As Formula 1 and its support series raced in Bahrain and IndyCar went to California, F4 CEZ started its season at the Red Bull Ring while the three USF Pro Championships series basked in the Louisiana sunshine. Get caught up on the racing action you may have missed from this weekend.

By Feeder Series

Last time out at St Petersburg, half of USF Pro 2000’s grid was involved in an accident in one of the two races. But in a remarkable change of pace, not one driver retired from the series’ three races at NOLA Motorsports Park this weekend because of racing incidents, with similarly clean racing observed in USF2000 and USF Juniors further down the ladder. That mirrored the surprising lack of both retirements and full-course cautions at Long Beach in IndyCar, which the USF package usually supports.

The Central European Zone’s F4 championship also began this weekend at the Red Bull Ring as part of the ESET Cup Series package. The 22-car grid featured a number of single-seater debutants, including Andreas Lo Bue, who joined mid-weekend after turning 15, the series’ minimum age, on Sunday. Later that day, the series’ YouTube channel, which housed the race streams, was inexplicably deleted.

While F2 and F3 are not covered in this report, keep an eye out for separate articles reviewing each series’ Bahrain rounds, to be released later today.

1. USF Pro 2000: Garcia and De Tullio lock out top two places as title fight develops
2. USF2000: McNeilly takes maximum points and extends win streak to eight
3. USF Juniors: Wheldon takes narrow lead with triple podium finish
4. F4 CEZ: Harrison dominates Spielberg opener as Viisoreanu excels on damp track

USF Pro 2000: Garcia and De Tullio lock out top two places as title fight develops

Pabst Racing’s Max Garcia remains the USF Pro 2000 championship leader with a win and two second places at NOLA, but Turn 3 Motorsport’s Alessandro de Tullio closed in on him after winning the first two races of the weekend and finishing second in the last.

Garcia, the field’s youngest driver, topped qualifying one despite sustaining left-rear suspension damage that forced him to abandon the session early. He led De Tullio from pole on lap one of the first race, but De Tullio lunged down the inside at Turn 4 on lap two and executed the overtake through the following triple right-hander.

Behind Mac Clark in third, a spirited battle for fourth place raged between as many as six cars on lap three. Pabst Racing’s Jacob Douglas ultimately prevailed and finished a second behind Clark in fourth, with TJ Speed Motorsport’s Ariel Elkin and the third Pabst car of Michael Costello completing the top six.

De Tullio had taken pole position for the second race and controlled the contest on Sunday morning, never relinquishing the race lead and defeating Garcia by 3.2358 seconds.

The reigning USF2000 champion faced intense pressure from Elkin in the second half of the race. On a chaotic opening lap, the Israeli driver passed Costello at Turn 4 and Douglas at Turn 7 to put himself third, and he set the fastest lap as he chased down the points leader. But Garcia resisted all of Elkin’s advances – including a bold round-the-outside passing attempt at Turn 10 on lap 13 – and crossed the line 0.4132s ahead.

Douglas took another fourth-place finish ahead of Max Taylor and Costello. Jace Denmark crossed the line seventh after having run as high as fifth on lap one, but he received a 10-second penalty after the race for making contact with Clark exiting Turn 4 on lap one and dropped to 11th.

The biggest setback De Tullio faced was having to start fourth for race three, but it took him all of four corners to rise to second. After passing Douglas at the rolling start and sweeping around the outside of a fast-starting Taylor at Turn 4, De Tullio set off in pursuit of Garcia.

The race was neutralised on lap six after Clark pulled off at Turn 5. De Tullio had a chance to seize the lead when the race restarted on lap eight, but he locked up at Turn 3, narrowly avoiding the back of Garcia’s car.

That error brought Taylor into the fray, but the VRD driver also locked up at the very next turn while attempting to go down the inside, giving De Tullio a better exit.

De Tullio remained within six tenths of Garcia for the rest of the race, finishing 0.2931s back as the chequered flag fell. With Taylor third and Douglas fourth, the top four in the race also mirrored the leading quartet in the standings, in which Garcia is now 16 points ahead of De Tullio and 52 ahead of Taylor.

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Max Garcia, 1:29.7842	Alessandro de Tullio, +0.0708s	Jacob Douglas, +0.2058s
Qualifying 2	Alessandro de Tullio, 1:29.2044	Max Garcia, +0.0434s	Michael Costello, +0.1659s
Race 1 (18 laps)	Alessandro de Tullio, 27:18.4827	Max Garcia, +0.8084s	Mac Clark, +8.3493s
Race 2 (18 laps)	Alessandro de Tullio, 27:30.9559	Max Garcia, +3.2358s	Ariel Elkin, +3.6490s
Race 3 (18 laps)	Max Garcia, 28.57.7877	Alessandro de Tullio, +0.2913s	Max Taylor, +2.2161s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Max Garcia, 141	Pabst Racing, 164	Max Garcia, 141
P2	Alessandro De Tullio, 125	Turn 3 Motorsport, 103	Max Taylor, 89
P3	Max Taylor, 89	VRD Racing, 75	Jacob Douglas, 81
P4	Jacob Douglas, 81	TJ Speed Motorsports, 65	Michael Costello, 68
P5	Mac Clark, 73	Exclusive Autosport, 57	Ariel Elkin, 60
P6	Michael Costello, 68	Jay Howard Driver Development, 28	Owen Tangavelou, 53
P7	Jace Denmark, 64	DEForce Racing, 22	Joey Brienza, 45
P8	Ariel Elkin, 60	Comet/NCMP Racing, 22	Sebastian Manson, 38
P9	Owen Tangavelou, 53	FatBoy Racing!, 20	Tanner DeFabis, 25
P10	Jorge Garciarce, 49		Carson Etter, 24

Report by Michael McClure

Read the previous round’s report here.

USF2000: McNeilly takes maximum points and extends win streak to eight

Liam McNeilly maintained his perfect record of race wins in USF2000, taking maximum points from the weekend as he stretched out a 51-point gap over an unwell Jack Jeffers.

In the first race, Jay Howard Driver Development’s McNeilly faced no challenge at either the start or the restart, which took place on lap eight after teammate Anthony Martella got stuck in the gravel on lap five.

At the start, the third JHDD of Brad Majman lost second place to Exclusive Autosport’s Jeffers into Turn 1, and the Australian spent much of the race trying to defend third place. Caleb Gafrarar got by briefly at Turn 4 on lap 11, but Majman kept him honest and retook the position into Turn 1 the following lap after running side by side with him for several corners.

The driver who finally denied Majman his maiden USF2000 podium, however, was Thomas Schrage, who started the race 10th. VRD Racing’s Schrage was already fifth by the safety car restart and manoeuvred his way past Gafrarar on lap 12 before stealing third place on the final lap.

Pabst Racing’s Gafrarar, outfoxed by Schrage at Turn 5 just after losing third to Majman, then suffered front wing damage while battling with teammate Argyros, who himself had a broken rear wing from contact with Sebastian Garzon. Gafrarar came home 16th, the final driver on the lead lap.

McNeilly started from pole again in race two but lost the lead to Exclusive’s Evan Cooley into the first corner. Perhaps more impressive, however, was Jeffers, who rose from eighth to third in the opening four corners despite locking up and running deep at Turn 4.

The British driver retook the lead from Cooley at Turn 10 on the second lap, two laps before the race’s sole full-course yellow due to VRD’s Ryan Giannetta, who ended up deep in the gravel at Turn 7.

At the restart at the end of lap seven, Schrage, running fourth, swept past Jeffers around the outside of Turn 1. Gafrarar also got by the Exclusive driver for fourth on lap 11.

Schrage continued his late-race charge and made the move for second on Cooley at the first corner on lap 13, leaving the 18-year-old to fend off Gafrarar across the line as McNeilly won by 5.7834 seconds.

The start of race three was waved off after Brady Golan pitted with an issue. When the field finally went green the next time by, Schrage tried his signature first-corner move on McNeilly but ran slightly deep, enabling the Briton to eke out a 1.1-second advantage in one lap. 

As the dominant McNeilly pulled away, Argyros in third closed in on Schrage and kept him honest for the remainder of the race, but the 15-year-old never found a way past and finished third. Meanwhile, having dispatched Cooley at Turn 4 just after the start, Jeffers took fourth to maintain his streak of top-five finishes.

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Liam McNeilly, 1:34.1783	Brad Majman, +0.1734s	Jack Jeffers, +0.3599s
Qualifying 2	Liam McNeilly, 1:33.4533	Evan Cooley, +0.3671s	Thomas Schrage, +0.4023s
Race 1 (15 laps)	Liam McNeilly, 27:50.8611	Jack Jeffers, +4.0295s	Thomas Schrage, +11.9896s
Race 2 (15 laps)	Liam McNeilly, 27:34.8526	Thomas Schrage, +5.7834s	Evan Cooley, +6.6322s
Race 3 (15 laps)	Liam McNeilly, 24:42.1018	Thomas Schrage, +7.7085s	G3 Argyros, +8.0244s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Liam McNeilly, 163	Jay Howard Driver Development, 147	Liam McNeilly, 163
P2	Jack Jeffers, 112	Exclusive Autosport, 127	Jack Jeffers, 112
P3	Thomas Schrage, 95	VRD Racing, 90	Evan Cooley, 85
P4	Evan Cooley, 85	Pabst Racing, 70	Teddy Musella, 65
P5	G3 Argyros, 68	DEForce Racing, 49	Caleb Gafrarar, 64
P6	Teddy Musella, 65	Benchmark Autosport, 25	Sebastian Garzon, 64
P7	Caleb Gafrarar, 64	Synergy Motorsport, 22	Jeshua Alianell, 60
P8	Sebastian Garzon, 64	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development, 20	Christian Cameron, 55
P9	Jeshua Alianell, 60		Brad Majman, 51
P10	Christian Cameron, 55		Anthony Martella, 47

Report by Michael McClure

Read the previous round’s report here.

USF Juniors: Wheldon takes narrow lead with triple podium finish

VRD Racing’s Oliver Wheldon holds a two-point lead in the USF Juniors standings after the opening round at NOLA Motorsports Park despite not winning a race.

Wheldon, who was only formally announced Thursday, took pole position for the first race, but Leonardo Escorpioni drew alongside on the rolling start and grabbed the lead from the 14-year-old into Turn 2. João Vergara, who had started fourth, immediately jumped ahead of Liam Loiacono, then swept around the outside of Wheldon for second place at Turn 9.

Wheldon lost momentum after his car bobbled through the corner, but he fended off Rodrigo Gonzalez for third and began chasing after the lead he lost.

But Vergara was also on the hunt for more, and by the end of lap five the top three were nose to tail again. Vergara made the move for first down the inside of Turn 10 on lap six, with Wheldon following him through at Turn 1 the next time by. The top three remained in that order, separated by just under 1.2 seconds as they crossed the line.

Liam Loiacono set a new track record in qualifying two with a 1:37.9763, but Wheldon, who was just four thousandths slower in the session, immediately stole the lead off the Australian by sweeping around the outside of Turn 1. Escorpioni snagged second at Turn 3 and set off after Wheldon, taking the lead on the inside of Turn 4 on the next lap as the VRD driver dropped to third.

The Zanella Racing driver extended his advantage to almost four seconds by the flag, but there were several position changes behind. Wheldon got second from Loiacono into Turn 1 on lap five but lost the position again to the Australian at Turn 10 on lap eight. Ty Fisher then got third position from him at the same spot, with DEForce Racing’s Vilho Aatola and Vergara also closing in and swapping positions themselves the next lap.

All appeared settled until the final corners of the final lap, when Wheldon got third place back from Fisher.

The Canadian had his best chance yet at redemption in race three from pole position. He got a good launch but conceded first place to teammate Escorpioni into Turn 3.

The Brazilian, however, suddenly slowed just after starting the second lap, and a full-course caution later that lap for Michael Suco’s and Connor Aspley’s beached cars closed the pack up again.

Fisher took off at the restart at the end of lap five as Aatola tried to pass Vergara at Turn 1. The Finn couldn’t make it stick and lost third place to Vergara through Turns 8 and 9. Loiacono also tried to get by at Turn 10 but ran deep and lost a pace to Rodrigo Gonzalez. 

The race ended under a full-course yellow caused by Emma Scarbrough’s off on lap 10. Fisher led Wheldon and Vergara across the line, and the trio are separated by just four points in the drivers’ standings.

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Oliver Wheldon, 1:39.0639	Leonardo Escorpioni, +0.1508s	Liam Loiacono, +0.3365s
Qualifying 2	Liam Loiacono, 1:37.9763	Oliver Wheldon, +0.0041s	Ty Fisher, +0.0536s
Race 1 (12 laps)	João Vergara, 19:58.2910	Oliver Wheldon, +0.4766s	Leonardo Escorpioni, +1.1966s
Race 2 (12 laps)	Leonardo Escorpioni, 19:53.8277	Liam Loiacono, +3.8937s	Oliver Wheldon, +5.0851s
Race 3 (12 laps)	Ty Fisher, 27:19.9132	Oliver Wheldon, +1.0568s	João Vergara, +2.0960s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Oliver Wheldon, 74	VRD Racing, 98	Oliver Wheldon, 74
P2	Ty Fisher, 72	Zanella Racing, 89	Ty Fisher, 72
P3	João Vergara, 70	Jay Howard Driver Development, 46	Liam Loiacono, 56
P4	Liam Loiacono, 56	DEForce Racing, 45	Vilho Aatola, 40
P5	Leonardo Escorpioni, 54	Exclusive Autosport, 12	Brenden Cooley, 33
P6	Rodrigo Gonzalez, 46	Pole Position Motorsports, 12	Karel Staut, 31
P7	Diego Guiot, 42	InterMS, 10	Harry Moss, 20
P8	Vilho Aatola, 40		Matan Achituv, 19
P9	Brenden Cooley, 33		Emma Scarbrough, 15
P10	Karel Staut, 31		Kaylee Countryman, 15

Report by Michael McClure

F4 CEZ: Harrison dominates Spielberg opener as Viisoreanu excels on damp track

Jenzer Motorsport’s Bart Harrison dominated the F4 CEZ season opener at the Red Bull Ring, taking pole in the sole qualifying session and winning the first two races from the front row. The Briton was only beaten in race three as he finished third behind Luca Viisoreanu and Gino Trappa, who became the first driver since Reno Francot in 2023 to finish all three races of a round in second place.

Trappa lined up second on the grid for race one alongside Harrison, but both had a slow start, with the Argentine falling to fourth and the Briton being attacked by Chase Fernandez.

The AS Motorsport driver’s charge in the opening laps, however, was interrupted when he went wide at the exit of Turn 3 following a safety car restart, enabling Trappa to slip past for second position and for Harrison to pull away from the pack.

With the race remaining green until the end, Harrison pulled a gap of 8.560 seconds over Trappa to take his first win in single-seaters. Behind them, Fernandez finished within a second of Trappa to take his first overall podium in F4.

Things played out even better for Jenzer in race two as both Harrison and Trappa got a good start. As the opening lap came to an end, Fernandez and Real Racing’s Viisoreanu tangled for third place at Turn 9, putting both cars out of the race. On the next lap, Mathilda Paatz went off at Turn 4, bringing out the safety car.

Harrison and Trappa pulled away at the restart and remained unchallenged to finish 1-2 for the second consecutive race, as Maffi Racing’s David Walther edged out Teo Schropp to take his first F4 podium.

Race three was declared wet and the first two laps were held behind the safety car, but the track dried quickly as the race went on. 

Polesitter Viisoreanu, the only car on dry tyres, fell to fourth in the wet conditions, but on lap seven he regained the three places he had lost. He then made the most of the two-lap shootout to take victory by 8.430 seconds over Trappa and Harrison, who won out in a four-way photo finish with Max Karhan, Javier Herrera and Hady-Noah Mimassi.

Viisoreanu’s victory was the first for both team and driver in single-seaters, and the Romanian stood on the top step of the podium at the same track where he scored the team’s best result last year of fifth. 

Though only two of Jenzer’s seven drivers made it on the podium this weekend, the team are currently atop the standings by 82 points over Real Racing, while Harrison leads Trappa by 11 points. 

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Bart Harrison, 1:32.156	Gino Trappa, +0.313s	Luca Viisoreanu, +0.422s
Race 1 (15 laps)	Bart Harrison, 26:06.897	Gino Trappa, +8.560s	Chase Fernandez, +9.186s
Race 2 (16 laps)	Bart Harrison, 25:54.021	Gino Trappa, +1.316s	David Walther, +8.902s
Race 3 (12 laps)	Luca Viisoreanu, 25:40.261	Gino Trappa, +8.430s	Bart Harrison, +11.853s

Standings	Drivers	Teams
P1	Bart Harrison, 65	Jenzer Motorsport, 119
P2	Gino Trappa, 54	Real Racing, 37
P3	Luca Viisoreanu, 37	Maffi Racing, 28
P4	Max Karhan, 30	AS Motorsport, 15
P5	Javier Herrera, 28	Renauer Motorsport, 10
P6	David Walther, 23	Zengő Motorsport, 2
P7	Nicolas Cortés, 18	Mathilda Racing, 1
P8	Chase Fernandez, 15	Janik Motorsport, 0
P9	Teo Schropp, 12	F4 CEZ Academy, 0
P10	Hady-Noah Mimassi, 10	Henni Performance, 0

Report by Marco Albertini

Header photo credit: Gavin Baker