Eurocup-3’s winter series crowned its inaugural champion this weekend as Spanish Formula 4 got its season underway, with three junior single-seater series in the United States doing the same. Feeder Series reviews what went down in each one over the past few days.

By Feeder Series

Mattia Colnaghi looked for all the world to be the favourite for the Eurocup-3 Spanish Winter Championship title, but with a scoreless weekend in Aragón, he lost out on the title to MP stablemate Maciej Gładysz, the dominant force at the circuit last year in Spanish F4.

That was the big come-from-behind storyline in the standings, but there were plenty such tales on track as well. Over in the United States, Brady Golan in FR Americas won after spinning and rival Titus Sherlock did so in another race thanks to an inspired tyre choice in wet conditions, while in Spanish F4’s main season opener, Jan Przyrowski took two wins, albeit neither one on track.

In other news from the weekend, the Ultimate Cup Series’ renamed Hoosier Formula Cup – formerly the Ultimate Formula Cup – held its first round this weekend at Paul Ricard. Former F3 driver and 2022 Spanish F4 runner-up Hugh Barter won all three races in Formula Regional machinery on debut.

F2’s and F3’s in-season tests concluded on Friday in Bahrain, with MP Motorsport F2 veteran Richard Verschoor fastest on the final day in F2 and Trident rookie Rafael Câmara setting the fastest time of all on the last morning of F3’s test.

Keep reading to find out what went down in Aragon and Louisiana over the weekend.

1. Eurocup-3 Spanish Winter Championship: Gładysz takes against-the-odds drivers’ title
2. Spanish F4: Strauven leads as post-race penalties decide winners
3. FRegional Americas: Ambiado leads points as Sherlock, Golan take comeback wins
4. F4 US: Returning winner Popow takes early lead with two victories
5. Ligier Junior Formula Championship: Irazú takes two wins as rookies shine

Eurocup-3 Spanish Winter Championship: Gładysz takes against-the-odds drivers’ title

After scoring the maximum of 28 points on Saturday to nullify his 28-point deficit to Mattia Colnaghi, KCL by MP Motorsport’s Maciej Gładysz secured the Eurocup-3 Spanish Winter Championship after a crash on Saturday and engine woes on Sunday meant Colnaghi scored no points all weekend.

Poland’s Gładysz won a windy race one from pole and took the fastest lap to boot. Whilst Gładysz had a clean start off the line to defend the lead, his Italian counterpart had a slow launch from fourth and fell down to eighth through the first few corners.

Colnaghi managed to overtake teammate Andrés Cárdenas on the following lap just before the safety car was called for a beached Zack Scoular at Turn 8. Valerio Rinicella – who started 25th after failing to set a valid lap time in qualifying – was found to be at fault for colliding with Scoular and was given a five-second time penalty, which dropped him from ninth to 13th post-race.

On the restart at the end of lap four, Gładysz jumped out of Turn 17 and immediately created a sizable gap over Alexander Abkhazava, who soon started to fall into the clutches of Jesse Carrasquedo and James Egozi. Behind, Colnaghi took sixth from teammate Emerson Fittipaldi Jr around the outside of Turn 5 on lap nine as he recovered from his slow start.

Later that same lap, however, a tangle between Colnaghi and guest driver Ernesto Rivera at the exit of Turn 16 left the Italian driver with a broken front wing, forcing him to pit and emerge at the back of the field. Up ahead, after having managed to fend off Egozi, Abkhazava lost third place to the American driver into Turn 1 on lap 14.

Egozi and Abkhazava were subsequently demoted to 10th and 11th post-race after both receiving 15-second penalties for track-limits violations. That promoted Fittipaldi Jr to third behind Carrasquedo. 

Colnaghi and Gładysz were level on points going into the final, but Colnaghi experienced fuel injector issues during Sunday’s qualifying session and could only qualify 21st. Gładysz provisionally qualified second but had his fastest lap deleted for track limits, which dropped him to fourth, but the Polish driver nonetheless started race two in his original qualifying position for undisclosed reasons. 

