The American open-wheel racing season kicked off properly at St Petersburg with Indy NXT’s and USF2000’s season openers, with FR Japan also beginning its season and Eurocup-3 and Spanish Formula 4’s winter series continuing theirs. Feeder Series reviews the action.

By Feeder Series

The end of February and start of March represents a notable inflection point in the junior single-seater landscape, one reflected in our pages. Winter testing has quieted as more and more drivers pivot to their main campaigns, of which three more began this weekend.

First, of course, there were the continued winter series racing in Spain at Jarama, which hosted junior single-seater racing for the first time in nearly two years. Eurocup-3 and Spanish F4’s winter series raced as part of the Spanish Winter Championship package, and they now have just one round to go in a fortnight’s time.

FR Japan was one of three series to start its 2026 season this weekend, doing so with its largest grid since 2021. That theme of big grids was also consistent in USF2000, which had its biggest grid since the same year, and in Indy NXT, which boasted grid sizes not seen since 2009. Keep reading to find out what happened in those series.

Further south, NACAM F4’s 2026 season kicked off, likewise withits largest grid since 2023. Alessandros Racing swept the top three positions in qualifying, with Alex Bobadilla taking pole ahead of rookies Mateo Girón and Mariano Alatorre. Bobadilla won the first of three races, ahead of Santinel Race Team’s Marco Alquicira and Girón, before Ram Racing’s Oliver Trejo led every lap of race two en route to his maiden victory over Bobadilla and teammate Fernando Rivera.

A crash for Girón early in race two left him unable to contest race three, which he would have started on the front row. Now alone on the front row, Bobadilla once again dominated, winning the weekend’s final race ahead of teammates Alatorre and Alan Zezatti. Bobadilla leads the standings on 68 points, with Trejo on 43 and Alatorre on 40.

1. Indy NXT: Johnson holds off Taylor for maiden victory
2. USF2000: Garzón storms to double win in St Petersburg
3. Eurocup-3 Spanish Winter Championship: Al Azhari extends lead as penalties decide race two podium
4. Eurocup-4 Spanish Winter Championship: Monteiro takes over championship lead after double lights-to-flag wins
5. FRegional Japan: Miura and Horachi share the wins in season opener

Indy NXT: Johnson holds off Taylor for maiden victory

Cape Motorsports’ Nikita Johnson won the opening round of the 2026 Indy NXT championship in St Petersburg ahead of Andretti Global’s Max Taylor and HMD Motorsports’ Tymek Kucharczyk.

On Saturday, Taylor took pole position in qualifying by being the outright fastest among both groups. Johnson topped his qualifying group, which went on track first, but missed out on pole position by 0.3261 seconds. 

On the opening lap of the race, however, Johnson made amends by taking first place from Taylor around the outside into Turn 1. Behind them, Kucharczyk rose from fifth to third, overtaking both Sebastian Murray and Lochie Hughes in one go at the same spot.

Australian rookie Jack Beeton spun on the exit of Turn 4 on the opening lap, causing the race’s first caution. He got going again without having sustained any damage.

The race restarted on lap five, but a lap later, Carson Etter hit the wall at Turn 6. Initially, Etter only damaged his front wing, but it got stuck under the front of his car, sending him into the tyre barrier at Turn 8. 

At the following restart on lap 10, Taylor had his best chance to return the favour on Johnson with an attempt around the outside of Turn 1, but Johnson held him off firmly but cleanly. 

On lap 17, Nicholas Monteiro brought out the third caution after hitting the wall at Turn 9. The Brazilian rookie clipped the inside wall first, which propelled him into the outside wall. 

The race restarted again on lap 21, but green-flag conditions didn’t last long. While battling for 18th position, Chip Ganassi Racing teammates James Roe and Niels Koolen – who had to start from pit lane after experiencing pre-race radio issues – went side by side through Turn 1 but collided in Turn 2, damaging both cars and sending Roe into the outside wall. Both drivers were out of the race but unhurt.

After the race got back underway on lap 26, the top seven remained unchanged until the end of the race on lap 42, three laps ahead of schedule after the race’s time limit was hit. St Petersburg native Johnson held off Taylor to  and become the second-youngest winner in the IndyCar development series. Kucharczyk, meanwhile, resisted race-long pressure from Murray to secure his first podium on his series debut. 

Fourth-placed Murray still started his second Indy NXT season with his best series finish ahead of Hughes, who finished third in the championship last year. Myles Rowe finished the race in sixth, one place higher than he qualified, as Josh Pierson gaveAndretti four cars in the top seven. Salvador de Alba made handy moves past Max Garcia and Juan Manuel Correa in the race’s final stint to finish eighth, with Correa and Alessandro de Tullio rounding out the top 10 as Garcia slipped to 12th behind Beeton. 

Enzo Fittipaldi started the race from 24th after an accident in qualifying left him unable to set a competitive time. He recovered to 17th in the race.

Report by Vincent van der Hoek

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying, Group 1	Nikita Johnson, 1:05.2148	Lochie Hughes, +0.0957s	Josh Pierson, +0.3827s
Qualifying, Group 2	Max Taylor, 1:04.8887	Sebastian Murray, +0.5025s	Tymek Kucharczyk, +0.5141s
Race (42 laps)	Nikita Johnson, 55:42.1772	Max Taylor, +0.6990s	Tymek Kucharczyk, +5.5055s

Standings	Drivers	Rookies
P1	Nikita Johnson, 54	Nikita Johnson, 54
P2	Max Taylor, 41	Tymek Kucharczyk, 35
P3	Tymek Kucharczyk, 35	Alessandro de Tullio, 20
P4	Sebastian Murray, 32	Jack Beeton, 19
P5	Lochie Hughes, 30	Max Garcia, 18
P6	Myles Rowe, 28	Nicolas Stati, 14
P7	Josh Pierson, 26	Enzo Fittipaldi, 13
P8	Salvador de Alba, 24	Alexander Koreiba, 10
P9	Juan Manuel Correa, 22	Nicholas Monteiro, 7
P10	Alessandro de Tullio, 20	Carson Etter, 6

USF2000: Garzón storms to double win in St Petersburg

Sebastián Garzón started his sophomore USF2000 campaign in style by sweeping the season opener at St Petersburg, giving him an 18-point advantage over Leonardo Escorpioni.

Having topped qualifying, the DEForce Racing driver started from pole position in race one and escaped as the drivers behind him tangled. Eddie Beswick, who qualified third, made contact with Anthony Martella ahead, sending the Canadian driver into a spin. Evan Cooley, who started sixth, had nowhere to go and mounted the car of his Exclusive Autosport teammate. Both drivers were unhurt.

When the race resumed on lap four, Garzón started building a gap over João Vergara. He stretched it to the end to win by 2.5068s over Vergara, with USF Juniors champion Escorpioni close behind in  third on his USF2000 debut. Brad Majman and Lucas Nanji rounded out the top five.

Behind them, Colin Aitken led a train of cars that stretched from sixth place to 11th until Brady Golan, who sat in seventh place, made an ambitious move on Aitken at the final corner on lap 14. The duo collided, with Golan sustaining a flat tyre that put him down a lap.

Gabriel Cahan benefitted from the contact between Aitken and Golan to move up to sixth, though Wian Boshoff closely followed him. The South African finally made his way past Cahan for sixth place on the final lap, with Giannetta also snatching seventh. Cahan finished the race in eighth; Aitken recovered from the lap 14 incident to finish ninth; and Wesley Gundler pipped Liam Loiacano – who charged from 23rd to 13th on the opening lap – for 10th on the final lap.

Beswick started from pole for race two having set the fastest lap in race one, with Escorpioni alongside him and race one winner Garzón third. Entering Turn 1, Garzón passed Escorpioni with a clean move on the inside. 

At the back of the field, disaster struck Exclusive Autosport again. Cal Peter locked up and hit Cahan’s right-rear tyre, damaging his own suspension before hitting Cooley’s car whilst out of control. That incident left Cooley with terminal rear-end damage and meant he was eliminated from both races before completing a full lap. Cahan continued and finished the race 13th.

Later on lap one, Martella’s car suffered a mechanical failure, forcing him to park up in the run-off at Turn 8. Adding further insult to injury for Exclusive, Connor Aspley’s car stopped on lap four as the field took the restart, leaving Ayrton Cahan in 10th place as the best-placed car from the team’s sextet.

When racing resumed on lap eight after Aspley’s stoppage, Garzón overtook Beswick to take the lead – and never looked back. The Colombian led the remaining 12 laps to win by just over a second.

Beswick and Escorpioni battled hard but fair, with Beswick eventually finishing in second and Escorpioni in third. Majman finished race two in fourth once again, while Golan, who started 10th, fought his way through to finish in fifth.

Report by Vincent van der Hoek

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Sebastián Garzón, 1:12.4506	Anthony Martella, +0.0425s	Eddie Beswick, +0.1212s
Race 1 (20 laps)	Sebastián Garzón, 26:37.7023	João Vergara, +2.5068s	Leonardo Escorpioni, +3.1093s
Race 2 (20 laps)	Sebastián Garzón, 29:58.1826	Eddie Beswick,+1.0266s	Leonardo Escorpioni,+1.4369s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Sebastián Garzón, 63	DEForce Racing, 55	Leonardo Escorpioni, 45
P2	Leonardo Escorpioni, 45	Pabst Racing, 52	João Vergara, 40
P3	João Vergara, 40	VRD Racing, 38	Lucas Nanji, 29
P4	Brad Majman, 39	Zanella Racing, 36	Gabriel Cahan, 21
P5	Lucas Nanji, 29	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development, 15	Colin Aitken, 21
P6	Ryan Giannetta, 28	Exclusive Autosport, 10	Wesley Gundler, 21
P7	Eddie Beswick, 27	ENVE Motorsports, 10	Ayrton Cahan, 19
P8	Wian Boshoff, 22	JHDD Powered by ECR, 4	Liam Loiacono, 13
P9	Teddy Musella, 22		Thomas Nordquist, 12
P10	Gabriel Cahan, 21		Cal Peter, 8

Eurocup-3 Spanish Winter Championship: Al Azhari extends lead as penalties decide race two podium

Keanu Al Azhari extended his championship lead ahead of James Egozi in the Eurocup-3 Spanish Winter Championship to 33 points after taking a win, a pole position and two top-five finishes in the second round at Jarama. In the teams’ standings, Hitech managed to snatch the lead away from MP Motorsport after also scoring a win in the sprint race, capitalising on a suboptimal last two races for the Dutch outfit.

From pole position in race one, Gianmarco Pradel held off Al Azhari’s early attacks for the lead, including a late look into the Turn 4 hairpin on lap two. That same lap, Thomas Strauven and Rafäel Pérard both ended up beached in the gravel at the opening hairpin, bringing out the first safety car of the race. 

Once racing resumed at the end of lap five, Pradel continued to defend against Al Azhari until a second safety car was deployed on lap 10 for a stranded Lorenzo Campos at Turn 9. The Emirati driver’s chance to take the lead came on the restart at the end of lap 14. He used the slipstream to draw level with Pradel into Turn 1 before going side by side through the next two turns, eventually taking the lead as the outside line became the inside for Turn 4.

After 19 laps, Al Azhari took his second victory of the season ahead of Pradel and René Lammers, who defended third from Alex Powell for the whole race.

“Anything that comes along at the moment is a bonus,” Al Azhari told Feeder Series after the race. “It’s always really nice to win, but we’re taking it step by step [and] building up.”

In the sprint, Christopher Feghali suffered heavy wheelspin from pole and lost out to Stefan Bostandjiev, James Egozi and Enzo Tarnvanichkul. All four drivers were then involved in an incident at the opening hairpin, as Feghali made contact with both Bostandjiev and Egozi at the apex, causing the American to tangle with Tarnvanichkul and spin to a halt. The red flag was thrown on the following lap, and Feghali was given a five-place grid penalty for causing the incident. 

After seven minutes, the race resumed under the safety car, with Bostandjiev – the sole car of the four in the incident still running – leading Heitor Dall’Agnol and Powell as the fourth lap began. The top three remained as they were for the rest of the sprint, which ended under the safety car after Stylianos Kolovos beached himself in the Turn 14 gravel on lap nine. 

“Every time I’m on track in a single-seater, it’s a very new experience for me,” GT racing convert Bostandjiev told Feeder Series afterwards. “Even today was a new experience [as] I’d never done a safety car restart [from the lead]. I think we executed it quite well, so I’m happy with that!” 

Al Azhari qualified on pole for the final race but misjudged his braking point at the first hairpin and went deep into the gravel, gifting Lammers the lead ahead of Egozi and Powell. 

Four safety cars were deployed over the course of the 30-minute race, all for incidents at the Turn 2 gravel trap. The first came on lap three as Ean Eyckmans became stranded. The second came on lap seven for Benjamin Beckley, just after Powell took second from Egozi down the main straight. The third came on lap 10 for Double R Racing’s Campos just after Powell took the lead from Lammers across the finish line, and the fourth came on lap 14 after Feghali collided with Pérard and careered to a halt with terminal damage.

Powell and Lammers finished first and second on the road, but they were later given five- and 10-second penalties respectively for overtaking under the safety car, dropping them to sixth and 17th. As such, Egozi and Pérard inherited a 1-2 finish for Palou Motorsport, with Tarnvanichkul rounding out the podium. From the rear of the field, Al Azhari recovered to seventh on the road before being promoted to fifth as more penalties hit the top 10.

Report by Seb Tirado

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Gianmarco Pradel, 1:24.357	Keanu Al Azhari, +0.042s	Ean Eyckmans, +0.044s
Race 1 (19 laps)	Keanu Al Azhari, 32:34.103	Gianmarco Pradel, +1.704s	René Lammers, +2.990s
Sprint race (12 laps)	Stefan Bostandjiev, 29:54.220	Heitor Dall’Agnol, +1.053s	Alex Powell, +1.914s
Qualifying 2	Keanu Al Azhari, 1:24.311	René Lammers, +0.071s	Christopher Feghali, +0.398s
Race 2 (18 laps)	James Egozi, 32:02.154	Rafaël Pérard, +0.624s	Enzo Tarnvanichkul, +1.464s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Keanu Al Azhari, 100	Hitech, 124	Alex Powell, 49
P2	James Egozi, 67	Campos Racing, 115	René Lammers, 46
P3	Alex Powell, 49	MP Motorsport, 101	Ean Eyckmans, 34
P4	René Lammers, 46	Palou Motorsport, 100	Thomas Strauven, 34
P5	Enzo Tarnvanichkul, 39	Drivex, 25	Rafaël Pérard, 22
P6	Ean Eyckmans, 34	GRS Team, 15	Stefan Bostandjiev, 16
P7	Thomas Strauven, 34	Double R Racing, 3	Christopher Feghali, 15
P8	Gianmarco Pradel, 29	Tecnicar, 0	Gino Trappa, 12
P9	Rafaël Pérard, 22	TC Racing, 0	Heitor Dall’Agnol, 11
P10	Patrick Heuzenroeder, 21		Filippo Fiorentino, 10

Read the previous round’s report here.

Eurocup-4 Spanish Winter Championship: Monteiro takes over championship lead after double lights-to-flag wins

Griffin Core by Campos’ Noah Monteiro now leads the Eurocup-4 standings by 26 points over previous leader Nathan Tye after winning two races from pole at Jarama. Griffin Core have also increased their teams’ standings points lead to 45 ahead of fellow satellite team T-Code, who leapfrog Drivex for second after taking two podiums at Jarama.

From his first pole, Monteiro fended off teammate Vivek Kanthan’s move around the outside of the first hairpin. This left Kanthan vulnerable to the attacking Rocco Coronel, who ran the American driver wide to the edge of the gravel through Turn 3. 

On lap two, Tye took fourth from Ty Fisher at Turn 2 just before Maria Germano Neto and Miki Blascos crashed at the same turn, with Louis Cochet separately becoming beached. The safety car was deployed, and Neto received a five-place grid penalty for causing the contact.  

The safety car period lasted more than 18 minutes after a vinyl sticker fell off the safety car onto the main straight, requiring recovery.

Racing resumed at the end of lap nine, and Monteiro got a good launch. Behind them at Turn 2, Tye hit Kanthan, who in turn collected Coronel, dropping both down the order. The melee opened the door for Fisher, running with a broken front wing, to move into second, which he lost to Tye a lap later into Turn 4.

The race ended early under a red flag after Kasper Schormans collided with Nacho Tuñón at the Turn 6 hill and vaulted the tyre barrier. The Dutch driver was uninjured and was given a five-second penalty for the incident, dropping him from sixth to 12th. 

Tye was also given a 10-second penalty for the collision with Kanthan, promoting Beau Lowette to third behind Monteiro and Fisher and giving TC Racing their first-ever podium.

Borys Łyżeń began the sprint race from reverse-grid pole alongside Andrej Petrović. The Serbian driver immediately chopped across to defend from Schormans, whilst teammate Tuñón was spun into the grass on the inside of Turn 2 by Reno Francot. The safety car was then deployed for the stalled Coronel, who fell a lap down. 

The race resumed on lap three, and Łyżeń built a gap over the field, eventually taking victory by more than 6.8s ahead of Andrej Petrović and Reno Francot, who overtook Schormans up the inside of Turn 9 on lap 11. However, because the chequered flag was mistakenly flown at the end of that same lap, the stewards rolled back the official sprint race classification to lap 11, meaning Łyżen officially won by 5.4s.

Monteiro had a good getaway in the final race relative to teammate Kanthan, who chopped across to cover off Petrović. Behind them, a five-car incident involving Philippe Armand Karras, Jensen Burnett, Fausto Arnaudo, Zoe Florescu and Pablo Riccobono Bello brought out a red flag at the start of lap two. Burnett received a five-place grid penalty for race one at Aragón for causing it. 

The race resumed 19 minutes later at the end of lap four, and the top three pulled away from the rest of the pack. On lap 12, Lowette dove on Simón Bulbarella at Turn 5 but sideswiped him, stranding both on the apex and necessitating a safety car deployment. Lowette received a five-place grid penalty for the contact.

Monteiro went unchallenged in the final two laps to take his second victory. Kanthan and Petrović were second and third, whilst Fisher came to blows with Coronel – who had risen from 10th to sixth – on the final lap at Turn 10, earning a five-place grid penalty.

Report by Seb Tirado

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Noah Monteiro, 1:31.644	Daniel Kelleher, +0.197s	Vivek Kanthan, +0.234s
Race 1 (13 laps)	Noah Monteiro, 24:58.257	Ty Fisher, +3.004s	Beau Lowette, +5.211s
Sprint race (11 laps)	Borys Łyżeń, 18:20.225	Andrej Petrović, +5.454s	Reno Francot, +7.461s
Qualifying 2	Noah Monteiro, 1:31.646	Vivek Kanthan, +0.198s	Andrej Petrović, +0.382s
Race 2 (18 laps)	Noah Monteiro, 49:40.461	Vivek Kanthan, +1.004s	Andrej Petrović, +1.575s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Noah Monteiro, 90	Griffin Core by Campos, 137	Kasper Schormans, 34
P2	Nathan Tye, 64	T-Code, 92	Daniel Kelleher, 26
P3	Vivek Kanthan, 53	Drivex, 68	Rocco Coronel, 23
P4	Andrej Petrović, 52	KCL by MP, 65	Borys Łyżeń, 19
P5	Reno Francot, 46	MP Motorsport, 57	Beau Lowette, 15
P6	Nacho Tuñón, 40	Campos Racing, 39	Luna Fluxá, 13
P7	Kasper Schormans, 34	TC Racing, 15	Jacob Micallef, 10
P8	Daniel Kelleher, 26	Monlau Motorsport, 6	Fausto Arnaudo, 6
P9	Rocco Coronel, 23	Tecnicar, 6	Aleix Piñera, 6
P10	Borys Łyżeń, 19	G4 Racing, 3	Jensen Burnett, 6

Read the previous round’s report here.

FRegional Japan: Miura and Horachi share the wins in season opener

Six drivers reached the podium in the opening three races of the 2026 FRegional Japan season, equalling that last year’s number of podium finishers already. Toyota junior Yuzuki Miura won the first and third races and came second in the second race, in which Ryota Horachi took Ponos Racing’s first win in the series since 2023. He leads Horachi by 13 points.

Rn-sports’ Hibiki Komatsu was fastest in qualifying one, 0.343s ahead of Horachi and 0.538s ahead of Miura. Horachi took pole for the second race in qualifying two, finishing 0.064s ahead of Miura and 0.213s ahead of Komatsu.  

Miura from third had the best start in the opening race. He entered Turn 1 on the outside of his teammate Masana Muto and ahead of Komatsu but pulled into the lead. 

Horachi, starting second, initially dropped to fourth but regained third position from Komatsu at Turn 6. He closed in on Muto ahead but ran deep in an attempted overtake at Turn 16. 

Still, he pressured and finally passed Muto two laps later, this time using the inside line. 

Now 3.5s behind Miura entering lap four, Horachi faced a big challenge to take the win, but he was significantly faster. Entering lap nine, he reduced the gap to just 0.4s, lapping up to eight-tenths faster each lap. 

But Horachi was unable to launch an attack, and a mistake exiting Turn 6 on lap 10 of 12 dropped him another second behind. Miura took his first win in competitive single- seaters just 0.083s ahead of the recovering Horachi, while Muto finished third, 5.450s behind.  

Horachi started from pole ahead of Miura in the second race, and they entered the first corner in the same order ahead of Muto, who jumped from fifth to third. 

Komatsu passed Muto for third on lap three around the outside of Turns 1 and 2. On lap six, Miura attacked Horachi for the lead at the same spot, but he could not pass. He kept the pressure high and stayed close in the following laps but never managed to pose a real threat. 

Horachi thus took his first win in single-seaters since August 2024, with Miura second and Komatsu completing the podium. 

The second-best times from qualifying one set the grid for race three, and polesitter Miura got the best start. Muto in second stalled and dropped to last, while Omiya inherited second after starting fifth. 

Dr.Dry’s Rio Shimono was third, but she was attacked by Ragno Motor Sport’s Lin Chenghua, who passed her on the inside of Turn 1.

Miura led throughout and even had a 3.5s gap over Omiya after lap 10, but a mistake in the final sector on lap 11 cost him almost one second, and he won by only 1.426s after 12 laps. Omiya took his first podium of the season ahead of Lin, who took his and his team’s maiden single-seater podium. Muto recovered to fifth behind Horachi. 

In the masters’ class, “Akita” took all three wins. Yutaka Toriba came second in the first and third races, while Hideaki Irie took his first three podium finishes as he debuts in the class. 

Report by Finjo Muschlien

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Hibiki Komatsu, 1:54.909	Ryota Horachi, +0.343s	Yuzuki Miura, +0.538s
Qualifying 2	Ryota Horachi, 1:54.389	Yuzuki Miura, +0.064s	Hibiki Komatsu, +0.213s
Race 1 (12 laps)	Yuzuki Miura, 23:07.248	Ryota Horachi, +0.083s	Masana Muto, +5.450s
Race 2 (12 laps)	Ryota Horachi, 23:06.640	Yuzuki Miura, +0.706s	Hibiki Komatsu, +5.103s
Race 3 (12 laps)	Yuzuki Miura, 23:10.928	Kento Omiya, +1.426s	Lin Chenghua, +3.077s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Masters
P1	Yuzuki Miura, 68	TOM’S, 68	“Akita”, 75
P2	Ryota Horachi, 55	Ponos Racing, 61	Yukata Toriba, 46
P3	Kento Omiya, 38	Rn-sports, 35	Hideaki Irie, 45
P4	Masana Muto, 37	Ragno Motor Sports, 31	“Yuki”, 34
P5	Hibiki Komatsu, 35	Dr.Dry Racing Team, 14	Masayuki Ueda, 30
P6	Lin Chenghua, 31	Team LeMans, 12	“Yugo”, 24
P7	Rio Shimono, 14	Abbey Racing, 10	Paul Wong, 12
P8	Li Xuanyu, 12	Aiwin, 2	Shoichiro Akamatsu, 10
P9	“Akita”, 10	Fujita Pharmacy Racing, 0
P10	Yukata Toriba, 2	Nilzz Racing, 0

Header photo credit: Chris Jones / Penske Entertainment