Nonaka was then called up mid-weekend to deputise for the injured Oliver Rasmussen in Super Formula, vacating the TOM’S seat he was set to take.

While not covered in depth in this review, several other achievements from this past weekend are worth noting. On the same Gedlich-run Winter Series package as FWS, GB3 race winner and former F3 driver McKenzy Cresswell became the GT4 Winter Series champion in his debut GT racing campaign.

F4 NACAM was the most prominent junior single-seater series racing in North America this weekend, but it wasn’t the only one, as Florida-based F4-spec series Formula FARA hosted its spring shootout at Homestead-Miami Speedway. VRD Racing–run Kai Johnson, the 12-year-old brother of GB3 and Indy NXT racer Nikita Johnson, won the final two races and finished second in race one to earn $15,000 towards a full-season campaign in the series. Lebanese-American racer Max Mokarem, the race one winner, earned $10,000, while Argentina’s Lázaro Bainotti earned $5,000.

And while F2 and F3 will head to Melbourne next week for their season openers, one driver has already tasted glory in Australia. In the Race of Champions exhibition event featuring drivers from a variety of motorsport disciplines, F2’s Victor Martins and nine-time rally champion Sébastien Loeb won the Nations Cup. They defeated Australia’s line-up of Supercars champions Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown, the latter of whom won FR Oceania’s New Zealand Grand Prix last month.

1. Super Formula Lights: Sano sweeps season opener at Suzuka
2. Eurocup-4 Spanish Winter Championship: Strauven and Campos crowned inaugural champions 
3. Formula Winter Series: Gomez takes title despite missing podium in all races
4. F4 NACAM: Ibrahim takes two wins at Puebla as red flags and spins cause drama

Super Formula Lights: Sano sweeps season opener at Suzuka

Toyota junior Yuki Sano won all three Super Formula Lights races at the season-opening Suzuka round, though at points only one of those victories appeared likely.

TOM’S rookie Sano, 18, took pole position for the first race by only three thousandths of a second. He rocketed away at the start as second-placed Yuto Nomura came under pressure from Rikuto Kobayashi into the first corner, but there were no position changes up front – until the final chicane. 

Nomura got a strong exit and drew alongside Sano on the front straight. The B-Max rookie then swept past around the outside of Turn 1 and held the lead until the end of the race, which he won on track by 2.861 seconds as Kobayashi finished a further 10 seconds behind.

Nomura’s fast start to the season, however, proved too quick. He received a five-second post-race penalty for jumping the start, handing the victory to Sano.

For the second race, Sano had pole position again as Kobayashi started second, Arao third and Nomura fourth. Kobayashi put Sano under pressure into Turn 1 and appeared to be his closest potential challenger for victory, but he slowed suddenly exiting the Casio Triangle on the second lap. Kobayashi’s stopped TOM’S vehicle brought out the safety car for the first time.

The race resumed towards the end of lap five, and as Sano pulled towards the Casio Triangle, Arao in second outbraked himself and went off track. He dropped behind everyone except reigning master class champion Dragon, who became the race’s second retiree when he spun into the gravel at Spoon Curve.

That incident caused the second safety car period, setting up a final-lap shootout in which Sano prevailed over B-Max teammates Nomura and Frederick. Arao crossed the line 10th but was dropped to 11th and last after receiving two five-second penalties post-race.

Sano and Nomura once again composed the front row for the final race, but a fast-starting Kobayashi in third got past both entering Turn 1 as Nomura secured second into the Esses. Sano closed in, however, and overtook Nomura on lap three exiting the Casio Triangle.

The turning point of the race finally came on lap eight, when Kobayashi ran wide entering the Degners and conceded both of the positions he had gained at the start. That reset the top three to how they lined up at the start, with Sano defeating Nomura by 5.961s.

They broke away in part because of fourth-placed Yusuke Mitsui, who passed David at the start but struggled to make further progress. A queue formed behind him, and David finally overtook Mitsui on lap five into the chicane as fellow international driver Frederick followed him through.

Even as Mitsui lost as many as two seconds per lap to the cars in front in the second half of the race, Delightworks Racing teammate Arao was unable to pass him for the final point, with the drivers from sixth to 11th crossing the line separated by just 2.326 seconds.

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Yuki Sano, 1:51.230	Yuto Nomura, +0.003s	Rikuto Kobayashi, +0.270s
Qualifying 2	Yuki Sano, 1:50.628	Rikuto Kobayashi, +0.027s	Souta Arao, +0.076s
Race 1 (16 laps)	Yuki Sano, 30:19.023	Yuto Nomura, +2.139s	Rikuto Kobayashi, +10.225s
Race 2 (12 laps)	Yuki Sano, 29:03.951	Yuto Nomura, +0.513s	Kaylen Frederick, +1.142s
Race 3 (12 laps)	Yuki Sano, 22:42.309	Yuto Nomura, +5.961s	Rikuto Kobayashi, +7.647s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Masters
P1	Yuki Sano, 32	TOM’S, 30	Yasuhiro Shimizu, 32
P2	Yuto Nomura, 21	B-Max Racing Team, 21	“Dragon”, 14
P3	Rikuto Kobayashi, 10	Delightworks Racing, 3
P4	Kaylen Frederick, 7	LM Corsa, 1
P5	Zachary David, 6	JMS Racing Team, 0
P6	Yuga Furutani, 3	GNSY Racing, 0
P7	Yusuke Mitsui, 3
P8	Kazuhisa Urabe, 3
P9	Reimei Ito, 1
P10	Tosei Moriyama, 0

Report by Michael McClure

Eurocup-4 Spanish Winter Championship: Strauven and Campos crowned inaugural champions 

Thomas Strauven and his Griffin Core by Campos team came out on top in the Eurocup-4 drivers’ and teams’ standings after a chaotic weekend at Navarra. Teammate and closest title rival Jan Przyrowski’s slim title hopes faded when Nacho Tuñón collided with him on the first lap of the final race.

Car control was paramount on Saturday as heavy rain and wind meant both race one and the sprint started with two laps behind the safety car. 

Strauven qualified on pole for race one, with Przyrowski alongside him. The pair bolted at the green flag on lap three and battled wheel to wheel. Strauven eventually pulled ahead as Przyrowski went wide at Turn 8, almost losing second to Christopher Feghali, but the Pole was saved by the first of two safety cars, deployed after Miguel Costa got stranded in the gravel at Turn 3.

On the restart on lap five, the title protagonists battled out front again, but this time it was Przyrowski who led and Strauven who came under threat exiting Turn 8. Feghali and Niklas Schaufler both slipped by, but the Belgian driver made his way through again later that lap. 

After the second safety car, deployed for René Lammers and Feghali’s collision in Turn 3, Przyrowski led Strauven home to win, with Ean Eyckmans in third. Lammers received a five-second time penalty for causing the collision.

Now equal on points with Strauven, Przyrowski started poorly in the sprint from eighth and lost several positions whilst Strauven overtook him and rose up the order. The Polish driver had recovered to eighth when the safety car was called so that the stranded cars of Feghali, Wiktor Dobrzański and Francisco Monarca could be recovered.

Yani Stevenheydens led the field on the restart but faced pressure from reverse-grid polesitter Costa and Strauven behind. They finished in that order, with Stevenheydens taking the fastest lap. Przyrowski held on to seventh after a battle with Lammers and Nathan Tye but later dropped to 13th with a five-second penalty for forcing Lammers off track.

Przyrowski also started 13th for the final race of the weekend, but his mission to overturn his 12-point deficit ended at Turn 10 when he was taken out in a multi-car incident also involving Tuñón, Kyuho Lee and Philippe Armand Karras. The incident meant Strauven was champion-elect in less than one lap.

Strauven eventually crossed the line third with the fastest lap from 10th on the grid after battling with polesitter Ean Eyckmans and Stevenheydens throughout the race. This later became fourth after he received a 10-second penalty for overtaking Sacha van ’t Pad Bosch off-track, putting him 25 points ahead of Przyrowski in the end.

Strauven’s penalty promoted Lammers to third in both the race and the championship. The Dutch driver initially crossed the line in first but was demoted to fourth with a five-second penalty for jumping the start. Andrej Petrović inherited the win, giving Tecnicar their maiden podium and victory, as Tye finished second. 

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Thomas Strauven, 1:51.647	Jan Przyrowski, +0.437s	Christopher Feghali, +0.688s
Race 1 (13 laps)	Jan Przyrowski, 32:26.989	Thomas Strauven, +0.627s	Ean Eyckmans, +1.394s
Sprint (9 laps)	Yani Stevenheydens, 22:42.983	Miguel Costa, +2.887s	Thomas Strauven, +3.935s
Qualifying 2	Ean Eyckmans, 1:58.630	Andrej Petrović, +1.027s	René Lammers, +1.043s
Race 2 (16 laps)	Andrej Petrović, 32:13.806	Nathan Tye, +1.051s	René Lammers, +4.210s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Thomas Strauven, 143	Griffin Core by Campos, 251	Vivek Kanthan, 73
P2	Jan Przyrowski, 118	MP Motorsport, 96	Ean Eyckmans, 69
P3	René Lammers, 75	Campos Racing, 85	Niklas Schaufler, 39
P4	Nathan Tye, 74	KCL by MP Motorsport, 77	Miguel Costa, 33
P5	Vivek Kanthan, 73	Rodin Motorsport, 74	Noah Monteiro, 32
P6	Ean Eyckmans, 69	Drivex, 54	Christopher Feghali, 31
P7	Niklas Schaufler, 39	T-Code, 26	Sacha van ’t Pad Bosch, 1
P8	Miguel Costa, 33	TC Racing, 18	Santino Panetta, 0
P9	Noah Monteiro, 32	Tecnicar, 4	Nacho Tuñón, 0
P10	Christopher Feghali, 31	Monlau Motorsport, 0	Philippe Armand Karras, 0

Report by Seb Tirado

Read the previous round’s report here.

Formula Winter Series: Gomez takes title despite missing podium in all races

Brazilian driver Gabriel Gomez took his first title in single-seaters in the Formula Winter Series in the second race of the final round at Barcelona.

After stalling on the grid in the first race and being forced to retire, Gomez finished fifth in the second race, surviving multiple fights with AKM’s Davide Larini and Hitech’s Thomas Bearman to take the title.

Before Gomez sealed the crown, though, Leo Robinson seemed unstoppable at Barcelona. The Algerian took pole position for the first two races and won both, though Fionn McLaughlin and Kabir Anurag kept him honest in the first contest.

His first victory enabled him to prolong the title fight by the slimmest of margins after Gomez, then holding a 67-point lead with 78 points still on offer, stalled off the line and had to retire from the race. He and McLaughlin were tied on 133 points entering race two, though the latter had already sealed the rookie trophy after the first race to ensure at least one title went to a Hitech driver.

The podium trio from race one also led the way at the start of race two until an issue for Anurag during the first safety car period forced the Singaporean to park up at Turn 9. Robinson was unchallenged out front as McLaughlin and Jenzer’s Bart Harrison completed the podium, but the result was not enough to secure the 16-year-old the title with Gomez finishing fifth.

Now out of contention in the third race, Robinson had contact mid-race with Maxim Rehm while fighting for second at Turn 2, for which he received a five-second time penalty that dropped him from fourth to eighth. Rehm pulled off at Turn 4 with a puncture and retired.

Out front, Bearman crossed the line in first but also earned a five-second time penalty for jumping the start. Jenzer’s Bart Harrison inherited the win initially, but just when he crossed the line to finish the race, he was given a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits too many times.

This info did not reach parc fermé, though. In a tragicomic turn of events, Harrison thought he had won until this writer informed him that this was not the case. Anurag, who had started eighth and passed both Gomez and Robinson during the race, expected to be classified second until he was also shown the updated live timing. 

Gomez ended the season with 204 points, 41 ahead of Robinson and 53 ahead of McLaughlin, who won the rookie title by 91 points. US Racing secured the teams’ title by 57 points.

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Leo Robinson, 2:02.649	Fionn McLaughlin, +0.127s	Bart Harrison, +0.172s
Qualifying 2	Maxim Rehm, 2:00.769	Leo Robinson, +0.361s	Thomas Bearman, +0.445s
Race 1 (17 laps)	Leo Robinson, 29:59.848	Fionn McLaughlin, +0.783s	Kabir Anurag, +1.401s
Race 2 (13 laps)	Leo Robinson, 32:25.632	Fionn McLaughlin, +1.110s	Bart Harrison, +2.203s
Race 3 (19 laps)	Kabir Anurag, 33:23.090	Thomas Bearman, +1.459s	Bart Harrison, +4.308s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Gabriel Gomez, 204	US Racing, 403	Fionn McLaughlin, 151
P2	Leo Robinson, 163	Hitech GP, 346	Thomas Bearman, 60
P3	Fionn McLaughlin, 151	Jenzer Motorsport, 150	Artem Severiukhin, 42
P4	Kabir Anurag, 138	Van Amersfoort Racing, 114	Dante Vinci, 26
P5	Maksimilian Popov, 88	AKM Motorsport, 11	Andrea Dupe, 5
P6	Maxim Rehm, 87	Maffi Racing, 10	Simon Schranz, 4
P7	Bart Harrison, 68	AS Motorsport, 8	Aleksander Ruta, 2
P8	Thomas Bearman, 60	Renauer Motorsport, 4	Teodor Borenstein, 0
P9	Enea Frey, 54	Cram Motorsport, 1	Payton Westcott, 0
P10	Artem Severiukhin, 42	Campos Racing, 0	Elia Weiss, 0

Report by Finjo Muschlien

Read the previous round’s report here.

F4 NACAM: Ibrahim takes two wins at Puebla as red flags and spins cause drama

Ram Racing’s Zaky Ibrahim brought an end to Alessandros Racing’s supremacy in the first round of F4 NACAM in 2025 at Puebla, securing his first two victories in the series.

After qualifying on the front row for race one, Ibrahim took the lead from José Martínez right at the start as Martínez dropped to fourth. The race was quickly interrupted by a red flag after Elías Vignola stopped on track on the start-finish straight, which led to another standing start. Ibrahim repeated the feat and took the lead again from Martínez, who then faced pressure from Alex Bobadilla throughout the race.

Bobadilla did not manage to pass, however, and eventually crashed on lap nine while trying to attack Martínez, which led to another red flag. The top three had been pulling away until that point.

The cars restarted from pit lane with only two minutes remaining, and only one more lap was run behind the safety car. Ibrahim crossed the line in first with Martínez second and Fernando Luque third.

Luque started on pole in race two and managed to keep the lead after the start. On only the second lap, Ivanna Richards and Axel Matus made contact, bringing out the safety car  and forcing both drivers to retire. The race restarted after three laps and Luque managed to stay in front again.

On lap seven, Martínez passed Bobadilla from the outside to rise to second place. Martínez had the pace to pressure Luque and passed him after both were side by side on lap 16. But two laps later, on the final tour, Martínez spun on the kerb at the exit of Turn 7, giving Luque the opportunity to pass him and reclaim the victory. Bobadilla hit him as he spun but finished second with a broken front wing as Ibrahim completed the podium. Martínez finished sixth.

Martínez was back on pole for race three, while Ibrahim, starting third, quickly overtook Matus on the first lap. He then overtook Martínez as well on the fourth lap.

While Ibrahim and Martínez remained unchallenged out front, the real fight later in the race was the one for fourth place. Bobadilla, who initially pressured Matus for third, soon found himself under threat from Richards, who passed him on lap 13. Bobadilla then made a great move on the inside of Turn 6 on lap 17 to retake the position. Luque claimed fifth from Richards on the final lap after she went off in the infield section.

Ibrahim and Martínez finished first and second, 3.872 seconds apart. The former leaves Puebla with a 15-point lead over Luque, who is another six ahead of Martínez.

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	José Martínez, 1:35.412	Zaky Ibrahim, +0.195s	Alex Bobadilla, +0.255s
Race 1 (9 laps)	Zaky Ibrahim, 18:16.937	José Martínez, +0.129s	Fernando Luque +6.718s
Race 2 (17 laps)	Fernando Luque, 31:04.799	Alex Bobadilla, +1.649s	Zaky Ibrahim, +2.846s
Race 3 (19 laps)	Zaky Ibrahim, 30:29.645	José Martínez, +3.872s	Axel Matus, +8.430s

Standings	Drivers	Teams
P1	Zaky Ibrahim, 65	Alessandros Racing, 109
P2	Fernando Luque, 50	Ram Racing, 93
P3	José Martínez, 44	HRI/RRK Racing, 16
P4	Alex Bobadilla, 34
P5	Axel Matus, 27
P6	Max Mora, 24
P7	Alan Zezatti, 22
P8	Ivanna Richards, 16
P9	Elías Vignola, 12

Report by Laura Anequini

Header photo credit: Daniel Bürgin