If you were busy watching other racing this weekend or enjoying Father’s Day yesterday, fear not – we’ve got you covered with your recap of everything that happened in junior single-seaters.

By Feeder Series

Formula 1’s Canadian Grand Prix and the World Endurance Championship’s 24 Hours of Le Mans naturally commanded the attention of many motorsport fans this weekend. Amid the drama of the former, 2024 F2 graduate and current Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli scored a third-place finish to become the 217th driver to score a podium in an F1 grand prix.

In the latter, the VDS Panis Racing LMP2 entry featuring Super Formula Lights driver Esteban Masson finished second overall for his first Le Mans class podium, which he shared with teammates Franck Perera and Oliver Gray. The support series wins in the Le Mans Cup were shared by Eurocup-3 graduate Theodor Jensen and Adrien Closmenil on Friday and by former FR Europe driver Léna Bühler and ex-F4 driver Matteo Quintarelli on Saturday. 

Each of the junior single-seater series that raced this weekend provided something different. Indy NXT’s first oval of 2025 at Gateway in Illinois turned on its head partway through, and FR Americas’ races at Indianapolis in neighbouring Indiana featured a first-time winner on the sole day of racing after a rainstorm washed out Saturday’s action. That variety contrasted with Zhang Shimo’s dominance in Chinese F4’s Zhuhai round. Read on to find out what happened in each series.

SMP F4 also held its second round of the season at Igora Drive, where Artem Severiukhin recovered from a challenging season opener to take two wins and a second-place finish and vault to the championship lead ahead of Kirill Kutskov and Yaroslav Shevyrtalov.

Finally, F1 Academy raced this weekend alongside F1 at Montréal, and Feeder Series was on the ground to capture the key storylines. You can read our review of the all-female series’ fourth round of 2025 on Tuesday.

1. Indy NXT: Hughes makes late surge to steal maiden oval victory from Collet
2. FRegional Americas: Ambiado takes points lead in rain-affected weekend
3. Chinese F4: Zhang dominates once again with four wins at Zhuhai

Indy NXT: Hughes makes late surge to steal maiden oval victory from Collet

For the first 50 laps of Indy NXT’s sixth race of 2025 at Gateway Motorsports Park, Lochie Hughes seemed destined for his worst finish of the season. But Hughes saved his best for last, displaying masterful race management in the closing 25 laps to pounce on the leaders as they fought lapped traffic before cruising to a 4.3521-second victory over Myles Rowe.

Polesitter and oval debutant Dennis Hauger and second-fastest qualifier Caio Collet were neck and neck through the opening three laps, but Collet had more pace and swept around Hauger exiting Turn 2 on lap four before stretching his advantage to nearly a second by the end of lap six. Salvador de Alba had threatened Collet at the start but lost the place to Myles Rowe at the end of the lap.

The gaps between the top six ebbed and flowed as they navigated lapped traffic, but there were no position changes until lap 46. Hughes was at this point running sixth, having lost a spot to Josh Pierson into Turn 3 on lap two, but was saving his pace for late. The Australian used HMD’s Davey Hamilton, making his first open-wheel start in seven years, as a pick to pass Pierson for fifth around the outside of Turn 1 that lap.

He then began hunting down teammate De Alba for fourth and succeeded on his first passing attempt on lap 55, using a strong exit from Turn 2 to sweep around the 25-year-old at Turns 3 and 4.

The high line proved to be the ace up Hughes’ sleeve, especially in navigating lapped traffic. While Collet, Hauger and Rowe comfortably lapped those up to Bryce Aron in 14th, Ricardo Escotto in 13th proved much harder to overhaul.

Stuck behind the Mexican, Rowe lost third to Hughes at Turn 3 on lap 60. The Australian closed on teammate Hauger at Turn 1 right after and snatched second two corners later.

Collet desperately sought a path past Escotto, but it was already too late. Hughes darted to his outside at Turn 1 and swept around him through Turn 2. He finally cleared Andretti by Cape’s Escotto at Turn 4 and put him, teammate Sebastian Murray and eventually Jordan Missig between himself and Collet in subsequent laps.

Rowe finally passed Hauger for third at Turn 1 on lap 66 and Collet for second three laps later at the same corner. From there, he too succeeded in passing Escotto on lap 71. By then, however, Hughes was long gone, and he romped to his second victory of 2025 ahead of Rowe and Collet.

De Alba had lost fifth to Pierson after sliding into the marbles at Turn 1 on lap 66, but he regained the position on lap 70 before passing a struggling Hauger for fourth on lap 73.

Despite losing that spot, Hauger still left Gateway with a 19-point lead – halved from 38 pre-weekend – over Hughes. Collet holds third, 59 points behind Hughes and eight ahead of Rowe.

Report by Michael McClure

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Dennis Hauger, 54.1639	Caio Collet, +0.1396s	Salvador de Alba, +0.3080s
Race (75 laps)	Lochie Hughes, 35:46.9565	Myles Rowe, +4.3521s	Caio Collet, +5.5196s

Standings	Drivers	Rookies
P1	Dennis Hauger, 273	Dennis Hauger, 273
P2	Lochie Hughes, 254	Lochie Hughes, 254
P3	Caio Collet, 195	Sebastian Murray, 109
P4	Myles Rowe, 186	Liam Sceats, 106
P5	Salvador de Alba, 167	Juan Manuel Correa, 84
P6	Josh Pierson, 162	Tommy Smith, 83
P7	Callum Hedge, 133	Hailie Deegan, 82
P8	Jordan Missig, 115	Evagoras Papasavvas, 77
P9	Sebastian Murray, 109	Nikita Johnson, 55
P10	Niels Koolen, 108	Max Taylor, 37

Read the previous round’s report here.

FRegional Americas: Ambiado takes points lead in rain-affected weekend

Kiwi Motorsports’ Nicolas Ambiado leads the Formula Regional Americas standings by six points over Titus Sherlock after winning race two on a weekend when rain caused the postponement of race three to next weekend at Mid-Ohio. 

Brady Golan set the fastest lap in the weekend’s sole qualifying session, but persistent rain on Saturday caused the originally scheduled opening race of the weekend to be postponed. The results of qualifying were still used to form the grid for the first of the two races on Sunday, both held in dry conditions.

Golan started on pole for what was now race one but quickly lost the lead to second-place starter Bowling, who overtook him around the outside of Turn 1. Golan’s opening lap went from bad to worse when he went off at Turn 7 after locking up. He rejoined the race in 12th.

As Bowling pulled away, Sherlock in second began to slow at the exit of Turn 2 on lap two. He pulled off the track at Turn 4. Barrett Wolfe then spun from ninth on the exit of Turn 2 on lap five, bringing out the race’s sole caution period. 

Bowling held off Ambiado’s attacks at the restart and stretched out his advantage as both Bruno Ribeiro and Nicolas Stati passed the Chilean down the start-finish straight with three laps remaining. They finished second and third respectively behind Bowling, who took his first FR Americas win after achieving 10 previous podiums. Ambiado and Alex Benavitz rounded out the top five, while Golan was classified ninth despite finishing the race in pit lane a lap early.

Ribeiro also took top honours in the rookie class, whilst 11th-place finisher Anthony Autiello won in the Masters Cup despite sustaining front wing damage on lap eight and falling four laps down.

Ambiado started on pole for race two, but as in the previous race, Bowling took the lead moments later, this time by passing Ribeiro off the line and Ambiado on the inside of Turn 1. But the Texan couldn’t pull away from the field, and Ambiado retook the lead four laps later by going around the outside of the same corner while Bowling had to fend off Ribeiro on exit.

The race remained incident-free until the end, and Ambiado kept Bowling at bay to take his second win of the season as Kiwi Motorsports locked out the podium with Ribeiro in third. The Brazilian was once again the top rookie in the race, whilst Kevin Janzen in 12th was the winner in the Masters Cup.

Just outside the overall podium, Sherlock rose from 13th to finish fourth ahead of Stati, but the 12 points he earned were not enough for him to retain the championship lead. Ambiado now leads by six points over Sherlock, seven over Ribeiro and 14 over Bowling.

Toney Driver Development’s Bijoy Garg finished eighth and seventh in his maiden appearance in the series. Teammate Golan finished one place ahead of Garg in race two in sixth.

Report by Marco Albertini

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Brady Golan, 1:22.227	Jett Bowling, +0.183s	Nicolas Ambiado, +0.226s
Race 1 (20 laps)	Jett Bowling, 31:04.831	Bruno Ribeiro, +3.066s	Nicolas Stati, +4.067s
Race 2 (22 laps)	Nicolas Ambiado, 30:46.876	Jett Bowling, +1.572s	Bruno Ribeiro, +2.088s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Nicolas Ambiado, 105	Kiwi Motorsports, 252	Bruno Ribeiro, 98
P2	Titus Sherlock, 99	Crosslink Motorsports, 150.5	Brady Golan, 72
P3	Bruno Ribeiro, 98	Toney Driver Development, 93	Nicolas Stati, 62
P4	Jett Bowling, 91	Atlantic Racing Team, 90	Daniel Quimby, 40
P5	Brady Golan, 72	Jensen Global Advisors, 6	Alex Benavitz, 29
P6	Nicolas Stati, 62	Momentum Motorsports, 3	Connor Roberts, 28.5
P7	Daniel Quimby, 40		Barrett Wolfe, 20.5
P8	Alex Benavitz, 29		Lincoln Day, 11
P9	Connor Roberts, 28.5		Jake Pollack, 5
P10	James Lawley, 23.5		Athan Sterling, 1

Read the previous round’s report here.