Gładysz kept close to Egozi in the beginning stages of the race as Colnaghi started his climb up the grid. But Colnaghi eventually ran out of steam and could only manage 13th by the chequered flag as Gładysz finished second behind Egozi, who took his and Palou Motorsport’s second Eurocup-3 win. Gładysz, on 115 points, won the title with an 18-point advantage over Colanghi, with Egozi a further 11 behind Colnaghi.

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Maciej Gładysz, 1:52.511	Alexander Abkhazava, +0.249s	Jesse Carrasquedo, +0.254s
Race 1 (16 laps)	Maciej Gładysz, 32:38.098	Jesse Carrasquedo, +1.380s	Emerson Fittipaldi Jr, +10.444
Qualifying 2	James Egozi, 1:51.617	Valerio Rinicella, +0.126s	Andrés Cárdenas, +0.147s
Race 2 (17 laps)	James Egozi, 31:57.251	Maciej Gładysz, +0.791s	Andrés Cárdenas, +2.000s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Maciej Gładysz, 115	MP Motorsport, 250	Maciej Gładysz, 115
P2	Mattia Colnaghi, 97	Campos Racing, 115	Mattia Colnaghi, 97
P3	James Egozi, 86	KCL by MP Motorsport, 111	James Egozi, 86
P4	Andrés Cárdenas, 78	Palou Motorsport, 90	Andrés Cárdenas, 78
P5	Valerio Rinicella, 70	Griffin Core by Campos, 83	Jules Caranta, 46
P6	Emerson Fittipaldi Jr, 54	Drivex, 51	Lucas Fluxá, 28
P7	Jules Caranta, 46	Sparco Palou MS, 2	Juan Cota, 27
P8	Jesse Carrasquedo, 42	Saintéloc Racing, 1	Enzo Tarnvanichkul, 22
P9	Lucas Fluxá, 28	Allay Racing, 0	Oscar Wurz, 20
P10	Juan Cota, 27	GRS Team, 0	Preston Lambert, 4

Report by Seb Tirado

Read the previous round’s report here.

Spanish F4: Strauven leads as post-race penalties decide winners

Reigning Eurocup-4 winter series champion Thomas Strauven leads the Spanish F4 standings by two points ahead of his Eurocup-4 title rival Jan Przyrowski after a weekend of highs and lows for the pair and third-placed René Lammers. 

Noah Monteiro started on pole for a windy first race of the weekend but finished the race 20th after being given a 25-second time penalty for overtaking under the safety car, which had come out on lap 10 after Sacha van ’t Pad Bosch was stranded on the outside of Turn 2.

Strauven took the first Spanish F4 race win of 2025 after grabbing the lead on lap one from second place on the grid, but Lammers behind challenged the Belgian driver – albeit unsuccessfully – near the end of the race. Monteiro finished third on track, but his penalty meant that Hudson Schwartz inherited the final podium spot. 

Strauven started on pole for race two by virtue of having the quickest of the field’s second-fastest laps in qualifying, but he too did not finish in the points. Contact with Andrej Petrović down the pit straight on lap three gave him a left-rear puncture, forcing him to pit at the end of the lap. The Serbian driver received a 10-second post-race penalty for causing the incident, demoting him from sixth to 11th. 

Up ahead, Lammers and Ean Eyckmans battled for the lead, with Przyrowski eventually joining the fray in the second half of the race. The Polish driver overtook Eyckmans on lap 10 and kept on the back of Lammers until the Dutch driver took the chequered flag first. Lammers, however, was later given a five-second penalty for track limits, which demoted him to sixth and gave Przyrowski the victory. Eyckmans finished in second and Schwartz once again inherited third.

Strauven had his third pole of the weekend in race three, with Przyrowski next to him on the front row. The Polish driver, however, had a poor start off the line and was overtaken by Lammers and Niklas Schaufler whilst Strauven pulled away. Behind the trio, a four-car crash involving a slow-starting van ’t Pad Bosch, a stalled Santiago Baztarrica, Drivex’s Edu Robinson and Monlau’s Lorenzo Campos brought out the safety car.

At the restart at the end of lap four, Lammers stuck with Strauven and stole the lead on the following lap down the pit straight. Strauven’s failed attempt to retake the lead at Turn 16 almost gave Przyrowski second place into Turn 1, but the Belgian managed to defend his position.

The top three broke away from the rest of the pack and engaged in their own battle, which ended with Lammers taking victory ahead of Strauven and Przyrowski.

The Dutch driver, however, was again demoted from victory with a five-second penalty for staying at racing speed when he was pushed off the track by Strauven, who also received a five-second penalty for his action. As such, Przyrowski once again inherited the victory, with Lammers second and Strauven third.

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Noah Monteiro, 1:58.142	Thomas Strauven, +0.104s	Ean Eyckmans, +0.158s
Race 1 (16 laps)	Thomas Strauven, 33:28.334	René Lammers, +0.821s	Hudson Schwartz, +2.860s
Qualifying 2	Thomas Strauven, 1:58.353	Jan Przyrowski, +0.136s	Niklas Schaufler, +0.419s
Race 2 (14 laps)	Jan Przyrowski, 27:58.348	Ean Eyckmans, +0.086s	Hudson Schwartz, +0.174s
Race 3 (14 laps)	Jan Przyrowski, 32:58.622	René Lammers, +3.503s	Thomas Strauven, +3.741s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Thomas Strauven, 45	MP Motorsport, 54	Noah Monteiro, 20
P2	Jan Przyrowski, 43	Griffin Core by Campos, 43	Vivek Kanthan, 18
P3	René Lammers, 42	KCL by MP Motorsport, 41	Ean Eyckmans, 15
P4	Hudson Schwartz, 27	Campos Racing, 24	Niklas Schaufler, 14
P5	Noah Monteiro, 20	T-Code, 14	Miguel Costa, 6
P6	Vivek Kanthan, 18	Rodin Motorsport, 13	Francisco Monarca, 6
P7	Ean Eyckmans, 15	Drivex, 7	Christopher Feghali, 6
P8	Niklas Schaufler, 14	Monlau Motorsport, 6	Sacha van ’t Pad Bosch, 0
P9	Andrej Petrović, 14	TC Racing, 1	Santino Panetta, 0
P10	Nathan Tye, 13	DX Racing Team, 0	Stepan Suslov, 0

Report by Seb Tirado

FRegional Americas: Ambiado leads points as Sherlock, Golan take comeback wins

Nicolas Ambiado proved the benefit of experience at the first round of FR Americas at NOLA by taking a win, pole position and two second places to give himself a 15-point lead over Brady Golan in the drivers’ standings.

Starting off in qualifying, Ambiado secured pole by 0.147 seconds over Bruno Ribeiro in second as all of the top six – three returnees and three rookies – were separated by less than a second.

Rain delayed the start of the races, and race one was shortened to 25 minutes. Though the race was declared wet, dry patches on the circuit meant drivers could choose which tyre they wanted to use. The top five drivers chose to use slicks, while Titus Sherlock, who started sixth, chose wets. That proved to be the right decision, as Sherlock rose from sixth to first during the race on the second green-flag lap.

Ambiado defended his position when the race started, but fifth-placed Brady Golan had a great start and took the lead in Turn 1. By this time, Sherlock had already jumped to third. Later that lap, Ribeiro spun after making contact with Connor Roberts, bringing out the yellow flag. Sherlock took the lead as soon as the race restarted and kept it throughout the race, with Ambiado passing Barrett Wolfe on the final lap to follow him home.

Having set the fastest lap in race one, Ambiado secured pole for race two but pulled off on the formation lap and had to start from pit lane. Sherlock thus inherited first as Ribeiro, Wolfe, Golan and Daniel Quimby battled for second t until Sherlock, who had a 6.5-second gap over second, had to retire the car with an engine failure. Golan, who had spun in the early stages of the race, overtook Wolfe for first place after Sherlock’s retirement and went on to secure his and Toney Driver Development’s first win in the championship.

