Indy NXT finished up a busy month of March with a double-header at Barber Motorsports Park, while Super Formula Lights kicked off its 2026 season at Fuji Speedway. Feeder Series reviews the action.

By Feeder Series

It’s been a strange month for junior single-seaters. There were no races last weekend and only a few this weekend, while the cancellation of the F1 grands prix in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia announced two weeks ago has left holes in the calendars for F2, F3 and F1 Academy in April.

In this quiet period, however, a few series continue to provide plenty of entertainment. Super Formula Lights was one of those, with an action-packed race one kickstarting a season with several international drivers of note. Indy NXT’s third and fourth races also took place at Barber in the first of five double-headers this season, with a clearer championship picture beginning to form even amid collisions for the leaders.

NACAM F4 also held its second round in Mexico City with a mix of drivers out front. Alan Zezatti took his maiden single-seater victory in race one on Friday, finishing 5.557 seconds ahead of F4 US runner-up Alex Popow, who entered two rounds last year. Championship leader Alejandro Bobadilla, who won two races last time out, won race two on Saturday, with Popow and Fernando Rivera completing the podium. Popow, however, was not done yet, and he finally made good on his return to the series by fending off Zezatti for the race three victory with a margin of 0.322s.

1. Super Formula Lights: Mitsui and Giltaire defeat favourites TOM’S at Fuji
2. Indy NXT: Johnson takes victory, points advantage in Barber double-header as leaders collide 

Super Formula Lights: Mitsui and Giltaire defeat favourites TOM’S at Fuji

Yusuke Mitsui took his and Delightworks Racing’s first two wins in the first and third Super Formula Lights races this weekend at Fuji, while B-Max Racing’s Evan Giltaire triumphed in race two.

Mitsui surprised everyone by topping the first qualifying session. TOM’S’ Kiyoshi Umegaki was second, 0.117s behind, with Giltaire third, 0.246s behind Mitsui. 

Umegaki led Giltaire by 0.300s in qualifying two. TOM’S’ Tokiya Suzuki was third, 0.553s behind. 

Mitsui and Umegaki kept their positions as race one began, but Giltaire struggled in his first start in the Dallara 324 and dropped to fourth behind Mitsui’s teammate Kazuhisa Urabe, who then forced Giltaire off at Turn 1 and dropped him to seventh. 

Giltaire instantly regained sixth at Turn 3, passing TOM’S’ Oscar Wurz around the outside. He then overtook B-Max stablemate Rintaro Sato at Turn 10 for fifth, again around the outside. 

On lap five, Giltaire attempted an optimistic move on teammate Kotaro Shimbara at Turn 16 but instantly lost the position again. The Frenchman finally passed the Japanese driver at Turn 15 on lap seven. 

Seeking third place, Giltaire attacked Urabe at Turn 1 on lap nine but braked too late and lost ground. The following lap, he made the move stick as Urabe ran wide. 

Up front, Mitsui took his maiden win in the championship ahead of Umegaki, who stayed within a second of him all race. Giltaire came home third and Urabe fourth. Shimbara crossed the line in fifth after a late collision with Suzuki but received a 30-second time penalty for having less than a litre of fuel left in the car. 

In race two, Giltaire from second had a bad start and dropped to third behind Mitsui. But come Turn 1, he lunged to the inside and overtook both Mitsui and Umegaki for the lead. 

Suzuki passed Umegaki for third on the main straight entering lap four. Simultaneously, Mitsui began closing on leader Giltaire, but he never managed to pose a real threat and ultimately lost second to Suzuki at Turn 1 on lap 10.

Entering the final lap, Suzuki was just 0.658s behind Giltaire, who locked up in Turn 1, but he couldn’t attack the Frenchman, who won the race. Suzuki crossed the line second but dropped to fourth with a five-second penalty for track limits, so Mitsui and Umegaki completed the podium.

The results of race one formed the grid for race three. Up front, polesitter Mitsui kept his lead from Umegaki, while Giltaire dropped to fourth behind Urabe. 

On lap four, Giltaire attacked Urabe around the outside of Turn 1 but ran wide in doing so and dropped to fifth behind Wurz. Urabe then misjudged his braking point at Turn 1 on lap seven and ran wide himself, losing positions to Wurz and Giltaire. 

Giltaire finally passed Wurz for third around the outside of Turn 3 on lap nine, having battled with him from Turn 16 the previous lap. 

Up front, Umegaki attacked Mitsui around the outside of Turn 1 on lap 10, but he was unsuccessful. He never got that close again in the remaining laps, and Mitsui took his second win ahead of Umegaki and Giltaire. The trio shared all three podiums. 

Mitsui leads the championship on 28 points, 8 ahead of both Giltaire and Umegaki. 

Report by Finjo Muschlien 

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Yusuke Mitsui, 1:32.383	Kiyoshi Umegaki, +0.117s	Evan Giltaire, +0.246s
Qualifying 2	Kiyoshi Umegaki, 1.32:311	Evan Giltaire, +0.300s	Tokiya Suzuki, +0.553s
Race 1 (21 laps)	Yusuke Mitsui, 33:01.623	Kiyoshi Umegaki, +1.337s	Evan Giltaire, +9.534s
Race 2 (15 laps)	Evan Giltaire, 23:36.222	Yusuke Mitsui, +2.274s	Kiyoshi Umegaki, +3.140s
Race 3 (15 laps)	Yusuke Mitsui, 23:35.444	Kiyoshi Umegaki, +1.488s	Evan Giltaire, +8.577s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Masters
P1	Yusuke Mitsui, 28	Delightworks Racing, 27	Nobuhiro Imada, 22
P2	Evan Giltaire, 20	B-Max Racing Team, 20	Dragon, 19
P3	Kiyoshi Umegaki, 20	TOM’S, 19	Yasuhiro Shimizu, 18
P4	Kazuhisa Urabe, 7	B-Max Engineering, 1	Ken Alex, 15
P5	Oscar Wurz, 5	LM corsa, 0
P6	Tokiya Suzuki, 4	JMS Racing Team, 0
P7	Kotaro Shimbara, 1	Art Taste Racing, 0
P8	Rintaro Sato, 1	Buzz Racing, 0
P9	Akshay Bohra, 0
P10	Kenta Kumagai, 0

Indy NXT: Johnson takes victory, points advantage in Barber double-header as leaders collide 

Nikita Johnson was never the fastest driver in this weekend’s Indy NXT round at Barber Motorsports Park, but he kept it clean when it mattered to inherit first place – and ultimately the win – in race one and consolidate his points lead with a third-place finish in race two. 

The grids for the two races were set using the fastest laps from qualifying for race one and drivers’ second-fastest laps for race two. By setting the overall fastest and second-fastest laps, group two’s Alessandro de Tullio claimed pole position for both races, with championship leader Max Taylor alongside him for both races with the fastest and second-fastest laps in group one. Johnson continued his strong start to the season by qualifying in third. 

The frontrunners kept their positions as race one got underway, but there was chaos  further back. Sebastian Murray misjudged his braking point entering the Turn 5 hairpin and collided with Juan Manuel Correa and Josh Pierson, causing Pierson race-ending damage. Murray received a 30-second stop-and-hold for causing the collision.

When the race got back underway, De Tullio maintained the lead over Taylor – until things intensified in the race’s final quarter.

In American open-wheel racing, a blue flag does not oblige a driver to move over as it does in many European series. The faster car needs to fight its way past to lap the slower one, which is exactly the situation the two race leaders faced. 

With nine laps to go, De Tullio caught James Roe and Carson Etter, battling for 21st, and got baulked, giving Taylor the chance to sweep around the outside of Turn 8. Going up the hill to Turn 11, it was Taylor who then got stuck behind Roe, giving De Tullio the chance to retake the lead as they cleared Roe Taylor remained close and drew to De Tullio’s inside entering Turn 14, but the pair made contact – and both went around.

Johnson narrowly avoided the spinning cars of De Tullio and Taylor and inherited the race lead as the caution flag was shown. 

De Tullio got beached in the gravel. Taylor kept it going in seventh place – and passed Jordan Missig for sixth on the restart – before being handed a 30-second stop-and-hold penalty for the incident. Johnson held on until the chequered flag to win the race, with Enzo Fittipaldi and Tymek Kucharczyk finishing second and third for the second race in succession. In the end, Taylor finished 19th, while De Tullio came home 20th, one lap down.

As the green flag waved for race two, De Tullio got a flying start as Johnson got the jump over Taylor into the first corner. Taylor then overtook Johnson around the outside of Turn 5. 

Behind them, Abel Motorsports teammates Myles Rowe and Max Garcia made contact going into the high-speed Turn 11, leaving both cars with suspension damage. They eventually returned to the racetrack multiple laps down but retired before the race ended, marking Garcia’s first retirement since his maiden USF2000 campaign in 2023.

De Tullio got into a good rhythm out front. Taylor remained close and tried to turn up the pressure but never got the chance to attack for the race win, with the newly Argentine-licenced driver triumphing by a narrow margin of 0.3635s. Johnson maintained third place ahead of Fittipaldi, while Kucharczyk fought his way from eighth to fifth. 

Those five drivers also compose the top five in the standings entering the five-week break before Indianapolis. Johnson, on 168 points, leads the championship by 23 points over Taylor, with Kucharczyk on 135, Fittipaldi on 129 and De Tullio on 108.

Report by Vincent van der Hoek

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying, Group 1	Max Taylor, 1:10.4758	Enzo Fittipaldi, +0.1893s	Tymek Kucharczyk, +0.2108s
Qualifying, Group 2	Alessandro de Tullio, 1:10.3176	Nikita Johnson, +0.0848s	Bryce Aron, +0.3242s
Race 1 (35 laps)	Nikita Johnson, 47:05.1376	Enzo Fittipaldi, +0.7687s	Tymek Kucharczyk, +1.1357s
Race 2 (30 laps)	Alessandro de Tullio, 36:39.2778	Max Taylor, +0.3635s	Nikita Johnson, +1.4774s

Standings	Drivers	Rookies
P1	Nikita Johnson, 168	Nikita Johnson, 168
P2	Max Taylor, 145	Tymek Kucharczyk, 135
P3	Tymek Kucharczyk, 135	Enzo Fittipaldi, 129
P4	Enzo Fittipaldi, 129	Alessandro de Tullio, 108
P5	Alessandro de Tullio, 108	Jack Beeton, 78
P6	Juan Manuel Correa, 97	Max Garcia, 72
P7	Lochie Hughes, 92	Nicolas Stati, 58
P8	Jordan Missig, 92	Alexander Koreiba, 49
P9	Myles Rowe, 87	Nicholas Monteiro, 42
P10	Sebastian Murray, 86	Carson Etter, 35

Read the previous round’s report here.