A variety of Formula 4 series raced around the world on a weekend punctuated by breakthrough triumphs and plenty of off-track chaos. Feeder Series reviews the action.

By Feeder Series

As the bigger single-seater racing series took a break this weekend, lower-level championships got their moment in the sun.

The most prominent of those, British F4, ventured north to Knockhill, where Rowan Campbell-Pilling broke his victory duck and Fionn McLaughlin extended his championship lead despite a collision with title rival Martin Molnár in race three.

A familiar face in Rio Shimono dominated Kyojo Cup’s third round of the season at Fuji Speedway, but it was all change in NACAM F4. The Alessandros Racing–Campos Racing partnership brought Spanish F4 regular Vivek Kanthan to the grid, and he took his maiden single-seater victory Friday in race one before Alex Bobadilla and Marco Alquicira notched their first wins this season on Saturday. And on SMP F4’s second visit to Moscow Raceway, Artem Severiukhin won all three races on his comeback to the series after missing the previous round because of a clash with his Italian F4 campaign.

There were also several series racing that Feeder Series does not cover in detail or could not cover because of the absence of publicly accessible race footage. 

AU4’s third round of the season took place at Phillip Island, with new entry Xavier Babbage-Hockey joining the grid in the Gen1 class with AGI Sport. Gen2 driver Noah Killion crossed the line first in all three races, but a penalty cost him the race two victory and handed it to points leader Isaac McNeill. Over in Gen1, Jensen Marold continued his dominant run with another clean sweep, keeping his unbeaten record intact. Read the previous round’s report here.

Out in India, the first race of the Indian F4 season began at Kari Motor Speedway this weekend. The chaos began on Friday following reported delays in getting the cars out to the circuit, which meant the round was cut from three races to two and all competitive sessions were held on Sunday. Thirteen drivers competed, with Vasilis Apostilidis coming out on top in the championship with 43 points after a win in race one along with pole position and the fastest lap. Ishaan Madesh follows three points behind him thanks to a win in race two.

Additional reporting by Anabelle Bremner and Grayson Wallace

1. British F4: Campbell-Pilling takes maiden win as title rivals collide
2. F4 NACAM: Three new winners shine on Mexico City GP layout 
3. Kyojo Cup: Shimono sweeps third round, builds largest points gap of the season

British F4: Campbell-Pilling takes maiden win as title rivals collide

After enduring continued struggles with false starts from the front row, Rowan Campbell-Pilling finally took his maiden single-seater victory in the final British F4 race at Knockhill. 

Shaking off a double retirement at Zandvoort, Hitech’s Thomas Bearman took his first pole position, just 0.061 seconds ahead of Campbell-Pilling, in an interrupted qualifying session that left several drivers struggling to warm their tyres as the clock ticked down. Once again, title rivals Fionn McLaughlin and Martin Molnár looked evenly matched on pace, qualifying fourth and fifth respectively, 0.009s apart.

JHR Developments’ Campbell-Pilling had pole for race one, but as was the case at the British Grand Prix and Oulton Park, he jumped the start, earning a 10-second penalty. Behind him, McLaughlin got the jump on Bearman to slot into second. 

As a queue formed behind Rodin Motorsport’s Jimmy Piszcyk in fourth, Molnár began to work his way up from row five in an effort to protect his championship hopes. 

The battle for fourth helped Campbell-Pilling build enough of a lead to maintain a podium finish once his penalty was applied, while McLaughlin and Bearman collected a Hitech 1-2. Molnár ultimately finished fifth, one spot ahead of Piszcyk.

In race two, Adam Al Azhari got a rapid launch off the line and snatched the lead away from polesitter August Raber into Duffus Dip, before contact between Alba Larsen and Henry Joslyn behind brought out the safety car. 

As the safety car pitted on lap eight, Raber found himself under intense pressure from Xcel Motorsport’s Chase Fernandez. Despite a lock-up for Raber into the Taylor’s hairpin, Fernandez could not find a way through, inviting Challenge Cup leader Tommy Harfield into the mix.

Having passed Fernandez and Raber on laps 10 and 15 respectively, Harfield began to chase Al Azhari for the lead. He set the fastest lap in the process but could not close the gap in the remaining time, crossing the line 0.947s adrift of the Rodin driver. 

Bearman and Campbell-Pilling lined up on the front row once more for race three, with Campbell-Pilling again taking a sizeable lead into the first corner. This time, however, there was no question regarding the legality of the JHR driver’s start. 

Contact further back between Al Azhari and Fernandez, along with a stall on the grid for Ethan Jeff-Hall in third, brought out the safety car. Strong restarts for both Campbell-Pilling and Bearman gave the leading pair free air to push forward, while third-placed McLaughlin faced pressure from Molnár behind. 

After a second safety car deployment on lap 10 to clear Henry Mercier’s crashed Argenti, Molnár continued to apply pressure to McLaughlin while having to fend off a growing pack that included Ary Bansal and CDR’s Harfield. 

With tensions high in the battle for third, Molnár lunged down McLaughlin’s inside into Taylor’s on lap 21 of 23. As they turned onto the pit straight, Molnár’s rear-left tyre clipped McLaughlin’s front-right, sending both cars spinning across the track. 

Piszcyk had to take avoiding action across the grass, dropping out of the points-paying positions in the process and costing him a chance to make up ground in the championship.

Through the chaos, Campbell-Pilling and Bearman ran uninterrupted to the chequered flag, with Bansal slotting into third as the dust settled on the Molnár–McLaughlin incident. 

Report by Gavin Guthrie

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Thomas Bearman, 48.271	Rowan Campbell-Pilling, +0.061s	Ethan Jeff-Hall, +0.159s
Race 1 (20 laps)	Fionn McLaughlin, 16:27.036	Thomas Bearman, +2.131s	Rowan Campbell-Pilling, +6.545s
Race 2 (20 laps)	Adam Al Azhari, 20:21.623	Tommy Harfield, +0.947s	August Raber, +4.416s
Race 3 (23 laps)	Rowan Campbell-Pilling, 21:48.016	Thomas Bearman, +1.631s	Ary Bansal, +5.239s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies	Challenge Cup
P1	Fionn McLaughlin, 247.5	Hitech, 399.5	Fionn McLaughlin, 369	Tommy Harfield, 317.5
P2	Martin Molnár, 207	Rodin Motorsport, 319	Thomas Bearman, 245.5	Ella Lloyd, 218.5
P3	Jimmy Piszcyk, 190	Argenti Motorsport, 239	Theo Palmer, 188	Ary Bansal, 175
P4	Henry Joslyn, 149	Virtuosi Motorsport, 232	Cole Hewetson, 174	Alba Larsen, 167
P5	Tommy Harfield, 147	Fortec Motorsport, 206	Xavier Avramides, 170	Charlie Edge, 162
P6	August Raber, 133	JHR Developments, 137.5	Henry Mercier, 154.5	Salim Hanna, 65
P7	Thomas Bearman, 131.5	Chris Dittmann Racing, 125	Alba Larsen, 120	Arjen Kräling, 57
P8	Adam Al Azhari, 126	Xcel Motorsport, 111.5	Charlie Edge, 92	Thomas Ingram Hill, 44
P9	Ethan Jeff-Hall, 111		Arjen Kräling, 56	Harri Reynolds, 39
P10	Rowan Campbell-Pilling, 101.5		Salim Hanna, 53	Joseph Smith, 24

Read the previous round’s report here.

F4 NACAM: Three new winners shine on Mexico City GP layout 

F4 NACAM finished its fourth round of the season this weekend on the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez’s grand prix layout with three new winners as championship leader Zaky Ibrahim failed to finish on the podium in any of the three races.

Newcomer Vivek Kanthan of the Campos-partnered Alessandros Racing squad topped the standings in practice one, with teammate Fernando Luque being the fastest on practice two. Luque repeated the feat in qualifying, taking pole by 0.159 seconds over Fernando Rivera, who also joined the grid for the first time this season.

In race one, which wasn’t streamed, Kanthan shined on debut to win his first race in single-seaters. Behind the Campos Spanish F4 driver, Marco Alquicira and Alan Zezatti completed the podium.

Alex Bobadilla started from pole in race two. With a clean start, he managed to keep the lead despite being side by side with Zezatti through the Moisés Solana Esses on the first lap.

The front two, along with Kanthan and Elías Vignola, broke away from the rest of the field on lap one. Kanthan then went wide through Turn 6 on lap two, dropping from third to last and pitting at the end of the lap with damage.

The next lap, Rivera started to gain pace, and he went from fifth to third on lap five after Zezatti and Luque both went off at the opening chicane. By lap seven, Rivera had closed the gap to Zezatti in second and passed him down the front straight. Three laps later, Vignola made contact with Zezatti while trying to pass him at Turn 1, falling to ninth.

In the end, Bobadilla crossed the finish line first after 17 laps, followed by Rivera and Luque, who overtook Vignola for third around the outside of Turn 4 on lap 13.

In the last race of the weekend, there was already chaos on the first lap. Zezatti and Bobadilla made contact in the first corner, leading to a yellow flag – which became a safety car by the end of the lap – and Zezatti’s retirement from the race. Alquicira was leading at the time, with Luque and Kanthan following.

After two laps under safety car conditions, the race resumed. At the restart, Alquicira kept the lead and, despite being attacked by Luque soon after, got the better opening lap. From there, the race continued smoothly, with the three drivers on the first lap being the ones to finish on the podium at the end. Alquicira’s victory was his first in the series since he won at Querétaro in September 2023.

F4 NACAM is scheduled to return in September, racing in Puebla. Despite not standing out this weekend and finishing only fifth, sixth and fourth in the three races, Ibrahim continues to lead the standings, followed by Luque and José Martínez.

