The bulk of off-season testing for junior single-seaters has come to a close, interrupted by the winter holidays in the Northern Hemisphere. Still, a handful of teams and drivers were out on track over the festive period to get extra mileage under their belts. Feeder Series tells you who tested where over the past three weeks.

By Mitchell Ash

F2 at Jeddah

After a short winter break, European teams returned to testing in full swing this week, starting with three Formula 2 teams in Jeddah.

Two Dallara EAV-24 cars – a version of Super Formula’s SF23 adapted for the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League – took to the track on Monday and Tuesday last week. One was driven by Campos’ F2 drivers, with Noel León (#501) behind the wheel on day one and Nikola Tsolov (#501) on day two, while Emmo Fittipaldi (#502) drove the second car on both days.

Van Amersfoort took to the track in Dallara F2 2018 cars on Tuesday and Wednesday with Rafael Villagómez (#503) and Nico Varrone (#504), the former strongly rumoured to be continuing with the team for 2026 and the latter already announced in October. MM International then took over the track on Thursday and Friday, with 15-year-old Niccolò Maccagnani (#505), Ritomo Miyata (#506), Boss GP driver Simone Colombo (#508) and one other unidentified driver. The same four cars were back on track on Sunday.

F3, F4 at Valencia

The first Ian Racing–organised test of the year took place at Valencia on Thursday and Friday. Trident brought a pair of Dallara F3 2019 cars, one driven by Matteo De Palo (#5) and the other by ‘Raul’, assumed to be returning F3 driver Noah Strømsted as their third driver Freddie Slater is racing in New Zealand’s FRegional Oceania Trophy.

A handful of F4 cars also participated in the test. Pablo Riccobono Bello (#72) drove for GRS, while Max Mokarem (#75) and Zoe Florescu Potolea (#79) tested for Tecnicar and Rahim Alibhai (#1) tested for Monlau. Beyond Racing also had one car on track but the driver was not identified.

Yani Stevenheydens was also at Valencia to shake down a Dallara 326, Eurocup-3’s new car for 2026. No Eurocup-3 cars appeared on live timing, but it is believed the car belonged to GRS.

Valencia, 08–09 January	P1	P2	P3
F3, Day 1	‘Raul’, 1:21.561	Matteo De Palo, +0.264s
F3, Day 2	‘Raul’, 1:22.016	Matteo De Palo, +0.060s
F4, Day 1	Max Mokarem, 1:34.726	Pablo Riccobono Bello, +0.209s	Zoe Florescu Potolea, +0.457s
F4, Day 2	Max Mokarem, 1:34.317	Rahim Alibhai, +0.300s	Pablo Riccobono Bello, +0.454s

F2, F3, EC3, F4 at Portimão

Campos, MP and Hitech tested at Portimão on Friday and Saturday with a range of cars across their single-seater rosters. Campos had two 2019-spec F2 cars, one 2019-spec F3 car, two Eurocup-3 cars and an F4 car. None of the drivers were identified, although Théophile Naël is their only 2026 F3 driver not currently in New Zealand. 

Hitech had two F3 cars at the test. Two of their 2026 drivers are also in New Zealand, but the third, Michael Shin, was not testing. Instead, the cars were piloted by Stefan Bostandjiev (#1) and Keanu Al Azhari (#2), who both competed in GB3 in 2025.

MP brought three EC3 cars and two F4 cars to Portimão, with Ean Eyckmans (#33) and Gianmarco Pradel testing their EC3 machinery. Their other drivers were not identified.

Portimão, 09–10 January	P1	P2	P3
F2, Day 1	Campos #12, 1:31.802	Campos #44, +17.053s
F2, Day 2	Campos #44, 1:28.219	Campos #12, +0.507s
F3, Day 1	Campos #50, 1:33.097	Stefan Bostandjiev, +1.547s	Keanu Al Azhari, +1.700s
F3, Day 2	Campos #50, 1:31.376	Keanu Al Azhari, +2.130s	Stefan Bostandjiev, +2.637s
EC3, Day 1	MP #66, 1:37.235	Campos #81, +0.126s	MP #99, +0.287s
EC3, Day 2	Campos #81, 1:36.259	MP #99, +0.067s	MP #66, +0.096s
F4, Day 1	MP #1, 1:47.637	Campos #00, +0.430s	Campos #44, +1.218s
F4, Day 2	MP #1, 1:46.158	MP #11, +0.042s	Campos #00, +0.405s

Other testing activities

While testing in Europe paused for Christmas, the action continued in South America and East Asia during the holiday period.

An unofficial Brazilian F4 test took place at Interlagos on 22 December, with Naim Saleh (#00), João Milan (#000), Nick Garfinkel (#10), Alan Soloviov (#12), Vicky Farfus (#12), Murilo Rocha (#55) and Murilo Mazzotti (#102) taking to the track. Fabrício Fogaça (#31) was also present, driving an old F3 car owned by Mineiro Motorsports.

Champ Motorsports held a test at Shanghai from 22 to 24 December. Kimi Chan, last year’s Chinese F4 runner-up, drove alongside ‘Lucas’ Yu Yan and gentleman drivers Andy Law, Patrick Tsang and Ken Chow. Yuhao Fu was also at the track driving an FR car.

Kyojo Cup held a tryout test on 23 December at Fuji, with a mix of local and international drivers participating. Among them were Williams junior Sara Matsui, F1 Academy driver Joanne Ciconte, AU4 driver Georgia Morgan and Indian F4 driver Paige Raddatz. They were joined by Yin Yi Loke, Jure Portelli, Ella Lähdemaa, Carmina Wong, Ayumu Nagai, Rina Ito and Momoka Ishizaki.

Finally, a few drivers participated in one-off tests over the winter, including Freddie Slater, who drove an old F3 car at Andalucia in the run up to Christmas Eve. After the New Year’s Day celebrations ended, Jenson Sofronas tested a USF2000 car for ENVE Motorsports at the Thermal Club on 3 and 4 January, and BlackArts Racing had one Tatuus F4-T421 car at Sepang on 5 January.

Read the previous round-up here.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency