Euroformula Open enters its 25th season of competition and its 12th under its current name with a new team and an increased grid size compared to last season. Feeder Series tells you everything you need to know about the upcoming Euroformula Open season.

By Marco Albertini

Founded as the Spanish F3 Championship in 2001, the GT Sport–run series is the effective successor to the heritage Formula 3 series as it uses evolutions of the Dallara F312, which was used in the first five seasons of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship.

Last season, Brad Benavides took the title with a round to spare by winning nine races across the 24 races. The American edged out current BVM Racing development driver Francesco Simonazzi by 86 points.

Last year was also the swan song of the Dallara 320 chassis. The series will switch to the Dallara 324, which is currently also being used by Super Formula Lights in Japan.

The switch was unveiled at a press conference held ahead of the Paul Ricard round in July, where it was also announced that the series would have just one engine supplier in Toyota after permitting open engine competition for years. Toyota’s new unit – the 1.6-litre, three-cylinder TGE33 developed by Toyota partner TOM’S – has also been used in Super Formula Lights since last year.

With the aim to increase grid sizes, the series attracted teams over the winter. One of them, Nielsen Racing, will join the championship with a three-car lineup for this week’s season opener in Portugal.

The calendar

This year’s calendar will feature all eight circuits that were present last year, with the only change of note being Spa swapping with Hockenheimring as the second round of the season.

• Round 1: Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, Portugal (26–27 April)
• Round 2: Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium (17–18 May)
• Round 3: Hockenheimring, Germany (7–8 June)
• Round 4: Hungaroring, Hungary (5–6 July)
• Round 5: Circuit Paul Ricard, France (19–20 July)
• Round 6: Red Bull Ring, Austria (6–7 September)
• Round 7: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Spain (20–21 September)
• Round 8: Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Italy (18–19 October)

The format

The race format remains the same for 2025. Every race weekend will begin with two practice sessions on Friday followed on Saturday by qualifying and race one. Races two and three will wrap up each round on Sunday.

Qualifying sets the grid for race one, while the starting order for race two is determined by reversing the top six finishers from race one. The order for race three is taken from qualifying as well, but with the top six reversed.

For all three races, the standard FIA points system is used, with 25 points to the winner down to one point for 10th place. One extra point is also awarded for pole position and the fastest lap. In addition, the series will continue to use drop scores, with the three worst results of every driver barring disqualifications being dropped in the final standings.

Where to watch

Viewers worldwide can tune into Euroformula Open races from the championship’s official YouTube channel. A variety of local viewing options, listed on Euroformula Open’s website, are also available in countries in Europe, North America, Asia and Oceania. Live timing for every round will be available at cronococa.com.

Teams and drivers

Team Motopark

Founded in 1998 by Timo Rumpfkeil, Motopark have been the team to beat in Euroformula Open ever since they joined it in 2019 following European F3’s demise. In six seasons, the German team won every drivers’ and teams’ championship with either the main Motopark or  satellite CryptoTower Racing Team entities, and they have run no fewer than three cars per round ever since they joined the championship.

Fernando Barrichello (#41), last season’s rookie champion, will return to Euroformula Open after scoring one win and four further podiums en route to third in points. Coming from a racing family as the younger son of former F1 driver Rubens Barrichello and brother of current FIA World Endurance Championship driver Eduardo Barrichello, the 19-year-old from São Paulo is also a winner in Brazilian F4, having raced there in 2022 and 2023. 

Seventeen-year-old Yevan David (#21) will stay with Motopark after winning at the season finale in Monza last year as he steps up from full-time F4 competition. David previously competed in Spanish F4 with Saintéloc Racing, taking a best result of seventh twice at both Jarama and Aragón to finish 19th in points, and took pole position for the FIA Motorsport Games’ F4 category in October. The Sri Lankan also competed in Eurocup-3 via a one-off appearance at the Zandvoort round, finishing 10th in race one and taking a rookie podium in race two by finishing seventh.

Mexican Diego de la Torre (#44) will join Motopark after spending 2024 driving for Saintéloc Racing in Eurocup-3, scoring a best result of 11th at Portimao and ending the season 24th in points.

Fellow Mexican José Garfias (#99) continues his partnership with the German team after scoring four podiums in the last nine races last season. Last year, the 20-year-old predominantly competed in Eurocup-3 for Saintéloc Racing, taking a best finish of fourth at Paul Ricard, before stopping his campaign early to switch to Euroformula Open. 

Twenty-year-old Michael Shin (#23) returns to Motopark following a partial season with the team last year. He won at both the Hockenheimring and the Red Bull Ring and was on the podium four more times in the 12 races he contested, on his way to sixth in points. Last year, the Seoul-born driver mainly raced in Eurocup-3, in which he scored four podiums and ended the season seventh in points. Prior to that, Shin raced in GB3 with Hitech and competed in the last three rounds of the 2023 F3 season for PHM Racing by Charouz.

American Everett Stack (#9) joins Motopark after a year spent racing for PHM in the UAE F4, Italian F4 and Euro 4 championships along with one-off appearances in F4 CEZ with the German team and Eurocup-3 for Palou Motorsport. Scoring just one point last year with a 10th-place finish in the third Paul Ricard race in Italian F4, Stack continued his partnership with PHM this winter by racing in FRegional Middle East. Scoring a best result of 15th twice, Stack finished 27th in the standings.

BVM Racing

Founded in 1993 by Antonio Bertoni, Bruno Vanni and Giuseppe Mazzotti, BVM Racing have competed in junior single-seaters since their inception. The team have eight drivers’ titles to their name in their 32-year history, mainly achieved in the Greek and Italian F3 championships. Entering what is now the Euroformula Open Championship in 2013, the Ravenna-based team initially left the championship ahead of the 2018 season but returned in late 2021 with Francesco Simonazzi. He had been their only driver until they took on a brand-new line-up consisting of two drivers for 2025.

Tymek Kucharczyk (#3) will join BVM after spending two years in GB3. The 19-year-old Polish driver finished third in the points for Hitech GP last year with four wins and seven further podiums from 23 races. The year before, Kucharczyk raced with Douglas Motorsport, scoring two podiums on his way to seventh in the standings. The Polish driver also finished third in Spanish F4 in 2022, having scored a lone win at Jerez for MP Motorsport.

Vladislav Ryabov (#4), last season’s surprise winner at Barcelona, will switch to BVM for his first full season in Euroformula Open, having competed in three rounds across 2023 and 2024. The 19-year-old previously raced in Spanish F4 for two seasons for GRS Team, scoring three podiums in 2021 on his way to eighth in the points.

Though Simonazzi was originally announced for the 2025 Euroformula Open season, the Reggio Emilia native will instead take on a role as development driver as he looks to help BVM understand the Dallara 324. The 21-year-old won eight times in his three full seasons in the series, with five of those coming in 2024 on his way to second in points behind Benavides.

Nielsen Racing

A staple in sports car competition, Nielsen Racing were founded in 2014 and since then have competed mostly in endurance series. The British team won the Asian Le Mans Series teams’ championship in both the LMP2 and LMP3 classes and also finished second in the LMP2 Pro-Am class of the 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Alongside their existing programme in the European Le Mans Series, in which they currently sit seventh in both the LMP2 and LMP2 Pro-Am standings, the team will make their single-seater debut with three drivers who are no strangers to junior formulae.

Finley Green (#69) competed in FR Middle East this winter for Pinnacle Motorsport, finishing 33rd in the standings with a best result of 18th at the second Yas Marina round of the season.

GB3 and Euroformula Open podium finisher Edward Pearson (#24) will join Nielsen Racing for his first full season in the series after racing for Motopark in both the Red Bull Ring and Barcelona rounds last season. In the six races he contested, Pearson was on the podium three times and only once finished outside the top five. Previously, the 18-year-old from Guildford competed in GB3 for Fortec Motorsport in 2023 and 2024, scoring two podiums in the former to finish 19th in points.

Another driver coming over from GB3 is Shawn Rashid (#32), who likewise spent two seasons in the series. The 29-year-old American scored a lone podium in the reverse-grid race of the second Silverstone round last year for VRD by Arden. Earlier this year, Rashid competed in the Formula Regional Oceania Championship for Mtec Motorsport, taking a best result of third in the reverse-grid race of the final round en route to ninth overall.

NV Racing

Paolo Troian Brajnik (#212) and NV Racing will return to Euroformula Open competition having contested seven races last season, scoring a best result of sixth in race one at Paul Ricard as the sole competitor in the Gold Cup. Over the past decade, the Serbian-Italian driver has also raced in several series run to Formula Libre regulations, most notably winning the 2016 Central European Zone F3 series and the 2022 F2000 Italian Formula Trophy.

Header photo credit: Euroformula Open