The only junior single-seater series racing this weekend reached a controversial climax on its title-deciding weekend. Feeder Series reviews the Japanese F4 season finale and recaps all the testing from the week.

By Feeder Series

The gargantuan 45-car grid in Japanese F4 would already be enough to provide enticing viewing, but what transpired in the last of its 14 races Sunday morning at Motegi made for perhaps the most dramatic denouement in series history. As for what exactly happened? You’ll just have to keep reading to find out.

Formula E held their second annual women’s test in Valencia on Friday, with four drivers from F1 Academy and GB3 among the 14 drivers taking part. Chloe Chambers, driving for Mahindra, set the fastest time of the day with a 1:22.767, just 1.3 seconds off the best time set during pre-season testing by full-time Mahindra driver Edoardo Mortara. Abbi Pulling, Bianca Bustamante and Ella Lloyd also took part in the test, finishing second, third and fifth respectively on the timesheets.

There was also a plethora of junior single-seater testing over the past week. In the first of a regular feature that will run through November and December, we review who tested where and who went fastest in each test in our weekly testing round-up.

1. Japanese F4: Suzuki steals Champion Class title as Kageyama clinches historic teams’ championship
2. Weekly testing round-up: 27 October–02 November

Japanese F4: Suzuki steals Champion Class title as Kageyama clinches historic teams’ championship

Toyota junior Tokiya Suzuki was crowned Japanese F4 champion after overturning a 23.5-point deficit to Itsuki Sato entering the weekend. The 18-year-old benefitted from Sato’s retirement in race one and the pair’s collision in race two.

Suzuki’s start to the weekend was far from perfect. In the four practice sessions, his best finish was sixth, 0.433 seconds behind the fastest time. Kageyama Racing’s Sato fared much better but had to change his clutch on Friday after experiencing issues. 

B-Max Racing’s Kotaro Shimbara topped qualifying by 0.067s over Sato’s teammate Shirasaki. Suzuki was third, 0.002s ahead of Sato. 

After the formation lap for race one, the start was delayed. Everybody got going for the second formation lap except for Sato, who was pushed into pit lane. 

While Sato entered Turn 1 in 45th, Shimbara held the lead ahead of Shirasaki and Suzuki. Suzuki briefly got alongside Shirasaki in Turn 1 but had to wait until Turn 5 to pass him. Shirasaki then fell to fifth as Yuzuki Miura and Ryota Horachi overtook him in the following corners, while Horachi passed Miura for third on the run to Turn 5 on lap two. 

Immediately afterwards, the safety car was deployed for the stopped cars of Sato at Turn 7 and Ikari Goto at Turn 10. 

The race resumed at the end of lap four without further position changes among the top three. Suzuki finished third, slashing the gap to Sato to just 5.5 points, while Shirasaki’s seventh-place finish gave Kageyama enough points to become the first privateer team to defeat the manufacturers and win the teams’ championship.

Tokiya Suzuki could become the first driver to clinch the Japanese F4 and FRegional Japan titles in the same year | Credit: Toyota Gazoo Racing

The second-fastest times in qualifying set the grid for race two, putting Sato on pole alongside Suzuki. Suzuki had a better start and got ahead but locked up into Turn 1 and lost the lead again. 

Sato defended going into Turn 3, but his alternate line opened up a small gap on the inside of Turn 4. Suzuki stuck his nose in, the pair collided, and Sato headed into the gravel trap. 

Suzuki fell behind Shirasaki, but Sato’s descent into the Independent Class field all but won him the title. Both drivers received five-second penalties post-race for the incident.

After an unrelated safety car deployment on lap two, the race resumed at the end of lap four without position changes out front, and Shirasaki took his third win of the season. Suzuki crossed the line second but dropped to fourth because of his time penalty, meaning his teammates Umegaki and Miura completed the podium. 

Suzuki’s 12-point haul was enough to give him the title. Sato recovered to 13th, which became 14th after the penalty was added, but failed to score. 

Sato missed the series’ post-race activities. 

Half a point separated Independent Class leader “Kentaro” and Nobuhiro Imada entering this round. “Kentaro” came fifth in race one and won race two, but Imada’s two second-place finishes were just enough to overhaul “Kentaro” by half a point. 

Report by Finjo Muschlien

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying, Champion Class	Kotaro Shimbara, 2:00.232	Ryo Shirasaki, +0.067s	Tokiya Suzuki, +0.119s
Qualifying, Independent Class	“Ken Alex”, 2:00.458	Yasuhiro Shimizu, +0.444s	William Sakai, +0.478s
Race 1 (12 laps)	Kotaro Shimbara, 26:07.407	Tokiya Suzuki, +3.924s	Ryota Horachi, +5.933s
Race 2 (13 laps)	Ryo Shirasaki, 27:56.998	Kiyoshi Umegaki, +1.916s	Yuzuki Miura, +5.404s

Standings	Champion Class		Independent Class
	Drivers	Teams	Drivers	Teams
P1	Tokiya Suzuki, 219	Kageyama Racing, 269.5	Nobuhiro Imada, 226	B-Max Racing Team, 287.5
P2	Itsuki Sato, 212.5	TGR-DC RS, 225	‘Kentaro’, 225.5	Field Motorsport, 225.5
P3	Ryo Shirasaki, 168.5	HFDP with B-Max Racing Team, 170	‘Dragon’, 190.5	Rn-sports, 172
P4	Kotaro Shimbara, 127	Ponos Racing, 116	Masayuki Ueda, 116	Buzz Racing, 109
P5	Ryota Horachi, 98	B-Max Racing Team, 87	‘Ken Alex’, 109	Helm Motorsports, 77
P6	Syo Momose, 96	OTG Motor Sports, 50.5	Isao Nakashima, 93	Eagle Sports, 76
P7	Kiyoshi Umegaki, 89	TGM Grand Prix, 27	Shoichiro Akamatsu, 72	Akiland Racing, 71
P8	Tosei Moriyama, 87	Drago Corse, 19	Makio Saito, 70	Bionic Jack, 29
P9	Kenta Kumagai, 50.5	Akiland Racing, 15	William Sakai, 64	DayDream Racing, 15.5
P10	Ryuma Sako, 37	Helm Motorsports, 4	Yasuhiro Shimizu, 55	Team 5Zigen, 14

Read the previous round’s report here.

Weekly testing round-up: 27 October–02 November

With all the main European championships rounding out their seasons throughout the month of October, paddocks up and down the feeder series ladder are buzzing with anticipation as preparations for 2026 kick off with winter testing. 

Indy NXT was the first series to hit the track at Indianapolis on 27 October for the Chris Griffis Memorial Test, featuring several drivers who have been competing in Europe in 2025, such as Victor Martins and Jack Beeton.

Leading the first session was Max Taylor, with a 1:15.0926. The 18-year-old took part in selected rounds of this year’s Indy NXT season and will complete his first full season in the series with Andretti Global in 2026. In second, only three tenths away from Taylor, was Josh Pierson, who is switching to Andretti for next year after spending three years in the championship with HMD Motorsports. Rounding out the top three, six tenths behind the leader, was Nikita Johnson, who will partner with HMD Motorsports in 2026 for his first full season in Indy NXT after having mostly raced on the F1 ladder in 2025. 

Sebastian Murray topped the timing tower in the second session with a fastest lap in 1:14.5035, followed by Taylor and Pierson. The Dubai-based Scottish racer will stick with Andretti for his second full campaign in the championship next year after finishing 13th in the standings in 2025 in a joint Andretti-Cape entry.

As the curtain fell on the FRegional Europe and E4 seasons in Monza on 26 October, several drivers from each series remained at the Temple of Speed for two days of testing organised by Kateyama. 

On 28 October, Everett Stack, Enzo Yeh and Gino Trappa were the top three fastest drivers testing the Euroformula Open car. While Yeh and Trappa only took part in selected rounds of the 2025 season, Stack clinched sixth in the standings this year with two wins and four further podiums to his name. 

Diego de la Torre took the lead of the Euroformula Open class on day two, with Stack and Yeh rounding out the top three. The Mexican racer was eighth in his first season in the championship this year, clinching one podium in race one at Spa. 

Making up the top three among the racers testing the FR Europe car were fresh Trident signing Maksimilian Popov with a 1:44.053; teammate Andrija Kostić, 0.027s behind, with a 1:44.080; and Rashid Al Dhaheri, debuting with his rumored 2026 squad R-ace GP, a further 0.118s behind.

Kostić returned to the top three of the FR cars on the second day of testing, but he was third behind ART’s Gabriel Gomez and Kabir Anurag. Both drivers competed as US Racing teammates at the F4 level in 2025, finishing respectively second and 16th in their main campaigns in Italian F4.

Prema Racing’s Alp Aksoy, who competes with the Italian team’s colours in karting, was fastest among the F4 drivers with a 1:52.309. Oleksandr Savinkov, testing with US Racing after competing with R-ace GP in 2025, was second, while Oleksandr Bondarev in another Prema finished third, 0.150s behind Aksoy. 

On day two, Aksoy and Savinkov were fastest again and were joined by Ary Bansal in third. The 2025 GB4 champion joined US Racing for his first campaign in Italy by taking part in the E4 championship, in which he clinched a best finish of ninth in race three at Le Castellet.

More FR-spec machinery was tested in private sessions across Europe. Martin Molnár, British F4’s third-place finisher this year, tested the GB3 car with Rodin Motorsport at Snetterton on 28 and 29 October, while compatriot Ádám Hideg tested the Eurocup-3 car in Spain with Drivex. Hideg was meant to compete in Eurocup-3 with Palou Motorsport this year, but he only ended up racing in its winter series.

Prema Racing’s FR team and Trident’s F2 team hit the track at Vallelunga on 30 and 31 October for some private testing as well. Tymek Kucharczyk was one of the drivers testing F2 machinery with Trident, as was confirmed on his Instagram. 

F1 Academy returned to the track in Bahrain from 28 to 30 October for testing almost one month after the series’ latest round in Singapore. Championship runner-up Maya Weug topped all sessions, with a personal and overall best time of 2:04.150 on the morning of day three.  

She was followed by points leader Doriane Pin in second in both the morning and afternoon on day one. Alisha Palmowski rounded out the top three of those two sessions.

Joanne Ciconte made her only appearance in the top three behind her teammate on day two’s morning session, finishing 0.098s behind Weug’s 2:04.567. Chloe Chambers came home in third in that session. 

Soon-to-be fellow Ferrari junior Alba Larsen was second in the afternoon on day two and in both sessions on day three, with Chloe Chambers, Doriane Pin and Emma Felbermayr rounding out the top three in those sessions in that sequence. 

On 2 November, the first day of a second two-day Kateyama test took place at Monza. This time, just 15 cars across two groups hit the track in wet weather. Among them was IndyCar star and 2026 Hitech F2 driver Colton Herta, who got his first taste of F2 machinery and finished as fastest driver of the day, having driven the Dallara F2 2018 of Boss GP team MM International Motorsport. Christian Mansell also appeared again and came third, driving Trident’s F2 2018 car. 

Fifteen-year-old Ferrari junior Niccolò Maccagnani also entered the test in the F2 class with the family’s own team Nicco Team and came fourth in the test, just 0.773s behind Herta. 

A second MM International Motorsport driver came second, while two drivers in Campos Racing F2 machinery came fifth and sixth, although the identity of the drivers is not clear.

The remaining nine cars entered in the F3 class. Rodin Motorsport’s Pedro Clerot and Christian Ho came seventh and eighth overall, with Hiyu Yamakoshi following in ninth in a Van Amersfoort Racing car.

Trident’s Freddie Slater and Matteo De Palo came 11th and 12th. Ernesto Rivera is understood to have had the company of fellow Red Bull junior Fionn McLaughlin at Campos Racing, with the duo placing 10th and 13th. 

Two Porteiro Motorsport cars came 14th and 15th. 

Report by Francesca Brusa and Finjo Muschlien

Indy NXT, 27 October, Indianapolis	P1	P2	P3
Session 1	Max Taylor, 1:15.0926	Josh Pierson, +0.3104s	Nikita Johnson, +0.6212s
Session 2	Sebastian Murray, 1:14.5035	Max Taylor, +0.1331s	Josh Pierson, +0.1639s

Various, 28–29 October, Monza	P1	P2	P3
EFO, Day 1	Everett Stack, 1:42.877	Enzo Yeh, +0.449s	Gino Trappa, +0.602s
EFO, Day 2	Diego de la Torre, 1:43.043	Everett Stack, +0.363s	Enzo Yeh, +0.394s
FRegional, Day 1	Maximilian Popov, 1:44.053	Andrija Kostić, +0.027s	Rashid Al Dhaheri, +0.115s
FRegional, Day 2	Gabriel Gomez, 1:44.038	Kabir Anurag, +0.162s	Andrija Kostić, +0.191s
F4, Day 1	Alp Aksoy, 1:52.309	Oleksandr Savinkov, +0.119s	Oleksandr Bondarev, +0.150s
F4, Day 2	Alp Aksoy, 1:53.007	Oleksandr Savinkov, +0.057s	Ary Bansal, +0.100s

F1 Academy, 28–30 October, Bahrain	P1	P2	P3
Day 1, AM	Maya Weug, 2:04.930	Doriane Pin, +0.293s	Alisha Palmowski, +0.402s
Day 1, PM	Maya Weug: 2:04.773	Doriane Pin, +0.167s	Alisha Palmowski, +0.582s
Day 2, AM	Maya Weug, 2:04.567	Joanne Ciconte, +0.098s	Chloe Chambers, +0.144s
Day 2, PM	Maya Weug, 2:04.517	Alba Larsen, +0.056s	Chloe Chambers, +0.294s
Day 3, AM	Maya Weug, 2:04.150	Alba Larsen, +0.630s	Doriane Pin, +0.735s
Day 3, PM	Maya Weug: 2:04.922	Alba Larsen, +0.214s	Emma Felbermayr, +0.348s

Header photo credit: Toyota Gazoo Racing