Chinese F4: Zhang dominates once again with four wins at Zhuhai

Zhang Shimo won all four races in Chinese F4 this weekend in Zhuhai, extending his points lead over Dai Yuhao to 86 with two rounds remaining as Kimi Chan impressed by setting the fastest time in both qualifying sessions. 

Wet weather affected the first race of the weekend, which began behind the safety car ahead of a rolling start. At the end of the first green-flag lap, Zhang made a move for the lead at Turn 11, overtaking both Ethan Ho and polesitter Chan around the outside of Turn 12. Separate incidents for Patrick Tsang and Yu Yan then brought out the safety car at the end of the next lap.

With 10 minutes remaining, Andrei Dubynin passed Chan to take third at the final corner, maintaining the position until the end of the race as Zhang defeated Ho out front. Wang Yi earned reverse-grid pole for the second race with a 10th-place finish.

Starting from 10th on the grid for race two, Zhang once again made up multiple positions on the first lap to run sixth as Ho and Cheng Meng both went into the gravel, bringing out the safety car. Zhang gained three places in the first two laps after the restart before a collision on lap nine between Dai and Chan, running first and second respectively, opened the door for Zhang to grab the lead.  

Chan, who had just missed out on a podium in the previous race, still finished second from seventh on the grid as Dubynin scored another third-place finish. 

Chan started on pole for race three and maintained the lead over Zhang for the majority of the race before the second safety car period was triggered with five minutes on the clock. At the restart on the final lap, Zhang took the opportunity to overtake Chan for the lead of the race with a move around the outside at Turn 2 as Chan nearly lost control of his car in Turn 3.

Chan then attempted to retake the lead from Zhang at the final corner but ran wide, giving Dai Yuhao a chance to capitalise on his mistake and overtake him for second. Viktor Turkin finished 10th to earn reverse-grid pole for the final race of the weekend. 

Zhang once again started race four from 10th but already made his way up to third on the first lap. Having passed Chen Sicong for second at Turn 11 on lap four, he made the same move the next lap to steal the lead from Cheng just before the safety car came out for Tiger Zhang’s off.

After controlling two safety car restarts, race leader Zhang eventually won with a five-second margin over Chan, who passed both Cheng and Chen in the closing laps to take second. Ho, who had originally finished fourth, was later disqualified, handing the place to Dubynin.  

Zhang continues to lead the standings and now has 258 points, 86 more than second-placed Dai. Chan rounds out the top three with 168 points.

Report by Kaylene Lau 

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Kimi Chan, 1:39.353	Ethan Ho, +0.585s	Dai Yuhao, +0.610s
Qualifying 2	Kimi Chan, 1:39.017	Zhang Shimo, +0.280s	Andrei Dubynin, +0.628s
Race 1 (16 laps)	Zhang Shimo, 32:23.892	Ethan Ho, +6.961s	Andrei Dubynin, +13.451s
Race 2 (17 laps)	Zhang Shimo, 31:47.621	Kimi Chan, +2.394s	Andrei Dubynin, +7.159s
Race 3 (17 laps)	Zhang Shimo, 33:44.910	Dai Yuhao, +0.356s	Kimi Chan, +0.715s
Race 4 (17 laps)	Zhang Shimo, 32:13.166	Kimi Chan, +5.024s	Chen Sicong, +6.892s

Standings	Drivers	Teams
P1	Zhang Shimo, 258	ACM Geeke Racing, 264
P2	Dai Yuhao, 172	Champ Motorsport, 228
P3	Kimi Chan, 168	One Motorsports, 178
P4	Andrei Dubynin, 118	Black Blade Racing, 165
P5	Chen Sicong, 99	Apollo RFN Racing Team by Blackjack, 124
P6	Ethan Ho, 70	Venom Motorsport, 108
P7	Wang Yi, 60	Team KRC, 70
P8	Wang Yuzhe, 59	Black Blade GP, 57
P9	Ryan Liu, 52	Venom Pole Motorsport, 5
P10	Cheng Meng, 33	Pointer Racing, 5

Read the previous round’s report here.

Header photo credit: James Black / Penske Entertainment