Two Formula 4 series and Euroformula Open kicked off their 2026 seasons this weekend, while USF Juniors visited a new circuit for its second round. Feeder Series reviews the action.

By Feeder Series

Formula 1’s extended hiatus has placed more of a spotlight on junior championships, and four of them drew particular attention this weekend.

Euroformula Open was the highest-level series to run this weekend, holding its opening contest of eight at Portimão as part of the GT Sport package. Also racing for the first time in 2026 were British F4 at Donington Park and Chinese F4 at Shanghai, where one driver topped all but the final race. USF Juniors, meanwhile, returned to action after a two-month break, becoming the first IndyCar junior series to visit Carolina Motorsports Park.

We would be remiss not to mention two tragic incidents that occurred this weekend in other racing series. On Saturday, 66-year-old Finnish driver Juha Miettinen, a longtime competitor in the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie, died in an accident in a qualifying race for the Nürburgring 24 Hours on the Nordschleife. Six other drivers were injured. Then on Sunday, a spectator was killed in an accident at this weekend’s Rally Sudamericano event in Argentina, while two other onlookers were injured. Feeder Series extends its condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of the deceased.

1. Euroformula Open: Yeh takes early points lead after dominating Portimão opener
2. British F4: Van Langendonck takes early lead in chaotic weekend at Donington Park
3. Chinese F4: Chan leads championship after dominant weekend in Shanghai
4. USF Juniors: Machado Pérez takes points lead with double win in Carolina

Euroformula Open: Yeh takes early points lead after dominating Portimão opener

Enzo Yeh took pole position and two wins to dominate the first round of the Euroformula Open season at Portimão, claiming an early championship lead of 11 points over Diego de la Torre.

After Friday’s two free practice sessions, it did not seem that Yeh would be fastest on Saturday morning when qualifying came around. Yet the Taiwanese driver stormed to the first pole position of the year, finishing nearly four tenths ahead of teammates De la Torre and Everett Stack, who finished second and third.

In race one, four drivers  – Jesse Carrasquedo Jr, Lorenzo Castillo, Divy Nandan and Javier Herrera – struggled to get off the line. From lap three, however, Carrasquedo began to climb through the field, ultimately gaining back four places after his poor start to finish fourth. 

Race one was difficult for the rookies, with a collision between Wiktor Dobrzański and Jan Koller on lap seven and a spin for Aaron Ferrazzano, who was running fifth, on lap 10. 

Out front, Yeh claimed a lights-to-flag maiden win in the series ahead of Stack, who passed eventual third-place finisher De la Torre at Turn 1 on lap 11.

With the reversal of race one’s top six finishers, BVM’s Nandan started from pole on Sunday morning. He appeared to get a perfect start but was shown to have jumped the lights, earning a five-second time penalty on lap four. 

Meanwhile, Carrasquedo, starting third, again struggled to get off the line, falling to last and being forced to fight through the field once more. Things began to heat up on lap 13 once he caught the leading pack. The Mexican completed a move for fifth on Stack at Turn 11 having chased the American since the start of the lap. 

On the penultimate lap, still carrying his penalty from the start, Nandan went wide exiting Turn 2, gifting teammate Alessandro Famularo the lead. The Indian driver fell to fifth on track and eventually ninth with his penalty, while Carrasquedo dropped from fourth to seventh because of a track limits penalty.

Famularo grabbed his first win since his return from a two-year-long funding-related absence last year, ahead of race one podium finisher De la Torre. Yeh crossed the line third but received a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining advantage, dropping him to third and promoting Stack to the podium in his place. 

The top six from qualifying were reversed to set the grid for race three, which meant Famularo started from the front alongside Castillo. Poor getaways from both helped Stack jump into the lead, with Yeh slotting in behind.

The top four of Stack, Yeh, Carrasquedo and De la Torre battled fiercely in the opening laps, but Yeh’s move for the race lead on lap five proved decisive. He survived another scrap through laps nine and 10, which ended when Carrasquedo sliced across the front wing of Stack heading into Sagres. The Mexican suffered a race-ending puncture, while Stack fell to last with damage.

With his double victory, Yeh left the weekend on 62 points, with De la Torre second on 51, a point ahead of Famularo. Motopark sit on 45 points in the teams’ championship and are 10 points in front of BVM, while Wiktor Dobrzański leads the rookies’ standings heading into round two at Spa.

Report by Archie Harper

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Enzo Yeh, 1:35.283	Diego de la Torre, +0.380s	Everett Stack, +0.391s
Race 1 (18 laps)	Enzo Yeh, 28:57.887	Everett Stack, +7.061s	Diego de la Torre, +8.369s
Race 2 (18 laps)	Alessandro Famularo, 29:09.803	Diego de la Torre, +1.112s	Everett Stack, +4.521s
Race 3 (18 laps)	Enzo Yeh, 29:12.984	Diego de la Torre, +1.886s	Alessandro Famularo, +5.037s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Enzo Yeh, 62	Team Motopark, 45	Wiktor Dobrzański, 23
P2	Diego de la Torre, 51	BVM Racing, 35	Lorenzo Castillo, 22
P3	Alessandro Famularo, 50	Aaron Ferrazzano by Neri Autosport, 13	Javier Herrera, 17
P4	Everett Stack, 34		Aaron Ferrazzano, 16
P5	Wiktor Dobrzański, 22		Jan Koller, 15
P6	Jesse Carrasquedo Jr, 20
P7	Lorenzo Castillo, 18
P8	Jan Koller, 14
P9	Aaron Ferrazzano, 12
P10	Javier Herrera, 12

British F4: Van Langendonck takes early lead in chaotic weekend at Donington Park

British F4 returned to Donington Park for the opening round of 2026 in a weekend punctuated by track limits and trips to the gravel.

With a 31-car field, finding space in qualifying was a challenge for many, with some, including last year’s fourth-place finisher Tommy Harfield, struggling to get a clean lap in and others losing as many as seven laps to track limits. McLaren junior and early championship favourite Dries Van Langendonck took a commanding double pole, 0.259s ahead of Theo Palmer and Jarrett Clark, as a second covered the top 23 drivers.

The track limits storyline continued into race one, with many drivers receiving five- and 10-second penalties and two drivers – Kit Belofsky and Timo Jüngling – even receiving drive-through penalties for their excursions beyond the white lines. Out front, Van Langendonck took the season’s first win, though Mercedes junior Ethan Jeff-Hall kept the Belgian company at the sharp end, setting the fastest lap while closing in on the lead in the final few tours to cross the line 0.968s behind the Rodin Motorsport driver.

Jeff-Hall was given two post-race track limits penalties totalling 15 seconds, dropping him to ninth. Those were protested and rescinded on Sunday, reinstating him to second and pushing Theo Palmer and Joseph Smith to third and fourth.

Race two started with chaos off the line, with three drivers out on the first lap before a red flag halted proceedings. The drama continued after the race’s restart with a safety car at the end of the redone lap one for Alfie Slater’s beached Rodin. Safety cars bred more safety cars, as contact at the rear on the next restart neutralised running after just one lap.

When the safety car peeled in for a second time, Van Langendonck – who had already climbed from 12th to fifth – threw his McLaren-liveried car down the inside of Coppice, leaving Jeff-Hall with nowhere to go but through the gravel. All the while, leader Ethan Lennon held on to win under immense pressure from the chasing pair of Lewis Wherrell and Scott Kin Lindblom, with the top three never separated by more than 1.3s after the restart.

Before the field even made it to the first corner of race three, Virtuosi teammates Jarrett Clark and George Proudford-Nalder collided, while further contact at the next corner eliminated Harfield and Vegard Klemetsen and sent several others to pit lane.

Once the safety car pitted on lap five, Smith, Lindblom and Jeff-Hall battled for the final podium place, while Hitech’s Palmer closed the gap to Van Langendonck, setting the fastest lap in the process. On lap 12, however, a lunge down the inside of Turn 1 ended in contact and a trip to the gravel for Palmer, bringing out the safety car once again.

After the restart, Smith took on Jeff-Hall side by side through the Craner curves, sealing the overtake with a late-braking move into the Old Hairpin. With that, he snatched what would become his first single-seater win after Van Langendonck received a five-second penalty for the contact with Palmer.

Despite his penalty, Van Langendonck took a sizeable 15-point lead in the drivers’ standings, with Smith and Jeff-Hall behind him level on 37 points. In the rookie standings, Van Langendonck leads Jaber Al Sabah by 24 points.

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Dries Van Langendonck, 1:04.865	Theo Palmer, +0.259s	Jarrett Clark, +0.294s
Race 1 (19 laps)	Dries Van Langendonck, 20:56.091	Ethan Jeff-Hall, +0.968s	Theo Palmer, +2.219s
Race 2 (13 laps)	Ethan Lennon, 17:51.109	Lewis Wherrell, +0.570s	Scott Kin Lindblom, +1.264s
Race 3 (20 laps)	Joseph Smith, 25:56.071	Ethan Jeff-Hall, +1.476s	Scott Kin Lindblom, +3.432s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Dries Van Langendonck, 52	Rodin Motorsport, 70	Dries Van Langendonck, 58
P2	Joseph Smith, 37	Virtuosi Racing, 52	Jaber Al Sabah, 34
P3	Ethan Jeff-Hall, 37	Hitech, 52	Mate Kobakhidze, 25
P4	Scott Kin Lindblom, 31	Argenti Motorsport, 36	León Hedfors, 24
P5	Theo Palmer, 26	Xcel Motorsport, 12	Lewis Wherrell, 22
P6	Ethan Lennon, 18	Fortec Motorsport, 11	Piotr Orzechowski, 22
P7	Jarrett Clark, 13	JHR Developments, 8	Timo Jüngling, 17
P8	Cole Hewetson, 12	Chris Dittmann Racing, 0	Jackson Wolny, 15
P9	Lewis Wherrell, 10		Cameron Nelson, 14
P10	Ella Lloyd, 10		Sun Anzhe, 8

Chinese F4: Chan leads championship after dominant weekend in Shanghai

Kimi Chan dominated the first round of the Chinese F4 season this weekend in Shanghai, claiming three wins to take the lead of the championship ahead of Timur Shagaliev. 

Chan was fastest in both qualifying sessions, awarding him pole position for races one and three. In the first race, Shagaliev got a better start than Chan to take the lead. Behind them, Patrick Tsang Wai Yip made contact with Jason Chow Chun Shing and hit the wall, bringing out the safety car. Yu Yan began fighting Chan for second when the safety car period ended, but Chan defended his position. Chan then overtook Shagaliev for the lead of the race on the start-finish straight with 17 minutes left. 

Shagaliev retired from the race on lap seven after experiencing an issue with his car. Yu, who was running in second, also faced an issue with his car and retired on lap 12. Chan took the win for the first race, with Chen Sicong in second. Shi Wei, who started in sixth, finished third, becoming the series’ first female podium finisher. 

Jiang Wei, who finished 12th in the first race, was awarded reverse-grid pole for the second race. At the start, Chen Zhuyuan took the lead away from Jiang. The safety car was brought out after Andy Law spun at Turn 12. Chan was running in fourth by the end of the first lap after the safety car restart, while Chen Sicong overtook Chen Zhuyuan for the lead on the start-finish straight. 

The safety car was brought out once again to retrieve Ken Chow Wing Hong’s car at Turn 1. Green flag conditions resumed with roughly 10 minutes left. Chan took the lead of the race from Chen Sicong at Turn 7 with seven minutes left. A third safety car was brought out after contact between Huang and Zhang Jun, and Chan maintained the lead at the restart to take his second win of the weekend. Chen Sicong finished in second, while Shagaliev earned third after Josh Feng was disqualified.   

Chan started on pole for the third race, with Yu alongside him. Chan maintained his lead at the start, but behind him, contact between Yang Peng and Huang Chujian initiated the first safety car period. It ended with 20 minutes left, by which point Shagaliev, who had started at the back after failing to qualify in the second session, had made his way up to eighth. 

The top two remained as they were while Chen Sicong and Chen Zhuyuan battled for third. With 10 minutes left, the second safety car was brought out to retrieve Tsang’s stranded car at Turn 14. Shagaliev made up five positions in the three laps following the restart to take the final step on the podium as Chan took his third win of the weekend ahead of Yu. 

Tu Yate was awarded reverse-grid pole for the final race, but Qi Diqin snatched the lead at the start as Tu jumped and then stalled. On the first lap, Yuanyang Zeshi brought out the safety car after going into the gravel at Turn 10 with suspension damage.

At the restart, Shagaliev was already in third after starting 10th, while Chan, who started 12th, was running in seventh. Shagaliev took the lead after battling teammate Feng Jiaxi at Turn 14 with roughly 18 minutes remaining. He maintained the lead to take his first win in the series, with Chan finishing second and Yu completing the podium. 

Chan leads the championship with 93 points, followed by Shagaliev with 55. Chen Sicong rounds out the top three with 46 points. 

Report by Kaylene Lau

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Kimi Chan, 2:05.659	Timur Shagaliev, +0.172s	Chen Sicong, +0.543s
Qualifying 2	Kimi Chan, 2:05.576	Yu Yan, +0.875s	Chen Sicong, +1.088s
Race 1 (15 laps)	Kimi Chan, 33:41.070	Chen Sicong, +9.914s	Shi Wei, +20.691s
Race 2 (12 laps)	Kimi Chan, 33:05.043	Chen Sicong, +1.176s	Timur Shagaliev, +3.289
Race 3 (13 laps)	Kimi Chan, 33:05.470	Yu Yan, +4.264s	Timur Shagaliev, +5.669s
Race 4 (14 laps)	Timur Shagaliev, 31:01.005	Kimi Chan, +1.244s	Yu Yan, +12.584s

Standings	Drivers	Teams
P1	Kimi Chan, 93	Champ Academy, 93
P2	Timur Shagaliev, 55	Black Blade Racing, 83
P3	Chen Sicong, 46	Asia Racing Team, 67
P4	Yu Yan, 37	Frankenstein by Pointer Racing, 60
P5	Chen Zhuyuan, 36	Blackjack Racing, 37
P6	Yuanyang Zeshi, 32	She Power Racing, 31
P7	Shi Wei, 31	Kai Fei Motorsport, 16
P8	Liu Taiji, 28	Black Blade GP, 7
P9	Andy Law, 15	GYT Racing, 6
P10	Josh Feng, 12	Geeke Racing, 4

USF Juniors: Machado Pérez takes points lead with double win in Carolina

Iván Machado Pérez was the man to beat in USF Juniors’ only trip to South Carolina, winning twice to eke out a one-point advantage over Max Mokarem.

The VRD Racing by Pole Position driver qualified on pole in the weekend’s sole qualifying session and led the field at the start of race one, but he was hit by Karol Pasiewicz at Turn 1 and fell to third by the first sector. As Cole Medeiros took over the lead, the safety car was briefly deployed to retrieve Pasiewicz’s car, which was stuck in the gravel.

Medeiros continued to lead as racing resumed on lap three. Two laps later, the Zanella Racing pair of Olivier Mrak and Victor Couto tangled at Turn 1 while battling for sixth, leaving the former stuck in the gravel with a bent rear-right suspension. On the restart, Machado Pérez dropped to fifth, but the safety car was immediately deployed again for Elías Vignola, who found himself upside down after battling with Bex Cranston for eighth.

With two laps to go, the green flag waved, with Medeiros remaining unchallenged as he crossed the line to take his maiden series win ahead of Vilho Aatola and Machado Pérez.

The Spaniard was also on pole for race two, but this time, he was able to lead the way at the start. Pasiewicz, who started second, was spun into the gravel at Turn 1 by Medeiros, which forced an early safety car intervention.

Two laps later, the race restarted, but it wasn’t long before the next intervention after Aryan Narola found himself in the tyre barriers at Turn 4 on lap six. The race restarted on lap nine, and Machado Pérez built a 3.3632-second lead over Medeiros to take his first win of the weekend. Medeiros then received a 10-second post-race penalty for avoidable contact, promoting Mrak to second and Alex Berg to third.

Berg’s surprise podium came after Leonardo Serravalle lost a position when Mrak forced him off at Turn 11 on the final lap. Directly behind them, Max Cuthbert and Brenden Cooley collided, leaving the Briton down in 19th as Cooley salvaged seventh.

For the final race, Machado Pérez once again led from pole, keeping Mokarem at bay until the only safety car was called on lap 11 for Pipe Chaparro’s stricken car at the exit of Turn 9.

The safety car period ended with one lap to go, and despite several attacking attempts from the Lebanese driver, Machado Pérez kept his cool to secure his second consecutive win as Medeiros rounded out the podium.

Machado Pérez now leads the standings by one point over Mokarem, with Aatola 19 and race one winner Medeiros 31 away from the Spaniard. In the teams’ standings, Zanella Racing remains at the top on 155 points, 46 ahead of Exclusive Autosport and 59 ahead of VRD Racing by Pole Position.

Report by Marco Albertini

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Iván Machado Pérez, 1:32.5568	Karol Pasiewicz, +0.1337s	Cole Medeiros, +0.2225s
Race 1 (15 laps)	Cole Medeiros, 30:20.4251	Vilho Aatola, +1.7843s	Iván Machado Pérez, +3.3829s
Race 2 (15 laps)	Iván Machado Pérez, 26:39.0265	Olivier Mrak, +7.6530s	Alex Berg, +8.3481s
Race 3 (15 laps)	Iván Machado Pérez, 26:17.4886	Max Mokarem, +0.2123s	Cole Medeiros, +0.8195s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Iván Machado Pérez, 133	Zanella Racing, 155	Iván Machado Pérez, 133
P2	Max Mokarem, 132	Exclusive Autosport, 109	Max Mokarem, 132
P3	Vilho Aatola, 114	VRD Racing by Pole Position, 96	Cole Medeiros, 102
P4	Cole Medeiros, 102	DEForce Racing, 92	Olivier Mrak, 90
P5	Olivier Mrak, 90	Olivia Racing, 78	Karol Pasiewicz, 89
P6	Karol Pasiewicz, 89	JHDD powered by ECR, 66	Casper Nissen, 78
P7	Casper Nissen, 78	Berg Racing, 46	Victor Couto, 74
P8	Victor Couto, 74		Leonardo Serravalle, 71
P9	Leonardo Serravalle, 71		Bex Cranston, 64
P10	Bex Cranston, 64		Max Cuthbert, 60

Read the previous round’s report here.

Want to hear more about this weekend’s racing action? Keep your ears peeled for our latest Race Recap episode, to be released on our YouTube channel and all podcast platforms later today.

Header photo credit: Fotospeedy / GT Sport