Points totals for the drivers and teams are provisional and not yet published by the championship, which did not return Feeder Series’ request for confirmation of the standings at the time of publication.

Report by Laura Anequini

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Fernando Luque, 1:47.720	Fernando Rivera, +0.159s	Zaky Ibrahim, +0.395s
Race 1 (15 laps)	Vivek Kanthan, 30:25.751	Marco Alquicira, +1.820s	Alan Zezatti, +4.401s
Race 2 (17 laps)	Alejandro Bobadilla, 30:45.014	Fernando Rivera, +7.333s	Fernando Luque, +12.408s
Race 3 (15 laps)	Marco Alquicira, 30:20.528	Fernando Luque, +3.290s	Vivek Kanthan, +4.464s

Standings	Drivers	Teams
P1	Zaky Ibrahim, 205	Alessandros Silver, 300
P2	Fernando Luque, 165	Ram Racing 1, 281
P3	José Martinez, 143	Alessandros Blue, 251
P4	Alex Bobadilla, 135	Ram Racing 2, 172
P5	Marco Alquicira, 125	Santinel Racing Team, 125
P6	Elías Vignola, 89	HRI Racing, 16
P7	Alan Zezatti, 83
P8	Max Mora, 76
P9	Vivek Kanthan, 41
P10	Alex Popow, 40

Read the previous round’s report here.

Kyojo Cup: Shimono sweeps third round, builds largest points gap of the season

Rio Shimono returned to the top step of the rostrum in the third round, collecting her third and fourth wins of the season to consolidate her championship lead.

Ahead of the weekend, the series decided to deactivate the hybrid system of the KCMG-01 cars following issues Shimono and her Team Impul with Dr.Dry outfit suffered with the system in the second round that could not yet be resolved. 

TOM’S’ Aimi Saito was fastest in qualifying, finishing 0.306 seconds ahead of Aiwin’s Itsumo Shiraishi and 0.404s ahead of Shimono. Team KCMG’s Miki Onaga, who entered the round level on points with Shimono, experienced issues and did not set a lap in qualifying. 

Saito led the pack out of the first corner in the sprint race, while Shimono passed Shiraishi around the outside of Turn 1 to take second. 

The rain began to fall on lap four, and it came as a surprise for Saito up front. She spun on her own and hit the wall on the inside exiting the final corner. Further behind, multiple drivers from the midfield spun as well.

The safety car was called on lap five, but the race was red flagged later that lap as the rain intensified.

The safety car led the field for two laps following the red flag, and the race resumed at the end of lap seven with all drivers still on slick tyres. Shimono had a great getaway and had already pulled a 1.647s gap over Shiraishi as they crossed the line.

Meanwhile, Shiraishi lost her second position to Inging’s Riona Tomishita at Turn 1, while Rookie’s Mako Hirakawa demoted her to fourth at Turn 10. Hirakawa then overtook Tomishita for second on lap nine.

After 10 laps, Shimono won the race ahead of Hirakawa and Tomishita. Onaga, who started the race from last position, fought her way up to fifth at the flag but received a 30-second time penalty post-race for a false start. Saito was the final finisher in 19th, one lap down.

There were no position changes at the front at the start of Sunday’s final race as Shimono kept her lead ahead of Hirakawa and Tomishita. 

On lap three, Team KCMG’s Rami Sasaki attacked Tomishita for third around the outside of Turn 1 and positioned herself on the inside for Turn 3 to overtake her. Sasaki then closed in on Hirakawa on lap five and passed her down the inside of Turn 1 on lap six. 

On lap 10, Tomishita attacked Hirakawa around the outside of Turn 1 but had a slower exit than her rival. On the following lap, Tomishita managed to make the pass at the same spot.

Out front, Shimono won the final race, 3.251s ahead of Sasaki and 6.070s ahead of Tomishita, and extended her championship lead to 26 points over Onaga. The KCMG driver came sixth in the final race, having started 16th, while race one polesitter Saito finished the race 10th having started 19th. 

Report by Finjo Muschlien

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Aimi Saito, 1:45.792	Itsumo Shiraishi, +0.306s	Rio Shimono, +0.404s
Sprint race (10 laps)	Rio Shimono, 39:44.665	Mako Hirakawa, +3.337s	Riona Tomishita, +4.166
Final race (12 laps)	Rio Shimono, 21:28.566	Rami Sasaki, +3.251s	Riona Tomishita, +6.070s

Standings	Drivers
P1	Rio Shimono, 83
P2	Miki Onaga, 57
P3	Aimi Saito, 36
P4	Kokoro Sato, 35
P5	Mako Hirakawa, 30
P6	Rami Sasaki, 26
P7	Riona Tomishita, 25
P8	Ayumu Nagai, 18
P9	Itsumo Shiraishi, 16
P10	Kilei Kanemoto, 12

Read the previous round’s report here.

Header photo credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography