By the end of his rookie campaign in FRegional Europe last year, Enzo Deligny hadn’t scored a single podium and had lost the support of Red Bull. Six rounds into his sophomore season, he’s third in the standings with two wins and three further podiums. Feeder Series sat down with Deligny in the Imola paddock to discuss the secrets to his improvement.

By Francesca Brusa

At the start of 2025, Enzo Deligny was fresh off a split with the Red Bull Junior Team. He’d been a member of the programme for the entirety of his single-seater career until that point, but an underwhelming rookie season in FR Europe in 2024 led him to be dropped.

Speaking to Feeder Series at the time, the French-Chinese driver said he could definitely resume his partnership with Red Bull if he were to ‘perform well’ in 2025. His task? Make the most of his sophomore season in FR Europe and his first FR campaign in the Middle East, both with R-ace GP.

Six rounds into the 2025 FR Europe season, Deligny has claimed two victories and three further podiums so far. It was a marked upturn from his rookie campaign, in which he achieved several best finishes of fourth. 

“The first year was a bit tough for me here,” the 17-year-old told Feeder Series in the Imola paddock. “We struggled a lot with the engines overall last year. There was not much we could do.”

After that disappointment, there was a flash of greater potential in November’s FR World Cup in Macau, in which he finished fifth in the qualifying race and fourth in the main race as the event’s best rookie. Then in FR Middle East, he clinched a win in the penultimate race of the season and finished fifth overall with 147 points 

Though he said his experience in the Middle East was “still helpful”, the Shanghai native thought that his 2024 campaign in FR Europe was the most effective training ground.

“Once you have already the first year behind you, you’re an experienced driver,” he said. “For sure it helps to have more confidence for the races because you know everything a bit better.”

Deligny began his second year in the championship in exactly the same way as he did his first: by finishing 10th in race one and fourth in race two of the season opener, held at Misano this year. 

This was not enough to dash the Chinese-born racer’s hopes, as he knew that the potential ‘was a lot better’.

And so it was, because in the following round at Spa, Deligny proved himself right and claimed his first podium finish before taking his maiden win in the series.

In race one, he started on the front row alongside Prema Racing’s Freddie Slater. He overtook the British driver for the lead on the opening lap, only to lose two positions in the laps after the safety car restart.

The Frenchman, however, redeemed himself in race two. He fought for the lead until the penultimate lap, when he eventually snatched first position from Hiyu Yamakoshi to take home the win.

These results earned him provisional third place in the drivers’ standings. 

“It was quite a messy weekend with a lot of rain in the qualis, but I managed to do a good race,” he told Feeder Series. “It was a bit chaotic, the second race, but in the end I managed to win that race.”

In the series’ third round at Zandvoort, Deligny scored significant points for the championship with fifth and fourth, but it was at the Hungaroring that he returned to fight for positions that really matter.

In race one, he safely brought home a third-place finish after starting from the second row on the grid. The French-Chinese driver crossed the line third in race two as well, but that time, he had sprinted from pole position and led several laps throughout the race before dropping behind Slater and Al Dhaheri with apparent engine problems. 

Soon after, Deligny lost it all. Dangerous driving after the chequered flag earned him a post-race disqualification. He lost vital points to his nearest rival Pedro Clerot, who then snatched his spot in the standings after the Le Castellet round.

“It was definitely painful, because we were really quick on Sunday,” Deligny said. “We did the pole position, I started P1, stayed P1, I pulled away. Then I got an issue like five minutes from the end, which dropped me back to P2. Then I re-passed for P1 again, and then on the last laps of the race the issue was getting very bad. 

“My engine was cutting more and more, and I think one lap more I would have not been able to finish the race. And then after the race, I did a mistake. I was just going too quickly on the way to the podium. But I’ll for sure learn from that mistake and it’s done now, so just focus on the next ones.”

In his home race weekend at Le Castellet, the R-ace driver endured seventh- and tenth-place finishes. Then in Imola, the championship’s final round before the summer break, he was one of the protagonists. With a race win from pole position in race one and a second-place finish in race two, Deligny regained third place in the standings, with a 12-point gap over Van Amersfoort Racing’s Clerot. He is 46 points behind championship leader Slater and 30 behind second-placed Matteo De Palo.

“I feel like I’m quite a consistent driver,” he said. “Even in karting, I used to have good awareness, I’d say, of the situation. I wouldn’t go for crazy dive bombs or try some crazy stuff. It’s important to stay smooth when you’re driving and not try some crazy things on the last push of the quali lap. Overall, I feel like I’ve always been quite consistent.”

The reason Deligny has been able to fight at the front this year, he claims, is “the engine, but also the tyres”.

“There’s slightly different tyres this year, which I think we adapted well to them as a team,” he added.

Having raced for R-ace GP for two years now, the Shanghai-born driver also credits his team for his improvements.

“They’re French, we speak the same language,” he said. “They say the French do it the best, so we work together very well, especially this year. It’s very nice. It feels like home a bit here.”

Last winter, Deligny’s 2024 teammates left the La Rochelle–based outfit, with Tuukka Taponen heading to F3 with ART Grand Prix and Zachary David joining forces with newcomers CL Motorsport. Deligny therefore felt like he had to “get closer to the team and take that role of leader” ahead of the new season.

“At the start of the year, I spent extra time with the team preparing everything and really just trying to visualize the season we should have,” he told Feeder Series in Imola at the start of August. “Overall, it’s gone well. We’ve been really fast this year, so we’ve been quite unlucky, but the important thing is we’re fast.”

There are still four rounds left in the 2025 FR Europe season. What prize does Deligny have his eyes on? 

“I have to admit, I’m not really looking at the standings so much at the season,” he said. “Either you’re having a good season or a bad season. A good season is obviously fighting at the fronts. Right now, I’m just trying to win every race that I can, trying to have those peaks.

“The championship is the championship. I’m just going to try to win as many races as I can, without calculating points for the championship or whatever. I know Freddie and Matteo are a bit far because I dropped a bit the last few rounds. I’m just trying to win as much as possible. If I could have around three wins this year, I would definitely be happy. That’s how it is.”

And, most importantly, has he performed well enough so far to reunite with Red Bull?

“It’s always tricky with your ex, you know, but let’s see. I mean, for sure it’s a decent season, and we’re looking at what’s possible for next year. But so far it’s a good season, so everything is open.”

Header photo credit: Lorenzo Pastorelli