At the start of race three, polesitter Jett Bowling had a great start and kept the lead with Ribeiro and Ambiado behind him. Behind them, Alex Benavitz went off at Turn 4 on the opening lap and got stuck on the puddle-filled grass, causing a safety car period.

After the race restarted, Ribeiro, Ambiado and Sherlock fought for second, with Bowling keeping the lead. Ambiado took second place from Ribeiro with six minutes remaining after a  side-by-side battle, then overtook a struggling Bowling with only two minutes left. The Chilean kept the lead for the rest of the race and took his second win in the series.

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Nicolas Ambiado, 1:32.658	Bruno Ribeiro, +0.147s	Nicolas Stati, +0.270s
Race 1 (9 laps)	Titus Sherlock, 26:19.660	Nicolas Ambiado, +0.594s	Barrett Wolfe, +1.895s
Race 2 (14 laps)	Brady Golan, 23:58.429	Nicolas Ambiado, +0.932s	Bruno Ribeiro, +1.792s
Race 3 (16 laps)	Nicolas Ambiado, 29:34.038	Jett Bowling, +1.253s	Bruno Ribeiro, +1.991s

Standings	Drivers	Teams
P1	Nicolas Ambiado, 52	Kiwi Motorsport, 89
P2	Brady Golan, 37	Crosslink Motorsports, 51
P3	Bruno Ribeiro, 30	Toney Driver Development, 44
P4	Titus Sherlock, 24.5	Atlantic Racing Team, 28.5
P5	Jett Bowling, 22	Jensen Global Advisors, 6
P6	Daniel Quimby, 18	Momentum Motorsports, 1
P7	Barrett Wolfe, 16.5	Atlantic Racing Team with Team Roberts, 0
P8	Alex Benavitz, 16
P9	Nicolas Stati, 12
P10	James Lawley, 10.5

Report by Laura Anequini

F4 US: Returning winner Popow takes early lead with two victories

Alex Popow continued his dominant form from the F4 US season finale last year to take two wins at NOLA Motorsports Park, spoiling the party of recently split teams Crosslink Motorsports and Kiwi Motorsport.

Kekai Hauanio set the fastest time in qualifying on Friday followed by Cooper Shipman and Alex Popow. After the session finished, however, technical staff reported that Hauanio had used sticker tyres during practice two, in violation of the series’ tyre rules. Hauanio received a five-position drop in qualifying, meaning Shipman inherited pole position.

Now starting the race sixth, Hauanio jumped to fourth on the first green-flag lap of race one as Popow overtook Shipman for the lead on the rolling start. Both drivers continued to fight for first throughout the race, but Hauanio behind started to close the gap after passing Clemente Huerta for third.

The Floridian eventually overtook Popow, who had since fallen to second, in Turn 1 halfway through the race. With nine minutes left in the race, Caleb Campbell went off track and got stuck in the grass, leading to a safety car deployment. The top three fought for the lead as the safety car was withdrawn, and Hauanio was the one who crossed the finish line first after passing Shipman for first on the safety car restart.

The three drivers started race two in the top three positions, but Popow took the race lead from polesitter Shipman on the first lap as the field reached Turn 4. Hauanio, who struggled to keep second place and was eventually overtaken by Shipman with 10 minutes remaining, though Popow was nearly seven seconds in front by that point. The Texan finished 9.722s behind Popow in the end.

Race three had a rolling start, with Popow in the lead followed by Shipman and Huerta, who overtook Hauanio at the start. Five minutes into the race, however, Huerta spun on his own and lost two positions but managed to stay on track. 

Popow and Shipman were in a league of their own out front and crossed the line in that order. Campbell eventually joined the battle for third and took the position on the penultimate lap, but Huerta secured the spot on the final lap by overtaking both the Canadian and Florida’s Hauanio, who finished fourth.

