While New Zealand and the Middle East stole the spotlight with their junior formulae series coming back to action, testing activities carried on around the world in full swing. Feeder Series tells you who tested where over the past week.

By Marco Albertini

F4 at Barcelona

The week began with a two-day test for F4 cars at Barcelona on Monday and Tuesday, with six different teams taking part.

Rodin Motorsport’s two cars were driven by Ella Lloyd (#20) and Ella Stevens (#28). Real Racing fielded two cars for Oskar Galan (#31) and Andreas Lo Bue (#700). Monlau Motorsport brought one car for Rahim Alibhai (#250), while Soren Motorsports fielded two cars for Dean Pedersen (#1) and his coach, American open-wheel stalwart Christian Brooks (#440). Beyond Racing and G4 Racing also brought one car each, but their occupants remain unidentified.

Eurocup-3, F4 at Navarra

A few hours away, testing continued on Thursday and Friday with a two-day test for Eurocup-3 and F4 cars at Navarra.

GRS brought two F4 cars to the test, driven by Dante Cima and Pablo Riccobono Bello, who was announced to be racing for the team in this year’s Spanish F4 season last month. Mathilda Racing and Beyond Racing brought one F4 car each, with the former driven by Mathilda Paatz and the latter by an unidentified driver.

Soren Motorsports also brought one F4 car, split between Dean Pedersen and Christian Brooks once again.

Filippo Fiorentino was also believed to be at the test in Eurocup-3 machinery.

USF Pro Championships at Carolina

Over the weekend, the YACademy Track Days programme held a two-day test on Saturday and Sunday was held at Carolina Motorsports Park for USF Pro 2000, USF2000 and USF Juniors machinery.

Two USF Pro 2000 cars were present at the test. VRD Racing brought a car for USF Juniors rookie Colin Aitken (#2), whilst JHDD brought their #007 car for a driver whose identity remains unclear.

With USF2000 machinery, five teams turned up for both days. DEForce brought a lone car for Thomas Nordqvist (#17), Exclusive Autosport fielded Evan Cooley (#90), and VRD brought in Spanish F4-bound Jensen Burnett (#78). JHDD fielded Naim Saleh (#7) and an unknown driver. Zanella Racing were also present with one car, though its occupant was not known.

Seven teams participated with USF Juniors machinery. DEForce Racing brought two cars for Vilho Aatola (#14) and Pipe Chaparro (#20), while VRD fielded Ethan Booher (#11) and Joseph Huet (#77). Exclusive Autosport’s four cars were driven by Connor Aspley (#91), Brenden Cooley (#92), Cam Becker (#93) and Cole Medeiros (#97), while Olivia Racing fielded two cars for Karol Pasiewicz (#24) and Ivan Machado (#25).

Pole Position Motorsports brought a lone car for Edward Kennedy (#27) – running with support from VRD – while JHDD had three cars for Aryan Narola (#7), Max Cuthbert (#8) and JW Main (#9). Reigning teams’ champions Zanella Racing’s six cars were in the hands of Jared Oselka (#21), Grant Mitchell (#28), Maddie Colleran (#29), Oliver Mrak (#32), Leonardo Serravalle (#87) and Victor Couto (#88).

No results are available for day two, when heavy rain hit the circuit.

Carolina, 17–18 January	P1	P2	P3
USF Pro, Day 1	Colin Aitken, 1:24.482	Aryan Narola, +0.479s
USF2000, Day 1	Jensen Burnett, 1:26.798	Evan Cooley, +0.850s	Thomas Nordqvist, +1.535s
USF Juniors, Day 1	Ivan Machado, 1:31.059	Cam Becker, +0.391s	Brenden Cooley, +0.456s

Other testing activities

Meanwhile in Asia, Fuji Speedway hosted a one-day test on Wednesday for a large number of junior formula cars, ranging from Super FJ to Formula Regional. Eagle Sport and Dr. Dry each brought one FR Japan chassis, with the latter also bringing a F4 Japan chassis. None of their drivers were identified.

Juju Noda was also present at the test with her family-owned Dallara 320. Emily Zhao tested Kyojo Cup machinery for Buzz Racing alongside Toranosuke Takagi, who drove an old F4 Japan car. Souta Arao and Kiyoshi Umegaki were also present at Fuji, though it is unclear which cars they drove or what their involvement was.

FR Middle East and UAE4’s pre-season test at Yas Marina took place on Tuesday and Wednesday, but the action continued even late into the evening on both days. Two modified SF-23 chassis took to the track, with Emmo Fittipaldi and Niels Koolen behind the wheels. On Monday, private testing in previous-generation F2 machinery took place at Jeddah with four cars present, driven by UAE4’s Niccolò Maccagnani (#505), F2’s Ritomo Miyata (#506), BOSS GP’s Simone Colombo (#508) and an unnamed fourth driver.

There was also a one-day test on Monday at Estoril, in which Beyond Racing fielded one F4 car for Georgiy Zasov.

Read the previous round-up here.

Header photo credit: YACademy Winter Series