The busiest and longest weekend of racing yet in 2026 brought us an instant classic Indianapolis 500 and a thrilling Canadian Grand Prix, but there was also plenty of junior single-seater activity to follow from Thursday to Monday. Feeder Series reviews the action.

By Feeder Series

As a racing fan, you have to be whelmed with excitement with a weekend like this one. On top of F1’s Canadian Grand Prix, IndyCar’s Indianapolis 500, Super Formula’s return to Suzuka and NASCAR’s longest event, we had 11 junior single-seater championships in action in Asia, Europe and North America.

And while the Indianapolis 500’s closest-ever finish in 110 editions – 0.0233 seconds, closer than any finish in the 28 junior single-seater races we covered this weekend – stole the headlines, close racing was a theme up and down the ladder. The closest finish in our series came Thursday in USF Pro 2000’s Freedom 90 at Indianapolis Raceway Park, in which winner Michael Costello and second-place finisher Leonardo Escorpioni were separated by 0.1312 seconds. Read our report and reflections from on the ground here, and catch our recap of all the action from USF2000’s Freedom 75 here.

As for the series covered in this review, Super Formula Lights and FRegional Japan were up first at Suzuka in Japan, both supporting Super Formula at once for the first time. FRegional Europe held two races at Zandvoort, while Italian F4, British F4 and GB4 rounded out the activity in Europe with races at Vallelunga, Snetterton and Oulton Park respectively. Chinese F4 also made its debut at the V1 Auto World circuit in Tianjin with four races.

As was the case with the two USF series, F2 and F1 Academy’s race weekends at Montréal will be covered in separate reports, to be published Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.

Finally, Feeder Series would like to join the motorsport world in mourning the loss of NASCAR legend Kyle Busch, who passed away unexpectedly Thursday evening aged 41. Busch sits ninth on the all-time wins list in the Cup Series and comfortably holds the record for most career wins in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and the Craftsman Truck Series, NASCAR’s two lower national divisions. He also ran the Kyle Busch Motorsports team, which has supported the careers of a number of young drivers on the American stock car racing ladder before they earned their big breaks in NASCAR’s top national series.

1. Super Formula Lights: Umegaki dominates to take points lead as title rivals Giltaire, Shimbara crash
2. FRegional Japan: Omiya and Horachi beat Toyota juniors to wins at Suzuka
3. FRegional Europe: Wheldon scores two wins to take championship lead in Zandvoort
4. GB4: O’Grady and Green win at Oulton to pull ahead in drivers’ title fight
5. Italian F4: Sammalisto closes the gap to points leader Aksoy with dominant weekend
6. British F4: JHR take a clean sweep at Snetterton
7. Chinese F4: Chan clings to championship lead despite pair of non-finishes

Super Formula Lights: Umegaki dominates to take points lead as title rivals Giltaire, Shimbara crash

Toyota junior Kiyoshi Umegaki had a perfect weekend at Suzuka, topping both qualifying sessions and winning all three races to give him and his TOM’S team the lead in the drivers’ and teams’ standings. 

Yusuke Mitsui and Kotaro Shimbara trailed Umegaki in the first qualifying and did so in opposite order in the second qualifying as well. 

Umegaki lost the lead off the line in race one to the fast-starting Mitsui, but he closed again entering lap six and passed him at Turn 1 the following lap. 

The next lap at the same spot, Mitsui was under pressure from Evan Giltaire, who started fourth and fought past Shimbara. Mitsui was able to fend him off, but two laps later, Giltaire made the move work around the outside. Shimbara followed him into third through Turn 7.

There were no further position changes up front in the remaining seven laps despite a safety car restart at the end of lap 14 after Mitsui was taken out by Oscar Wurz. Umegaki took his maiden win in Super Formula Lights, while Mitsui missed out on the podium for the first time this season. 

Umegaki kept his lead at the start of race two, ahead of Shimbara and Mitsui. On lap six, Mitsui passed Shimbara on the start-finish straight for second after Tokiya Suzuki behind had passed Akshay Bohra for fourth at 130R the previous lap. 

Suzuki then passed Shimbara on the inside of Spoon later in the lap and inherited second on lap eight after passing Mitsui on the inside of Turn 1. 

At the end of lap eight, Mitsui got spun around at Turn 17 when Bohra misjudged the gap to him while defending from Rintaro Sato. Bohra and Mitsui spun but both continued. 

On lap 11, Wurz took third from Sato after going wheel to wheel with him through Turns 1 and 2 and the opening part of the Esses. The Austrian completed a TOM’S 1-2-3 led by Umegaki

The grid for race three was based on the results of race one. Umegaki kept his lead over Shimbara, who passed Giltaire off the line. 

Giltaire briefly repassed Shimbara for second at the end of the second lap, but the pair lost time, opening the door for Bohra and Kazuhisa Urabe to get alongside them into Turn 1.

Giltaire misjudged his space to Shimbara, and his rear-left wheel clipped Shimbara’s front-right wheel. The pair headed straight into the barriers, collecting Urabe on the way. All three drivers walked away from the scene unassisted. A safety car was called following the accident, deemed a racing incident. 

The race resumed at the end of lap six. Suzuki put pressure on Bohra for second but couldn’t pass him at the restart, nor anywhere else later. 

Umegaki took his third win ahead of Bohra and Suzuki. With Wurz in fourth, TOM’S took their first 1-2-3-4 finish since 10 November 2024 at Suzuka, when Rikuto Kobayashi, Jin Nakamura, Yuga Furutani and Seita Nonaka did so. 

“Ken Alex” took all three wins in the masters’ class and with that inherited the championship lead, four and five points over Yasuhiro Shimizu and “Dragon” respectively. 

Report by Finjo Muschlien

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Kiyoshi Umegaki, 1:50.486	Yusuke Mitsui, +0.134s	Kotaro Shimbara, +0.242s
Qualifying 2	Kiyoshi Umegaki, 1:50.260	Kotaro Shimbara, +0.414s	Yusuke Mitsui, +0.445s
Race 1 (16 laps)	Kiyoshi Umegaki, 33:55.474	Evan Giltaire, +0.756s	Kotaro Shimbara, +1.476s
Race 2 (12 laps)	Kiyoshi Umegaki, 22:53.229	Tokiya Suzuki, +2.252s	Oscar Wurz, +7.541s
Race 3 (12 laps)	Kiyoshi Umegaki, 28:05.917	Akshay Bohra, +1.137s	Tokiya Suzuki, +1.961s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Masters
P1	Kiyoshi Umegaki, 60	TOM’S, 59	“Ken Alex”, 64
P2	Evan Giltaire, 52	B-Max Racing Team, 57	Yasuhiro Shimizu, 60
P3	Yusuke Mitsui, 48	Delightworks Racing, 50	“Dragon”, 59
P4	Kotaro Shimbara, 27	B-Max Engineering, 14	Nobuhiro Imada, 22
P5	Tokiya Suzuki, 16	LM corsa, 1
P6	Oscar Wurz, 15	Buzz Racing, 0
P7	Rintaro Sato, 14	Art Taste Racing, 0
P8	Akshay Bohra, 11	JMS Racing Team, 0
P9	Kazuhisa Urabe, 10
P10	Yuzuki Miura, 4

Read the previous round’s report here.

FRegional Japan: Omiya and Horachi beat Toyota juniors to wins at Suzuka

Ponos Racing’s Kento Omiya and Ryota Horachi shared the wins at FRegional Japan’s second round at Suzuka. It marks the first time TOM’S and predecessor team TGR-DC Racing School leave a round winless since they first entered the championship at the end of 2024. 

Omiya was quickest in both qualifying sessions. Yuzuki Miura and Horachi were second and third respectively in the first session and in the opposite order in the second session. 

Omiya kept his lead off the line, ahead of Miura, but Horachi stalled and dropped to 14th position. 

Further behind, Muto was on a charge, and he passed Rio Shimono on the inside of Spoon on the opening lap for fifth position. He passed Shunji Okumoto on lap six around the outside of 130R for fourth position and inherited the final podium spot on lap 10 by passing Lin Chenghua at the final corner complex.

Omiya won the race ahead of the TOM’S duo of Miura and Muto. Horachi fought back to fifth position after stalling at the start. 

A trio of Ponos-liveried cars stood at the front of the second race, and polesitter Omiya kept the lead as Miura passed Horachi for second off the line. 

The race was neutralised at the end of the opening lap after Li Xuanyu hit the stalled Rio Shimono at the start. The race resumed a lap later and Miura put pressure on Omiya going into Turn 1, but he ran wide and lost second position to Horachi. 

Horachi then went on to chase Omiya and attacked him around the outside of Turn 1 the following lap. The pair continued their fight into the opening corners of the Esses, but Omiya stayed ahead. 

The fight continued at the end of the lap as Horachi and Omiya went side by side through the final chicane and the first corner, but again Omiya stayed ahead. Behind them, Muto passed Miura for third around the outside of Turn 1.

Finally on lap six, Horachi passed Omiya on the start-finish straight. Omiya then made a mistake exiting Turn 7, allowing Muto to sweep through. Another mistake followed at Spoon, so Miura went through as well. 

Omiya came to a halt at the exit of Turn 2 the following lap and retired from the race. A safety car was called, and the race resumed at the end of lap nine with no more position changes up front. 

Horachi took his second win of the season to close the gap to leader Miura to just 11 points. Muto took his season-best result in second, beating Miura for the first time.

In the masters’ class, “Akita” won both races, extending his 100 per cent win record this year. 

Report by Finjo Muschlien

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Kento Omiya, 2:00.409	Yuzuki Miura, +0.729s	Ryota Horachi, +0.808s
Qualifying 2	Kento Omiya, 1:56.225	Ryota Horachi, +0.137s	Yuzuki Miura, +0.327s
Race 1 (13 laps)	Kento Omiya, 25:22.320	Yuzuki Miura, +1.650s	Masana Muto, +7.111s
Race 2 (13 laps)	Ryota Horachi, 29:49.435	Masana Muto, +1.828s	Yuzuki Miura, +4.043s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Masters
P1	Yuzuki Miura, 101	Ponos Racing, 111	“Akita”, 125
P2	Ryota Horachi, 90	TOM’S, 104	Yutaka Toriba, 79
P3	Masana Muto, 70	Rn-sports, 55	Hideaki Irie, 65
P4	Kento Omiya, 63	Ragno Motor Sports, 43	Masayuna Ueda, 54
P5	Lin Chenghua, 43	Abbey Racing, 24	“Yuki”, 48
P6	Hibiki Komatsu, 35	Dr.Dry Racing Team, 20	Shoichiro Akamatsu, 43
P7	“Akita”, 24	Team LeMans, 12	“Yugo”, 30
P8	Shunji Okumoto, 20	Aiwin, 10	Paul Wong, 22
P9	Rio Shimono, 20	Eagle Sports, 9	“Seimei”, 10
P10	Li Xuanyu, 12	Fujita Pharmacy Racing, 2

Read the previous round’s report here.

FRegional Europe: Wheldon scores two wins to take championship lead in Zandvoort

The second round of FRegional Europe was dominated by one story – Sebastian Wheldon snatching the championship lead with pole on Saturday and a double victory.

The 17-year-old’s stronghold did not begin on Saturday, however. After finishing fastest across Thursday’s collective tests, the MP Motorsport driver topped the first practice session on Friday before claiming the fastest overall time in group B of qualifying one ahead of Salim Hanna – giving him pole for race one.

The top two in group A – Kean Nakamura-Berta and Tomass Štolcermanis – were disqualified for having blowers fitted to their cars in parc fermé but had the penalty suspended pending an appeal, though Nakamura-Berta still carried two five-place penalties from Spielberg.

In the race, Štolcermanis took the lead through Turn 1 but was later penalised for jumping the start. The safety car came out on lap one after Kabir Anurag struck Miguel Costa at Turn 2 and Andrija Kostić hit Giovanni Maschio at Turn 10.

At the restart on lap three, Wheldon swept around the outside of Štolcermanis to reclaim his lead, with Štolcermanis swallowed by a further five cars come the end of the race.

Nakamura-Berta sent Yuki Sano off at Turn 1 on lap four and received a 10-second time penalty for contact. Another penalty was delivered to fifth-placed Alexander Abkhazava for pushing Rashid Al Dhaheri wide at the Turn 11–12 chicane. 

Hanna closed on Wheldon for the lead in the latter stages but failed to make a move, finishing second behind the American, with rookie Emanuele Olivieri in third.

Wheldon again topped his group in qualifying two on Sunday before the second group was disrupted with a red flag caused by Gabriel Gomez’s slide into the barriers at the banked Turn 3. After the resumption, Nakamura-Berta usurped Wheldon to claim his third pole of the season.

He maintained the lead at the start of race two, but there were elbows out down the field and a safety car turned red flag on lap two after Saqer Al Maosherji flipped Kostić at Turn 11 and Maschio ran into the side of Kai Daryanani just behind them.

An error from Nakamura-Berta gifted Wheldon the lead the lap after the restart, and the 17-year-old subsequently pulled away from his former teammate, who likewise gapped Reno Francot in third. 

The Dutchman was under pressure from Al Dhaheri but was granted a reprieve when Maximilian Popov clipped Andrea Dupé at the beginning of lap 17 and ended up beached at Turn 1.

The resulting safety car period left one frenetic final lap, which was not enough to change the outcome. Wheldon completed his sweep of wins ahead of Nakamura-Berta and Francot, who held on to the final podium position.

Wheldon is now leading the drivers’ standings on 82 points, Francot is second on 70 and Al Dhaheri is third on 60. Dutch squad MP Motorsport take the teams’ championship lead leaving their home race on 128 points, ahead of Prema on 90 and R-ace GP just behind on 89.

Report by Archie Harper

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1, Group A	Emanuele Olivieri, 1:30.400	Reno Francot, +0.043s	Dion Gowda, +0.065
Qualifying 1, Group B	Sebastian Wheldon, 1:29.943	Salim Hanna, +0.128s	Alexander Abkhazava, +0.231s
Race 1 (20 laps)	Sebastian Wheldon, 32:35.336	Salim Hanna, +0.249s	Emanuele Olivieri, +1.488s
Qualifying 2, Group B	Sebastian Wheldon, 1:30.208	Rashid Al Dhaheri, +0.069s	Zhenrui Chi, +0.132s
Qualifying 2, Group A	Kean Nakamura-Berta, 1:30.135	Reno Francot, +0.044s	Emanuele Olivieri, +0.220s
Race 2 (19 laps)	Sebastian Wheldon, 45:37.430	Kean Nakamura-Berta, +0.749s	Reno Francot, +0.809s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Sebastian Wheldon, 82	MP Motorsport, 128	Emanuele Olivieri, 28
P2	Reno Francot, 70	Prema Racing, 91	Alexandre Munoz, 8
P3	Rashid Al Dhaheri, 60	R-ace GP, 89	Tomass Štolcermanis, 7
P4	Kean Nakamura-Berta, 55	CL Motorsport, 70	Gabriel Gomez, 6
P5	Zhenrui Chi, 32	Rodin Motorsport, 42	Marcus Sæter, 0
P6	Salim Hanna, 31	Van Amersfoort Racing, 21	Rahim Alibhai, 0
P7	Emanuele Olivieri, 28	Trident, 16
P8	Alex Ninovic, 27	ART Grand Prix, 8
P9	Dion Gowda, 19	RPM, 4
P10	Alexander Abkhazava, 14	G4 Racing, 0

Read the previous round’s report here.

GB4: O’Grady and Green win at Oulton to pull ahead in drivers’ title fight

GB4 took to a sun-soaked Oulton Park for a bank holiday weekend of racing, with the Cheshire circuit holding the third round of the championship from Friday to Monday afternoon as a trio of drivers took victory.

In qualifying, Fred Green put his Elite Motorsport machine on pole position with a time of 1:34.350, with KMR Sport’s Alex O’Grady 0.043 seconds behind in second place. O’Grady did, however, secure pole position for race two, which is based on the second-fastest times. Hillspeed’s Enzo Hallman took third position, 0.159s back from Green.

Fox Motorsport’s Jasser Iskander did not make it off the line on the formation lap for race one and therefore had to start the race from the pitlane. Green got a good start from pole position, but so did front-row starter O’Grady, who fought Green for first through the opening half of the lap and remained within a second of the leader throughout the race. 

The top three finished in the same order they started, with Green taking first, followed by O’Grady and Hallman. Fox Motorsport teammates Archie Bullard and Iskander both pitted mid-race to retire their cars after picking up suspension damage, while Luke Hilton suffered a gearbox failure while running in ninth position and had to retire the car with four minutes remaining.

In race two, O’Grady got a good start from pole, as did Green from second on the grid. Almost as quickly as it had begun, the race was neutralised by safety car deployment due to a lock-up at Cascades from Douglas Motorsport’s Dayton Coulthard, who collected Pace Performance’s Josh McLean and sent both cars into the gravel.

O’Grady got a good restart after the safety car ended, managing to hold off the field behind him while also increasing the gap between himself and Green. He finished the race two 2.612s ahead of Green, with Hallman once again taking the final podium position. 

After their race two clash, Coulthard and McLean started on the front row. McLean got the better start of the pair, taking first position away from the Scottish driver. A visit to the barriers for Arden Motorsport’s Charlie Myers and Pace Performance’s John O’Donnell brought out the safety car before the race was red flagged. The order reset to the drivers’ original starting positions for the 15-minute-long restarted race. 

McLean got an equally good restart, re-taking first position from Coulthard. Yellow flags came out when Scorpio Motorsport’s Romauld Bocquet ended up in the barriers, though a safety car intervention was averted. Coulthard kept the pressure on McLean, while Elite Motorsport’s Emmilio Valentino Del Grosso also stayed on the tail of the leading two.

The yellow flags came back out on the penultimate lap when Arden Motorsport’s Michael Koh met the barriers. A lap later, McLean took the chequered flag 1.368s ahead of Coulthard, with Del Grosso taking the final step of the podium. 

Green finished the race 11th, one position behind O’Grady. The Briton heads to Donington Park next month with a 13-point lead over the Irishman. Hallman’s double podium has lifted Hillspeed to the lead of the teams’ title, while Franciszek Cegielski is the highest-placed rookie.

Report by Isabelle Chandler

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Fred Green, 1:34.350	Alex O’Grady, +0.043s	Enzo Hallman, +0.159s
Race 1 (13 laps)	Fred Green, 20:43.821	Alex O’Grady, +0.785s	Enzo Hallman, +4.120s
Race 2 (11 laps)	Alex O’Grady, 21:09.682	Fred Green, +2.612s	Enzo Hallman, +3.034s
Race 3 (10 laps)	Josh McLean, 16:27.850	Dayton Coulthard +1.368s	Emmilio Valentino Del Grosso, +1.626s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Fred Green, 140	Hillspeed, 194	Franciszek Cegielski, 53
P2	Alex O’Grady, 127	Douglas Motorsport, 170	Conor Grant, 37
P3	Enzo Hallman, 122	Fortec Motorsports, 158	Michael Koh, 25
P4	Thomas Ingram Hill, 98	KMR Sport, 143	Charlie Myers, 24
P5	Jason Smyth, 81	Pace Performance, 139	Jordyn Martin, 21
P6	Matan Achituv, 76	Elite Motorsport, 119	Jasser Iskander, 15
P7	Dayton Coulthard, 72	Scorpio Motorsport, 81	Enzo Rujugiro, 11
P8	Connor Willis, 72	Nitrous Competitions ADM Racing, 80	Jamie Leverton, 9
P9	Emmilio Valentino Del Grosso, 66	Arden Motorsport, 58	Archie Bullard, 0
P10	Torrin Byrne, 65	Fox Motorsport, 26

Read the previous round’s report here.

Italian F4: Sammalisto closes the gap to points leader Aksoy with dominant weekend

Italian F4 hosted its second round at Vallelunga after a thrilling sea son opener two weeks ago in Misano, and Luka Sammalisto took advantage of a hot weekend in Rome to close the gap to rookie Alp Aksoy. Three wins in three races, including the final one, were more than enough for the third-year driver to climb up to a mere six points behind the Turkish driver.

In race one, Sammalisto started second alongside David Cosma Cristofor but overtook the Prema driver thanks to a spectacular launch. Cosma Cristofor also lost a place to Aleksander Ruta, which he regained on lap five – though not without contact that forced the Pole to pit and earned the Romanian a 10-second time penalty.

As Sammalisto won, Cosma Cristofor finished second but dropped to eighth with the penalty. Aksoy benefitted from this decision and scored another podium, with Oleksandr Savinkov inheriting second place from eighth on the grid.

British driver Thomas Bearman also earned a five-second time penalty, which dropped him from sixth to ninth place. As a result, Roman Kamyab finished fifth overall on debut and second in the rookies behind Aksoy, with Florentin Hattemer taking seventh overall and third among the rookies.

Race two was quite eventful. Edu Robinson started from pole and secured his first win of the season, though for much of the race he was not in position to do so. Instead, third-place starter Niccolò Maccagnani got a blinding start to lead, while Andy Consani, who started sixth, also got past Robinson on the opening lap.

A late safety car restart with four minutes remaining reignited the battle among the top three. Robinson surged to the lead with an exceptional round-the-outside pass on both at Campagnano just before Consani and Maccagnani made contact, leaving the Prema driver with terminal suspension damage. A staggering 25-second time penalty dropped the Frenchman to 21st, putting him in danger of not qualifying for the final.

In the end, Cosma Cristofor inherited second while Germany’s Arjen Kräling took his first podium of the season. Having finished fourth overall, Aksoy secured his fifth rookie win from five, followed by Oscar Repetto and Kingsley Zheng.

Race three saw Robinson starting from pole alongside Sammalisto. As the lights went out, the Finn took advantage of his opponent’s wheelspin and immediately overtook him. Ruta and Maccagnani fought for fourth place but made contact exiting Curva Grande, causing both to retire. With Maffi Racing’s David Walther taking advantage of the drama and keeping his third place until the end, the podium stayed as it was until the chequered flag.

Further down the grid, rookie Kenzo Craigie earned his first ever class win by finishing fifth overall. The rookie podium was completed by Repetto and Knud Nielsen, who achieved his second podium in class.

The final race went as smoothly as before for Sammalisto, who started from pole and kept his position all race long. All of the top five drivers finished where they ended lap one, with Robinson leading home Cosma Cristofor, Aksoy and Savinkov.

Things did not go so well for some others on that first lap, however. After Roland Kuklane stalled during the formation lap and had to start from pit lane, six cars retired on the opening lap as a result of numerous incidents, with Elia Weiss earning an eight-place penalty for an unsafe rejoin that eliminated Bader Al Sulaiti. Several other notable names such as Consani, Maccagnani and Christian Costoya failed to qualify for the final entirely.

With his dominant weekend, Sammalisto is firmly in championship contention on 138 points behind the ever-consistent Aksoy on 144. Cosma Cristofor on 121 and Robinson on 110 also had strong weekends in their pursuit of the championship lead, while round one standouts Ary Bansal and Maccagnani fell short and now sit seventh and 10th respectively.

In the rookies’ standings, Aksoy on 180 points increased his lead significantly over Repetto on 142 and Craigie on 124. Finally, in the teams’ championship, US Racing overtook Prema after the latter held the upper hand after the last round. Maffi Racing also retained third place thanks to great performances from Walther, who has scored all 102 of the two-car outfit’s points. 

Report by Julien Thoinet

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	David Cosma Cristofor, 1:34.523	David Walther, +0.080s	Aleksander Ruta, +0.154s
Qualifying 2	Edu Robinson, 1:34.378	Luka Sammalisto, +0.189s	Andy Consani, +0.267s
Race 1 (16 laps)	Luka Sammalisto, 27:17.078	Oleksandr Savinkov, +2.878s	Alp Aksoy, +3.532s
Race 2 (15 laps)	Edu Robinson, 27:48.340	David Cosma Cristofor, +2.602s	Arjen Kräling, +2.810s
Race 3 (14 laps)	Luka Sammalisto, 27:36.975	Edu Robinson, +0.532s	David Walther, +0.850s
Race 4 (15 laps)	Luka Sammalisto, 27:15.354	Edu Robinson, +1.720s	David Cosma Cristofor, +2.718s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Alp Aksoy, 144	US Racing, 392	Alp Aksoy, 180
P2	Luka Sammalisto, 138	Prema Racing, 344	Oscar Repetto, 142
P3	David Cosma Cristofor, 121	Maffi Racing, 102	Kenzo Craigie, 124
P4	Edu Robinson, 110	Van Amersfoort Racing, 98	Florentin Hattemer, 114
P5	Oleksandr Savinkov, 102	Jenzer Motorsport, 88	Knud Nielsen, 106
P6	David Walther, 102	R-ace GP, 73	Levi Arn, 95
P7	Ary Bansal, 95	PHM Racing, 65	Lyuboslav Ruykov, 77
P8	Arjen Kräling, 77	Trident, 64	Kingsley Zheng, 76
P9	Oleksandr Bondarev, 72	Real Racing, 26	Bernardo Bernoldi, 76
P10	Niccolò Maccagnani, 66	Alpha 54 Racing, 4	Iacopo Martinese, 75

Read the previous round’s report here.

British F4: JHR take a clean sweep at Snetterton

After a weekend at the short and narrow Brands Hatch Indy, British F4 set upon the Snetterton Circuit, the second-longest circuit on the calendar, for its third round, and JHR Developments and driver Lewis Wherrell proved the dominant forces at the Norfolk track.

The series returned to a single-session qualifying format for Snetterton, and Wherrell took a double pole position ahead of Adam Al Azhari and Ethan Lennon. 

Off the line, Wherrell soaked up the pressure from Hitech’s Scott Kin Lindblom alongside to settle into the lead, while Dries Van Langendonck and George Proudford-Nalder slotted in behind from fourth and seventh respectively. 

Multiple incidents – including race-ending contact for championship contender Tommy Harfield, who qualified only 14th – saw the safety car deployed by lap two.

A very late restart from Wherrell kept Lindblom, Van Langendonck and Proudford-Nalder close through the opening corners, but battling behind helped the JHR driver break clear at the front.

Wherrell crossed the line with a 2.048s lead over Lindblom for his first win of the season, while Van Langendonck’s podium helped him extend his lead over Jeff-Hall, who finished eighth.

Once again a JHR was on pole for the reverse-grid race two, with Timo Jüngling heading the field ahead of Cash Felber and the Virtuosi trio of Jarrett Clark, Proudford-Nalder and Joseph Smith. The Virtuosi drivers collided before Turn 1, with Clark squeezing Smith into the pit wall and dropping both down the order.

Following a safety car for a separate first-corner incident, Jüngling briefly found himself under pressure from Felber, before Van Langendonck – having made his way through from seventh to third – closed up to the rear of the Fortec. 

With Felber driving on his mirrors, Jüngling was able to push ahead, taking the win by 2.772s. Despite the pressure from behind, Felber held position to take his second podium of the season ahead of Van Langendonck. 

Wherrell came under immediate pressure from Al Azhari as the third race got underway. But just as Al Azhari drew level with the JHR down the back straight, the safety car was called. With two incidents involving multiple stricken cars, the decision was made to throw the red flag two laps later. 

When the race resumed behind the safety car with 12 minutes on the clock, Wherrell proved he had learned from his race one restart, this time managing to drop Al Azhari as the race got back underway.

While several drivers tripped over each other further back, Al Azhari began to close in on Wherrell. A mistake into Hamilton sent the JHR driver over the exit kerb, allowing Al Azhari to get alongside through Oggies, though he could not find the room to get past. 

The chequered flag fell just in time for Wherrell, who crossed the line just 0.250s ahead of Al Azhari. Ethan Lennon rounded out the podium just over a second adrift of the lead.

Van Langendonck extended his lead in the drivers’ championship to 29 points heading into next weekend’s round at Silverstone, while Wherrell’s impressive 60-point haul vaulted him from 10th to second in the standings. In the teams’ championship, podiums for Lindblom and Al Azhari helped Hitech overtake Rodin at the top of the standings, while JHR’s hat-trick of wins sees the Dronfield-based team leap from last to fourth.

Report by Gavin Guthrie

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Lewis Wherrell, 1:48.841	Adam Al Azhari, +0.047s	Ethan Lennon, +0.050s
Race 1 (10 laps)	Lewis Wherrell, 20:52.797	Scott Kin Lindblom, +2.048s	Dries Van Langendonck, +2.789s
Race 2 (10 laps)	Timo Jüngling, 20:29.383	Cash Felber, +2.772s	Dries Van Langendonck, +3.236s
Race 3 (6 laps)	Lewis Wherrell, 12:03.034	Adam Al Azhari, +0.250s	Ethan Lennon +1.036s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Dries Van Langendonck, 116	Hitech, 169	Dries Van Langendonck, 150
P2	Lewis Wherrell, 87	Rodin Motorsport, 154	Lewis Wherrell, 109
P3	Scott Kin Lindblom, 78	Virtuosi Racing, 111	Jaber Al Sabah, 92
P4	Ethan Jeff-Hall, 75	JHR Developments, 87	Cameron Nelson, 73
P5	Theo Palmer, 57	Argenti Motorsport, 79	Mate Kobakhidze, 53
P6	Joseph Smith, 51	Fortec Motorsport, 57	Timo Jüngling, 51
P7	Adam Al Azhari, 50	Xcel Motorsport, 35	Léon Hedfors, 49
P8	Tommy Harfield, 46	Chris Dittmann Racing, 31	Jackson Wolny, 35
P9	Ethan Lennon, 44		Vegard Klemetsen, 32
P10	Kit Belofsky, 43		Piotr Orzechowski, 28

Read the previous round’s report here.

Chinese F4: Chan clings to championship lead despite pair of non-finishes

Chinese F4’s first visit to Tianjin was certainly eventful, with two new winners, two safety-car finishes and two unfortunate incidents for championship leader Kimi Chan.

Heavy rain on Friday resulted in a condensed schedule with one 40-minute qualifying session, with each driver’s second-fastest lap setting the grid for race three. Timur Shagaliev secured his maiden pole position for race one and had a good start, while wheelspin for Zhao Zijun alongside dropped him to fourth.

Turn 13 was the favourite passing spot: Feng took the lead from Shagaliev there on lap seven, while Chen Zhuyuan set up moves there on Zhao on lap nine for third, and Shagaliev on lap 13 for second. Feng took his first single-seater win with an advantage of 7.556 seconds to Chen Zhuyuan and Shagaliev.

Guest driver Li Huiwei was due to start from reverse-grid pole for race two, but he entered the pit lane during the formation lap. Andy Law was the early leader from fourth but was soon overtaken by Chen Sicong and Chan, who began lap two side by side, with Shagaliev close behind.

Chan held the upper hand until Shagaliev passed him at Turn 13 on lap two. Chen Zhuyuan attempted a move around the outside of the same corner on lap four, but Chen Sicong locked up, almost sending both into the barrier and allowing Yu Yan into third. As the field entered Turn 1 again, Feng sent Chen Sicong briefly airborne, and the race one winner stopped on track, prompting a safety car.

After the restart, fifth-placed Chen Zhuyuan lunged at Turn 13, but an unaware Yu cut him off. The resulting contact spun Chan, who later retired in the pits. Zhao passed the chaos and took his first win, followed by Shagaliev – who only had minor contact in the incident – and Chen Sicong.

Shagaliev also had a good start from pole in race three. Chan overtook Chen Sicong for second place at Turn 10. An attempt for the lead from Chan on lap six lasted only two corners, and two laps later, a brief safety car was called to recover the car of Chen Sicong, who was spun by Zhao.

After the restart on lap 10, Chan and Feng passed Shagaliev at Turn 13, although Shagaliev reclaimed second at the chicane. The race ended under the safety car as Yu found the barriers at Turn 13 on lap 12, giving Chan his first win of the weekend. Feng received a post-race penalty for track limits, handing the final podium position to Chen Zhuyuan.

The best starter in race four was Shagaliev, who went from tenth to third in lap one. He took the lead from Zhao on lap two in a double overtake at Turn 10, with Feng following him into second place. Chan caught the leaders on lap three, overtaking Zhao at Turn 1 and Feng at Turn 13, with Zhao following him through.

Chan made a move for the lead on lap 12, arriving at the chicane alongside Shagaliev. The Russian locked up and slid into him, and Chan stopped at the side of the track. The race again ended under the safety car, with Zhao taking his second win ahead of Shagaliev and Chen Zhuyuan.

Chan’s points advantage from round one means he retains the championship lead, holding a four-point gap over Shagaliev, the only driver to stand on the podium in all four races. The pair are more than 30 points ahead of Chen Zhuyuan in third. Winning three races this weekend has also given Champ Academy a healthy lead of 19 points over Asia Racing Team.

Report by Mitchell Ash

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Timur Shagaliev, 1:57.121	Zhao Zijun, +0.203s	Chen Sicong, +0.424s
Race 1 (17 laps)	Josh Feng, 32:29.572	Chen Zhuyuan, +7.556s	Timur Shagaliev, +10.178s
Race 2 (15 laps)	Zhao Zijun, 32:01.537	Timur Shagaliev, +7.589s	Chen Sicong, +14.277s
Race 3 (15 laps)	Kimi Chan, 33:20.174	Timur Shagaliev, +0.231s	Chen Zhuyuan, +1.020s
Race 4 (16 laps)	Zhao Zijun, 33:18.434	Timur Shagaliev, +0.132s	Chen Zhuyuan, +0.595s

Standings	Drivers	Teams
P1	Kimi Chan, 128	Champ Academy, 190
P2	Timur Shagaliev, 124	Asia Racing Team, 171
P3	Chen Zhuyuan, 90	Black Blade Racing, 144
P4	Chen Sicong, 81	Blackjack Racing, 89
P5	Yu Yan, 63	Frankenstein by Pointer Racing, 60
P6	Zhao Zijun, 62	She Power Racing, 31
P7	Josh Feng, 47	Kai Fei Motorsport, 29
P8	Yuanyang Zeshi, 32	Black Blade GP, 27
P9	Shi Wei, 31	Geeke Racing, 20
P10	Andy Law, 29	Venom Motorsport, 19

Read the previous round’s report here.

Header photo credit: Connor Botha