In his first year of Formula Regional competition, James Egozi raced in Eurocup-3 with Palou Motorsport, made guest driver appearances in FR Europe and competed in this year’s Macau Grand Prix with Saintéloc Racing. Feeder Series caught up with the American driver in Macau to review his 2025.

By Seb Tirado

Egozi moved up to Eurocup-3 after competing with Campos Racing last year in the Formula Winter Series and Spanish F4, in which he finished ninth and sixth respectively. 

In the midst of his FWS campaign, he was also announced to be joining the Red Bull Junior Team. The partnership, however, only lasted one year.

“It helped me mature a lot as a driver and it was a very good experience for me,” Egozi said. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t keep them for this year, but I believe that that was not really in my hands. Overall I think it helped me a lot going into this season.”

Upon becoming an independent driver again, Egozi secured a promising third-place finish in the Eurocup-3 Spanish Winter Championship, scoring two wins and a podium in the process. Most notably, his first win, which came in the sprint race at Portimão, was also Palou Motorsport’s first-ever victory.

“Palou gave me the chance this year and I was happy to work with them and be mentored by Álex,” Egozi said of the team and its co-founder, four-time IndyCar Series champion Álex Palou. “We had a really good winter that we unfortunately couldn’t replicate in the main season, but we gave it our all, and overall, I think we can really appreciate the consistency that we had throughout the season.” 

Palou worked directly with Egozi throughout the winter series and during the main season, attending race weekends when they didn’t clash with his IndyCar campaign.

“Álex seems to have all the time in the world because he’s able to be a married man, [have] his IndyCar career and be our team boss,” Egozi said. “When there was not a direct clash with the IndyCar events, he was quite hands-on and it really helped us, especially in the winter when I was just getting started with the team.”

In the main season, Egozi only scored one podium – another sprint race victory at Portimão – on his way to ninth in the standings. Nevertheless, he scored points in every race he contested bar one, a feat only he and eventual champion Mattia Colnaghi – who also raced in Macau – achieved in 2025. 

Egozi chose to forgo the final round at Barcelona to race at the Macau Grand Prix after receiving a last-minute offer to drive with Saintéloc Racing, with whom he had competed in FR Europe’s Monza finale.

“It’s not the kind of thing you turn down!” he joked. “I was given the pass from Palou [Motorsport] to show up here. I’m very grateful for that and I’m enjoying my experience here.”

Much like Colnaghi last year, the Macau Grand Prix was also Egozi’s first experience competing on a street circuit.

“I definitely feel like more of a celebrity here!” he said. “Considering they close down the streets for us, you can really feel the prestigiousness of the event and just how cool it is to be on the streets.”

The Italian-based American driver started 10th on the grid for the qualifying race and rose to eighth by the chequered flag. After staying in the top 10 for much of the main race, he eventually fell down the order to finish 14th. 

He got to know Saintéloc and the car specification in Monza three weeks before, but that was not the only FR Europe round that Egozi entered this year. He also appeared in the round prior at Hockenheim with RPM, with whom he had tested the year before. 

“This year, I don’t think they had the results they were hoping for, so they called me in for Hockenheim just to see how it could be,” he explained. “Unfortunately Q2 on Sunday was moved to Friday, when we didn’t quite have the car dialled in. But Saturday morning’s qualifying went much better and so did the race. Then on Sunday, the pace was better than what we started with because we were able to get seven spots in quite a short race.”

Egozi started and finished race one at Hockenheim in eighth before rising from 17th to 11th in race two. At Monza, he retired from race one after colliding with Michael Belov and finished 11th in race two after starting 24th. Still, with his Hockenheim results, he achieved the best finish for a guest driver in FR Europe in two years. 

Egozi, who turns 18 today, said last month that he did not know his 2026 plans but told Feeder Series that he was open to whatever came his way whether that meant another year in FR machinery or something else. 

“I think another year of Regional would [need] to make sense because I don’t think there’s a lot to learn as a driver from doing another year in a similar category,” he said. “But the right offer from the right team might persuade me.”

Interview by Michael McClure

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency