Thomas Strauven secured the inaugural Eurocup-4 Spanish Winter Championship crown two weeks ago after his teammate and title rival Jan Przyrowski hit trouble. Feeder Series spoke to the 16-year-old about his championship win and how the campaign prepared him for the upcoming Spanish F4 season.

By Seb Tirado

The Griffin Core by Campos driver took two wins, four further podiums, three poles and four fastest laps during the season, but his consistency was what ultimately netted him the title. In the races he finished, he never placed lower than fourth, and his only non-score came in the Jerez sprint race, in which he finished 28th.

Entering the final round at Navarra, Strauven led Przyrowski by five points, which soon became a dead heat after the first race of the weekend. As Strauven finished second from pole position, Przyrowski took victory to put the pair level on points entering the sprint.

As Strauven came home third in the sprint, Przyrowski never scored again. He finished 13th in the sprint and retired from the final race after a collision at Turn 10 on the opening lap. The incident effectively handed Strauven the championship after a single racing lap on Sunday, and he wound up 25 points ahead of Przyrowski – a race victory’s worth.

“The battle was super close against me and my teammate Jan,” Strauven said, “which made it all more difficult, with the pressure and stuff like this.” 

“Everyone at the team did a really good job to get the car on point,” he added.,” he added. ““Compared to MP [Motorsport], we looked very strong.”

Strauven lined up his championship win in the toughest conditions of the season. The wet and windy weather that weekend in Navarra made it hard for Strauven to find the ideal car setup.

“We managed to do the first qualifying on pole, which was a good [setup] choice, but then quali two was a bit of a mistake,” Strauven said. “We thought it was going to be the same as quali one [or] a bit like quali one, but then we thought that the track was going to dry up a bit faster at the end, and it didn’t.” 

In the final race, Strauven started 10th, with Przyrowski 13th. “I knew that he had to finish third and I had to finish out of the points to give him the [championship]. But then once we were into T9, I looked in my mirrors and all of a sudden I see a Campos car sideways,” Strauven said. “Then the lap after, I could see him walking on the green next to the track.” 

Strauven got on the radio to his team, who confirmed that Przyrowski had crashed. From then on, Strauven was focused on securing the podium, which he managed to do on the road before being penalised for overtaking Sacha van ’t Pad Bosch off the track. 

The Belgian driver entered the new Eurocup-4 winter series after finishing seventh in Spanish F4 last year with rival team Rodin Motorsport, who were in their second season in the series.

Having switched to Campos for 2025 as the best-placed returning driver, Strauven truly began his title charge at the second round in Portimão. There, he won the first race from pole and the reverse-grid sprint from eighth, the lowest starting position for a winning driver this year. Coupled with a second-place finish in the final race of the weekend, Strauven shot up from fifth in the standings, 32 points behind Przyrowski, to first and five points ahead.

“I always find Portimão a really good track and it always suited me a lot,” he said. “We maximised the weekend there at Portimão. Last year I did really well in the Rodin car there. I like the track, and I think I did a really good job there to also get, in the sprint race, back to P1, which was a mega result for me.”

Going into the main Spanish F4 season as its winter series champion, Strauven made clear that he intends to claim back-to-back titles.

“Maybe there will be some new names at the front, but we will always try to fight for the win,” he said. “We’re looking quite good to be fighting for the championship.”

Whether or not he wins, Strauven also already has the next stage of his career mapped out.

“We signed a contract with Campos for two years, for the Eurocup-3 season next year,” he explained. “First I will look to where I’m racing in now and then I will try to prepare as much as possible for Eurocup-3.”

The FRegional-spec Eurocup-3 series, in existence since 2023, is part of the same package as Spanish F4. As Strauven revealed, however, the series is set to switch chassis suppliers from Tatuus to Dallara next year. The Emilia-Romagnan manufacturer of F2, F3 and Euroformula Open’s vehicles will be bringing a new car at the same time as Tatuus is set to update its own FR model.

“It will be a mega car to drive,” Strauven said. “It will be a fully new chassis from Dallara, close to the Super Formula Lights and the Euroformula Open.” 

Strauven added that teams were expected to get the new car at the end of the year and that they would use the Euroformula Open chassis to prepare for the switch. While Euroformula Open boasts much smaller grids than its FR counterparts, its car is frequently used in private tests for drivers eyeing moves to FR or F3.

Header photo credit: Spanish Winter Championship