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Kekai Hauanio, 1:39.178	Alex Popow, +0.976s	Caleb Campbell +1.075s
Race 1 (13 laps)	Kekai Hauanio, 26:19.660	Cooper Shipman, +0.465s	Alex Popow, +0.890s
Race 2 (15 laps)	Alex Popow, 25:15.984	Cooper Shipman, +9.722s	Kekai Hauanio, +13.415s
Race 3 (15 laps)	Alex Popow, 29:30.185	Cooper Shipman, +0.687s	Clemente Huerta, +9.464s

Standings	Drivers	Teams
P1	Alex Popow, 65	Kiwi Motorsports, 93
P2	Cooper Shipman, 54	Crosslink Motorsports, 72
P3	Kekai Hauanio, 52	MLT Motorsports, 65
P4	Clemente Huerta, 39	LC Racing Academy, 24
P5	Caleb Campbell, 24	Rase Motorsports, 22
P6	Ty Arbogast, 22	Scuderia Buell, 14
P7	Demitri Nolan, 20
P8	Conor Grant, 14
P9
P10

Report by Laura Anequini 

Ligier Junior Formula Championship: Irazú takes two wins as rookies shine

Champagne Racing’s Gastón Irazú took two victories in the first round of the renamed Ligier Junior Formula Championship at NOLA Motorsport Park as rookies delivered most of the weekend’s strongest performances.

Daniel Cará of the family-run Cará Origin Motorsports team secured pole in qualifying by 0.285 seconds over Uruguay’s Irazú, who was later found to have used sticker tyres and was demoted to seventh.

When race one started, Cará had a false start and subsequently stopped on the line, and Berg Racing’s Harbir Dass jumped to the lead. He and teammate Drew Szuch fought for the lead as Irazú climbed the field. The defending Formula FARA champion was already third after the first safety car restart, and he earned another position with 12 minutes left in the race when Szuch reportedly hit a bump that knocked his engine cover loose and shut off his car. With 10 minutes remaining, Irazú passed Dass, who was passed by a recovering Cará two laps later.

The trio crossed the finishing line in that order, but Cará received a five-second penalty for his false start, dropping behind Dass.

Irazú started race two from pole, but Szuch, who started fifth, climbed through the field to second. With 11 minutes left, Szuch overtook Irazú for the lead, and a safety car was deployed shortly after as Roman Felber went off track. The race finished under safety car conditions, with Szuch, Irazú and Dass completing the top three.

Though Irazú started first for race three, Max Mokarem got the best start to jump from fourth to first. Irazú regained the lead a few corners later, while Cará closed the gap on Dass for third position and passed him on the second lap. Nobody caught Irazú by the end of the race, and he won with a 7.381-second gap over Cará as Mokarem took his first podium of the weekend.

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Daniel Cará, 1:42.082	Gastón Irazú, +0.285s	Augusto Paschetta, +0.427s
Race 1 (13 laps)	Gastón Irazú, 24:24.618	Harbir Dass, +6.526s	Daniel Cará, +8.583s
Race 2 (10 laps)	Drew Szuch, 24:35.358	Gastón Irazú, +0.639s	Harbir Dass, +1.210s
Race 3 (17 laps)	Gastón Irazú, 29:35.735	Daniel Cará, +7.381s	Max Mokarem, +13.146s

Standings	Drivers	Teams
P1	Gastón Irazú, 68	Champagne Racing, 90
P2	Daniel Cará, 45	Berg Racing, 80
P3	Harbir Dass, 43	Cará Origin Motorsports, 45
P4	Drew Szuch, 37	Scuderia Buell, 30
P5	Augusto Paschetta, 30	Momentum Motorsports, 23
P6	Max Mokarem, 23	Ava Hanssen Racing, 14
P7	Cash Felber, 20	Jensen, 11
P8	Ava Hanssen, 14	LC Racing Academy, 2
P9	Roman Felber, 8	Crosslink Motorsports, 1
P10	Zach Fourie, 7

Report by Laura Anequini

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency