Five junior single-seater championships kicked off their 2026 seasons this weekend at the Red Bull Ring, the Circuit Ricardo Tormo and NOLA Motorsports Park. Feeder Series reviews the action.

By Feeder Series

There was tremendous variation in grid sizes this weekend, ranging from two cars in the Ligier Junior Formula Championship’s Gen 2 class to a record 41 in Formula 4 CEZ’s season opener. One constant in all series, though, was drivers’ desire to make a mark on their championships early as their respective seasons got underway.

F4 CEZ at Spielberg and Spanish F4 at Valencia boasted the biggest grids and the most-watched races this weekend, and several drivers found the spotlight in those series. Read on to learn more about what happened in each, especially with the former’s new heat-style format to accommodate its expanded grid.

FR Americas and F4 US had smaller field sizes and less variability in results, with one driver winning all three races in the latter. Support series LJFC also featured a new format, with both first- and second-generation Ligier F4 machinery taking to the track across two different classes. None of the series on the newly rebranded Racing America package were streamed this weekend, and our reports on each are therefore abridged and based primarily off of results sheets and official championship documents.

1. Spanish F4: Coronel takes early championship lead after back-to-back wins  
2. F4 CEZ: Walther takes points lead with double win in Spielberg
3. FRegional Americas: Shipman scores three podiums, exits NOLA with points lead
4. F4 US: Campbell sweeps opening weekend at NOLA
5. Ligier Junior Formula Championship: Kennedy sweeps Gen 2 class on debut as Jacir wins twice in Gen 1

Spanish F4: Coronel takes early championship lead after back-to-back wins  

Rocco Coronel inherited one victory and scored another on the road to leave the opening round as the championship leader ahead of Eurocup-4 champion Noah Monteiro.

From his first to two pole positions at Valencia, Kanthan immediately cut across to defend from Coronel, pushing the Red Bull junior half onto the grass on the run down to the first corner. At the beginning of the next lap, Rodrigo Martínez ran into the outside gravel and got beached, which brought out the safety car.

Racing resumed at the end of lap four, and Kanthan began to eke out a gap over Coronel for the rest of the race, eventually crossing the line with a gap of 3.954s to the Dutch driver. Later that afternoon, however, Kanthan was handed a five-second penalty for forcing off Coronel at the start. He also received a 10-second penalty for suddenly changing speed behind the safety car.

With his penalties, Kanthan was demoted to 10th, and Coronel was promoted to his first Spanish F4 victory. Aleix Piñera moved one step up on his first career podium, and Monteiro inherited third, his first of a hat-trick of third-place finishes at Valencia.

Piñera’s second-fastest lap time scored him pole position for race two ahead of Coronel, who took the lead down the inside of the first corner. The Spanish driver was then quickly under pressure from Kanthan and the pair went side by side into Turn 3.

Contact between the two at the following corner sent the American driver around and into the path of Andrej Petrović, who crashed heavily into the side of Kanthan. Pablo Riccobono Bello subsequently crashed into both their stricken cars and the race was quickly red-flagged after a momentary safety car period. All three drivers were uninjured. 

After two laps under the safety car, Coronel led a rolling restart at the end of lap three. Much like the earlier race, the rest of proceedings was fairly routine, save for an unsuccessful attack by Monteiro on Piñera for second just over halfway into the race. In the end, the top three finished in the exact same podium classification as race one. 

Kanthan pulled away from Monteiro at the start of a mildly damp race three, the Portuguese driver also being outdragged by Borys Łyżeń into Turn 1. Monteiro was by then falling into the clutches of Nathan Tye, who eventually got past through Turn 11. The British driver, however, oversteered heading into the next corner, ran wide through the gravel and fell back to the fringes of the top 10.

The safety car was deployed three times during the race. Two occurrences were for drivers beached in the gravel, first Luna Fluxá on lap two at Turn 8, then Max Radeck on lap six at Turn 12. 

The third deployment came on lap 10 after teammates Sam Urus and Sebastián Frigolet came to blows at the end of lap nine. The pair ran wide through the final corner, and Urus slid whilst rejoining, causing him to sideswipe and almost flip Frigolet into the gravel on the inside of the main straight. Concurrently, at the other end of the straight, Nacho Tuñón tagged Elliot Kaczynski on the inside line and sent the Swedish driver into the gravel. Tuñón received a 10-second time penalty, while no further action was taken on the Urus–Frigolet collision.

After 17 laps, a virtually unchallenged Kanthan took his first Spanish F4 victory ahead of Łyżeń and Monteiro. Coronel finished fourth but retained the championship lead with 55 points, ahead of Monteiro on 43, Piñera on 33 and Kanthan on 31.

Report by Seb Tirado

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Vivek Kanthan, 1:33.815	Rocco Coronel, +0.010s	Aleix Piñera, +0.082s
Race 1 (19 laps)	Rocco Coronel, 31:45.207	Aleix Piñera, +0.856s	Noah Monteiro, +1.742s
Race 2 (15 laps)	Rocco Coronel, 39:51.812	Aleix Piñera, +0.360s	Noah Monteiro, +0.818s
Qualifying 2	Vivek Kanthan, 1:47.140	Noah Monteiro, +0.173s	Borys Łyżeń, +0.680s
Race 3 (17 laps)	Vivek Kanthan, 32:29.908	Borys Łyżeń, +0.680s	Noah Monteiro, +1.545s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Rocco Coronel, 55	MP Motorsport, 77	Rocco Coronel, 55
P2	Noah Monteiro, 43	Griffin Core by Campos, 70	Aleix Piñera, 33
P3	Aleix Piñera, 33	KCL by MP, 39	Borys Łyżeń, 27
P4	Vivek Kanthan, 31	Tecnicar, 33	Kasper Schormans, 22
P5	Borys Łyżeń, 27	Drivex, 21	Jensen Burnett, 12
P6	Ty Fisher, 22	Campos Racing, 8	Elliot Kaczynski, 10
P7	Kasper Schormans, 22	T-Code, 8	Daniel Kelleher, 8
P8	Jensen Burnett, 12	Monlau Motorsport, 2	Rahim Alibhai, 2
P9	Nathan Tye, 11	TC Racing, 0	Felipe Reijs, 1
P10	Elliot Kaczynski, 10	G4 Racing, 0	Miki Blascos, 0

F4 CEZ: Walther takes points lead with double win in Spielberg

Maffi Racing’s David Walther began his sophomore F4 CEZ season by winning twice at the season opener in Spielberg to secure the points lead at weekend’s end.

In the series’ first weekend with a four-race format like Italian F4’s, implemented because of the increased number of entries, two qualifying sessions were held, with one for each half of the grid. Jenzer Motorsport dominated both sessions, with Max Karhan and Teo Borenstein qualifying on pole for races one and three and Max Karhan on pole for race two.

Borenstein opened his account with a victory at the start of the weekend by leading all 17 laps to take his first career win. Karhan bounced back from a sluggish start to go from fourth to second and finish 0.474s behind his teammate, with Walther joining them on the podium in third after Karhan passed him on lap 10. Ginevra Panzeri, who reportedly sustained a shoulder injury in last weekend’s French F4 round at Nogaro, came home 11th as the highest-placed female driver.

In race two, held on Sunday morning, Karhan lost the lead at the start to Elia Weiss on the run up to Turn 1. Karhan was able to retake first place at the next braking zone, but the German took the lead back just a lap later and held off all of Karhan’s subsequent attacks from lap seven until lap 11, when the safety car was deployed following Nikolaj Dyrved’s crash on the exit of Turn 1.

The safety car pulled into the pits just before the clock hit zero, and Weiss backed the field up for just long enough to avoid a final-lap showdown. With that, he took his first-ever win in single-seaters ahead of Karhan and compatriot Rechenmacher.

Later that morning, race three took place. Weiss was once again the man to beat off the line as he took the lead from Borenstein, but the Czech driver returned to his starting position on the run out of Turn 3. Weiss then fell to third behind Walther a lap later as the top three began to spread out.

Borenstein remained unchallenged for the rest of the race and crossed the line first, but he was later given a five-second penalty for track limits violations. Walther thus inherited the win as the Czech driver fell to second ahead of teammate Weiss.

For the fourth and final race of the weekend, Borenstein started on pole as the driver with the most points after the first three races. Though Weiss got a better launch, he kept the lead at the start as Walther jumped Weiss exiting Turn 1 to take second. As Weiss slipped to fifth behind Karhan and Rechenmacher, the Dane then caught Borenstein on the following lap and took the lead on the way down to Turn 4. A lap later, the safety car was deployed as Panzeri and Filippo Fiorentino collided at Turn 3.

When the race restarted on lap seven, Walther led the way, while Weiss quickly moved up to second after passing Rechenmacher and Borenstein in the first half of the lap. A lap later, however, Rechenmacher and Borenstein collided at Turn 3, sending the Jenzer driver into a spin and down the order.

On lap nine, Knud Nielsen had an off-track excursion at Turn 4, hitting the wall and retiring from the race. Mio Olert and Andreas Lo Bue had separate incidents elsewhere on track, forcing the red flag to be brought out.

After 10 minutes, the clock was unfrozen and the race resumed behind the safety car ahead of a restart on lap 11. Green-flag racing didn’t last long, though, as Michalina Sabaj found herself in the gravel trap at Turn 5, forcing the race to be stopped again. That time it wasn’t resumed, meaning Walther secured his second win in a row ahead of Weiss and Karhan.

Walther leads the standings on 66 points, five ahead of Weiss and 10 ahead of Karhan, heading into the next round of the season at the Salzburgring. Jenzer Motorsport already have a 90-point advantage over Maffi Racing, who have 72 points total.

Report by Marco Albertini

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying Group 1	Teodor Borenstein, 1:32.133	Elia Weiss, +0.466s	Simon Rechenmacher, +0.599s
Qualifying Group 2	Max Karhan, 1:32.242	David Walther, +0.095s	Georgiy Zasov, +0.390s
Race 1 (17 laps)	Teodor Borenstein, 26:30.594	Max Karhan, +0.474s	David Walther, +1.492s
Race 2 (14 laps)	Elia Weiss, 25:02.227	Max Karhan, +0.516s	Simon Rechenmacher, +0.627s
Race 3 (17 laps)	David Walther, 26:31.775	Teo Borenstein, +0.664s	Elia Weiss, +1.843s
Race 4 (10 laps)	David Walther, 20:11.891	Elia Weiss, +0.559s	Max Karhan, +1.052s

Standings	Drivers	Teams
P1	David Walther, 66	Jenzer Motorsport, 162
P2	Elia Weiss, 61	Maffi Racing, 72
P3	Max Karhan, 56	Cram Motorsport, 56
P4	Teodor Borenstein, 45	Technorace, 34
P5	Georgiy Zasov, 34	ABA Racing by SG Motors, 27
P6	Simon Rechenmacher, 31	Mathilda Racing, 24
P7	Francesco Pio Coppola, 29	Renauer Motorsport, 19
P8	Aleksandar Bogunović, 27	Janík Motorsport, 19
P9	Lubo Ruykov, 24	Real Racing, 14
P10	Markas Šilkūnas, 24	JMT Engineering, 12

FRegional Americas: Shipman scores three podiums, exits NOLA with points lead

Cooper Shipman got his rookie FR Americas campaign off to a strong start by scoring podium finishes in all three races at NOLA Motorsports Park, including a win in the final race.

Shipman led the weekend’s opening practice session over rookie Evagoras Papasavvas, who would go on to lead practice two over Brady Golan. Papasavvas again topped the time sheets in qualifying later on Friday. Golan, despite having his best lap removed for causing a red flag, qualified second ahead of Kekai Hauanio, Shipman and Harbir Dass.

Papasavvas’ time at the front in race one was short-lived, however. He and Hauanio made contact on the opening lap and fell back. Golan inherited the lead and maintained it for the remainder of the race to win by 3.053 seconds at the line. Though Hauanio and Barrett Wolfe finished second and third respectively on the road, both later received five-second penalties for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, dropping Hauanio to seventh and Wolfe to ninth.

Those penalties elevated Christian Bogle and Shipman to the podium. Papasavvas recovered to fourth, while Canadian James Lawley finished fifth for the sixth race in a row. Newcomer Whitney Strickland was the highest-finishing driver in the masters’ class in 10th.

Golan was unable to replicate his success in the second race, retiring on the opening lap. Papasavvas, on the other hand, made up for his opening-race disappointment by charging to victory in race two, four seconds clear of Shipman. Hauanio and Wolfe stayed on the right side of the rulebook this time and brought home finishes of third and fourth, with Luke Powers rounding out the top five. Strickland again was the highest and this time only finisher in the masters’ class in ninth.

Race three, unlike the previous two, ran uninterrupted from start to finish, and Shipman closed his weekend with his first career FR Americas victory. Hauanio again finished on the podium in second place. Although Papasavvas finished third initially, 30-second penalties for him and Golan for causing a collision – along with an additional five-second penalty for Golan for leaving the track and gaining an advantage – dropped the pair to sixth and eighth respectively. As a result, Powers was moved up to third to take home his first career podium in the series, with Bogle and rookie Eric Wiśniewski rounding out the top five. Anthony Autiello in 12th was the only masters’ class finisher.

Atlantic Racing Team’s Jake Pollack was absent from qualifying and all three of the weekend’s races. 

Shipman’s consistency propelled him to the championship lead with 58 points. Papasavvas sits second with 45, ahead of Hauanio, whose 39-point haul places him in third. Toney Driver Development lead the teams’ standings by four points over Crosslink Motorsports, while their drivers exit the weekend in fourth through sixth, with Bogle leading Powers by five points and Golan by nine.

Report by Owen White

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Evagoras Papasavvas, 1:33.626	Brady Golan, +0.253	Kekai Hauanio, +0.426s
Race 1 (14 laps)	Brady Golan, 30:12.268	Christian Bogle, +5.699s	Cooper Shipman, +6.516s
Race 2 (16 laps)	Evagoras Papasavvas, 31:11.438	Cooper Shipman, +4.216s	Kekai Hauanio, +5.715s
Race 3 (19 laps)	Cooper Shipman, 30:49.546	Kekai Hauanio, +6.605s	Luke Powers, +34.231s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Cooper Shipman, 58	Toney Driver Development, 88	Cooper Shipman, 58
P2	Evagoras Papasavvas, 45	Crosslink Motorsports, 84	Evagoras Papasavvas, 45
P3	Kekai Hauanio, 39	Kiwi Motorsport, 58	Kekai Hauanio, 39
P4	Christian Bogle, 38	Hillenburg Motorsports, 18	Luke Powers, 33
P5	Luke Powers, 33	Atlantic Racing Team, 15	Eric Wiśniewski, 15
P6	Brady Golan, 29	MLT Motorsports, 6	Alex Bobadilla, 6
P7	Barrett Wolfe, 16	Momentum Motorsports, 0	Jonathan Cottrill, 3
P8 (tied)	James Lawley, 15		Whitney Strickland, 3
P8 (tied)	Eric Wiśniewski, 15		Aidan Schuh, 0
P10	Alex Bobadilla, 6		Harbir Dass, 0

F4 US: Campbell sweeps opening weekend at NOLA

Caleb Campbell got his sophomore season in F4 US off to a near flawless start, winning all three of the weekend’s races and claiming an early 21-point lead in the championship.

It was not a flashy Friday in practice for Campbell, who finished fifth and fourth respectively in the two sessions. Luca Day led the earlier session, and Fernando Rivera topped the charts in the day’s second practice. In qualifying, it was rookie Cole Medeiros who took pole position, albeit not without some confusion. The Canadian’s fastest lap was originally deleted, leaving him fifth in the order, but it was later reinstated, giving him a narrow margin at the top over Zach Fourie and Campbell, who qualified third.

In race one, both Ayden Kohut and Rivera retired on the opening lap, with a later engine issue for Day bringing the field size down to just six cars for the final half of the race. Though Fourie navigated past Medeiros to take the lead, Campbell stole it away in the closing minutes and took the win. Fourie held on to second, with rookie Gaston Irazú snatching the final spot on the podium from Medeiros in the closing laps.

Race two got off to a chaotic start, with an early incident for Irazú and Clemente Huerta bringing out the safety car. Day again dropped out of the race near its halfway mark, leaving the remaining six drivers to fight for the podium positions. Again, it was Campbell and Fourie who drove away from the pack, and again it was Campbell who won the race, doing so with a gap of 1.697s. Medeiros finished third, taking his first podium in the series.

Like the series above it on the Racing America ladder, F4 US enjoyed a safety car–free final race of the weekend. The podium from the first race of the weekend was repeated, with Campbell completing the weekend sweep by 4.121s over Fourie and 14.303s over Irazú, who set the fastest lap of the race.

After his sweep of the weekend, Campbell leads the championship with 75 points over Fourie, whose trio of second-place finishes gives him 54 points. Medeiros leaves the weekend in third with 39 points, and Irazú sits fourth with 30.

Report by Owen White

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Cole Medeiros, 1:39.902	Zach Fourie, +0.032s	Caleb Campbell, +0.325s
Race 1 (15 laps)	Caleb Campbell, 31:28.222	Zach Fourie, +0.655s	Gastón Irazú, +1.728s
Race 2 (17 laps)	Caleb Campbell, 30:19.992	Zach Fourie, +1.697s	Cole Medeiros, +8.444s
Race 3 (18 laps)	Caleb Campbell, 30:36.874	Zach Fourie, +4.121s	Gastón Irazú, +14.303s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Caleb Campbell, 75	Kiwi Motorsport, 129	Zach Fourie, 54
P2	Zach Fourie, 54	MLT Motorsports, 39	Cole Medeiros, 39
P3	Cole Medeiros, 39	Champagne Racing, 30	Gastón Irazú, 30
P4	Gastón Irazú, 30	Vmax Motorsport, 28	Fernando Rivera, 16
P5	Robert Soroka, 28	Crosslink Motorsports, 16	Ayden Kohut, 10
P6	Fernando Rivera, 16	Speed Factory, 16	Luca Day, 8
P7	Clemente Huerta, 16	Momentum Motorsports, 8
P8	Ayden Kohut, 10
P9	Luca Day, 8

Ligier Junior Formula Championship: Kennedy sweeps Gen 2 class on debut as Jacir wins twice in Gen 1

In the first round of the Ligier Junior Formula Championship’s new era, Edward Kennedy won all three races outright and in the two-driver Gen 2 class, while Beckham Jacir left NOLA with the Gen 1 points lead and two wins to his name.

Kennedy qualified on overall and Gen 2 pole on Friday afternoon before converting that into his maiden win in single-seaters on Saturday morning’s race one. In Gen 1, Beckham Jacir also led from lights to flag to take his first win of the season ahead of Truly Adams and Lázaro Bainotti, who swapped places late in the race.

In race two, Kennedy once again put on a dominant display to secure his second consecutive win by 26.368s over the only other Gen 2 driver, Jack Speth. Rounding out the overall podium was Jacir, whose third place-finish secured him the Gen 1 win. Also on the Gen 1 podium were Adams and Ava Hanssen, who took her first-ever LJFC podium.

The Kennedy-Speth duo finished the weekend with another 1-2, as the MLT Motorsports driver crushed the opposition to win by a staggering 41.217s. Bainotti’s 9.979s gap over Jacir was comfortably enough for him to take the Gen 1 win, with Adams finishing third.

Kennedy leads Speth 75 to 54 in the Gen 2 standings. In the Gen 1 standings, which are separated, Jacir on 68 leads Adams on 51, Bainotti on 41 and Hanssen on 39. Berg Racing, on 73 points, has a five-point advantage over Champagne Racing.

Report by Marco Albertini

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Edward Kennedy, 1:40.900	Beckham Jacir, +1.246s	Lázaro Bainotti, +1.297s
Race 1 (17 laps)	Edward Kennedy, 31:16.295	Beckham Jacir, +16.536s	Truly Adams, +17.456s
Race 2 (18 laps)	Edward Kennedy, 30:52.830	Jack Speth, +26.368s	Beckham Jacir, +31.669s
Race 3 (18 laps)	Edward Kennedy, 30:59.275	Lázaro Bainotti, +26.647s	Truly Adams, +36.626s

Standings	Gen 1			Gen 2
	Drivers	Teams	Rookies	Drivers
P1	Beckham Jacir, 68	Berg Racing, 73	Truly Adams, 51	Edward Kennedy, 75
P2	Truly Adams, 51	Champagne Racing, 68	Lázaro Bainotti, 41	Jack Speth, 54
P3	Lázaro Bainotti, 41	Speed Factory, 41	Will Franklin, 30
P4	Ava Hanssen, 39	Ava Hanssen Racing, 39	Alexander Savage, 24
P5	Will Franklin, 30	G Tech Motorsport, 38	AJ Abdullah, 18
P6	Alexander Savage, 24	Kiwi Motorsport, 30	Tyler Wade, 10
P7	AJ Abdullah, 18		Ella White, 7
P8	Michael Fatutta, 14
P9	Tyler Wade, 10
P10	Ella White, 7

Want to hear more about what played out this weekend in junior single-seater racing? Tune in to the latest episode of our Race Recap podcast, to be released later today.

Header photo credit: Moritz Sachsenheimer