Okayama and Mid-Ohio hosted a variety of junior single-seater races this weekend, from Super Formula Lights to the Ligier Junior Formula Championship. Feeder Series gets you up to speed on all the racing action you might have missed.

By Feeder Series

The 24 Hours of Le Mans and the F1 Spanish Grand Prix may have captured your attention this weekend, as it did for many of us. We were watching the six 2025 junior single-seater graduates who raced in the former – with one, Esteban Masson, taking an LMP2 class podium – as well as the support races for the latter. F2 and F3 provided plenty of entertainment in tactics if not in overtakes across their races, and you can catch our takeaways from each one later today and tomorrow as well as our insights in podcast form on the upcoming episode of Race Recap.

As always, we bring you the action from the series you may not have been following as closely. We begin with Super Formula Lights and Japanese F4, which both raced in Okayama in a showcase of the best up-and-coming talents from Japan. Mid-Ohio also hosted the third round of the Racing America ladder, with FR Americas, F4 US and the Ligier Junior Formula Championship holding a total of seven races between them.

While not covered in detail here, SMP F4 also raced the Kazan Ring, with 2026 UAE4 driver Platon Kostin taking three victories and karting starlet Maksim Orlov winning race two.

1. Super Formula Lights: Delightworks’ Mitsui sweeps Okayama to secure points leads for driver and team
2. Japanese F4: Shirasaki dominates Okayama as Igarashi goes scoreless 
3. FRegional Americas: Hauanio takes maiden victory, Papasavvas wins home race at Mid-Ohio
4. F4 US: Irazú, Campbell continue winning form at Mid-Ohio
5. Ligier Junior Formula Championship: Kennedy, Jacir win twice at Mid-Ohio as Speth maintains Gen 2 lead

Super Formula Lights: Delightworks’ Mitsui sweeps Okayama to secure points leads for driver and team

Delightworks Racing’s Yusuke Mitsui won all three Super Formula Lights races at Okayama and secured two more points for topping both qualifying sessions to take the championship lead by a narrow one-point advantage over Kiyoshi Umegaki, who had swept the previous round at Suzuka.

Dominance was not expected from Mitsui after he only beat Umegaki to pole by 0.059 seconds in the first and 0.073s in the second qualifying. Evan Giltaire and his B-Max Racing teammate Kotaro Shimbara came third in the first and second sessions respectively. 

The front positions remained unchanged at the start of the first race, and the top three finished the 25-lap race in the same order in which they started. The gaps remained relatively equal until lap 17, when Mitsui extended the gap from around two seconds over Umegaki to 6.025s by the end of the race. 

Mitsui held his lead off the start in the second race, but teammate Kazuhisa Urabe jumped from fourth to second, passing Umegaki and Shimbara. While Mitsui was leading comfortably, his teammate was under pressure from the TOM’S duo of Umegaki and Tokiya Suzuki behind, but they never launched an actual attack. 

A safety car was called on lap 12 for Oscar Wurz, who went off at Turn 7 and got beached in the gravel. The race resumed at the end of lap 15 without position changes in the top three, meaning Mitsui and Urabe took Delightworks’ first ever 1-2 finish in the team’s history across Formula Regional Japan and Super Formula Lights. Umegaki completed the podium ahead of Shimbara, who overtook Suzuki on the penultimate lap after the Toyota junior made a mistake exiting the final corner. 

Mitsui, Umegaki and Giltaire started from the top three spots in the third race and held their positions after the start. Again, no position changes occurred from there. Umegaki got very close to Mitsui on lap 11, but the gap of around half a second was too big for either driver to launch any attacks. 

Mitsui won the race to sweep the Okayama round. Umegaki finished a second behind, with Giltaire trailing by another eight seconds. A final-lap incident involving Wurz and Akshay Bohra led to the latter’s retirement but did not disrupt proceedings.

Mitsui retakes the championship lead on 80 points, just one point ahead of Umegaki. Giltaire remains in contention on 63 points. 

In the masters’ class, “Ken Alex” extended his win streak to six with another three victories. He leads the championship on 96 points, 16 ahead of “Dragon”. 

Report by Finjo Muschlien

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Yusuke Mitsui, 1:21.230	Kiyoshi Umegaki, +0.059s	Evan Giltaire, +0.112s
Qualifying 2	Yusuke Mitsui, 1:20.747	Kiyoshi Umegaki, +0.073s	Kotaro Shimbara, +0.398s
Race 1 (25 laps)	Yusuke Mitsui, 34:53.103	Kiyoshi Umegaki, +6.025s	Evan Giltaire, +8.910s
Race 2 (18 laps)	Yusuke Mitsui, 27:50.246	Kazuhisa Urabe, +1.630s	Kiyoshi Umegaki, +2.331s
Race 3 (18 laps)	Yusuke Mitsui, 25:03.293	Kiyoshi Umegaki, +1.104s	Evan Giltaire, +9.244s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Masters
P1	Yusuke Mitsui, 80	Delightworks Racing, 80	“Ken Alex”, 96
P2	Kiyoshi Umegaki, 79	TOM’S, 78	“Dragon”, 80
P3	Evan Giltaire, 63	B-Max Racing Team, 70	Yasuhiro Shimizu, 60
P4	Kotaro Shimbara, 31	B-Max Engineering, 14	Nobuhiro Imada, 22
P5	Kazuhisa Urabe, 22	LM corsa, 1
P6	Tokiya Suzuki, 20	Buzz Racing, 0
P7	Oscar Wurz, 18	Art Taste Racing, 0
P8	Rintaro Sato, 14	JMS Racing Team, 0
P9	Akshay Bohra, 12
P10	Yuzuki Miura, 4

Read the previous round’s report here.

Japanese F4: Shirasaki dominates Okayama as Igarashi goes scoreless 

Kageyama Racing’s Ryo Shirasaki took pole and both wins at Okayama to take his fifth career Japanese F4 victory and rebound from failing to score at the season opener at Fuji

Shirasaki topped qualifying, 0.051 seconds ahead of Toyota junior Masano Muto, as Mitsusada Racing’s Ryutaro Sakai secured third just 0.166s behind. Championship leader Buntaro Igarashi disappointed by coming 19th, and second-year Honda junior Syo Momose placed only 24th. From such starting positions, both drivers faced a tough ask to score any points across the weekend and maintain their status as title protagonists. 

Shirasaki and Muto held their positions at the start of the first race. Sakai dropped from third to fifth, behind TGR-DC Racing School drivers Ryo Sakai and Yuzuki Miura, but regained fourth around the outside of Turn 4. 

A safety car was called at the end of the lap as TGR’s Tomoki Terashima crashed at the start. Green-flag conditions then resumed at the end of lap four. 

Entertaining battles occurred in the midfield, but up front the positions remained unchanged. Shirasaki took his and his team’s maiden win of the season, ahead of Muto and maiden podium finisher Ryo Sakai.

The second-best times of qualifying set the grid for the second race on Sunday with the same top three at the front. Shirasaki and Muto again held their positions, while Ryutaro Sakai again dropped to fifth, behind Akiland Racing’s You De Lu and Ryo Sakai. And as in the first race, Ryutaro Sakai regained fourth position around the outside of Turn 4, this time passing Ryo Sakai. 

A safety car was called on lap three for a collision between Masaki Murata and Soichiro Shioda at Turn 2. The race resumed at the end of lap seven. 

The top three were separated by roughly one second to the car ahead after the restart, but fourth-placed Ryutaro Sakai closed in on a struggling Lu in the remaining laps. The gap had been narrowed to less than half a second by lap 12, but Okayama’s limited overtaking spots made it difficult for Sakai to launch an attack.

On the final lap, however, Ryutaro Sakai finally attacked Lu around the outside of Turn 5. He locked up and Lu initially held his position, but Sakai positioned himself just centimeters of the inside of Lu for Turns 6 and 7 and finally secured the position at Turn 8, the third left-hander in a row. 

Up front, Shirasaki took his second win of the weekend ahead of Muto and Ryutaro Sakai, who became Japanese F4’s youngest ever podium finisher at just 15 years old.

Previous championship leader Igarashi, meanwhile, finished the two races 16th and 12th respectively, scoring no points. Momose finished 19th and 20th.

Muto leads the drivers’ standings on 69 points, 19 ahead of Shirasaki and 29 ahead of both Igarashi and OTG Motor Sports’ Kenta Kumagai. 

In the Independent Class, 2021 class champion “Hirobon” took both wins and the class lead, three points ahead of Yutaka Toriba, who won both races at Fuji. “Kentaro” came second in both races, with “Ikari” and Masayuki Ueda third in the first and second races respectively. 

Report by Finjo Muschlien

Champion Class
Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Ryo Shirasaki, 1:33.506	Masana Muto, +0.051s	Ryutaro Sakai, +0.166s
Race 1 (15 laps)	Ryo Shirasaki, 27:43.288	Masana Muto, +1.189s	Ryo Sakai, +7.378s
Race 2 (15 laps)	Ryo Shirasaki, 27:01.046	Masana Muto, +1.175s	Ryutaro Sakai, +6.244s

Independent Class
Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	“Hirobon”, 1:35.543	“Kentaro”, +0.075s	Masayuki Ueda, +0.305s
Race 1 (15 laps)	“Hirobon”, 24:17.203	“Kentaro”, +8.032s	“Ikari”, +11.845s
Race 2 (15 laps)	“Hirobon”, 26:59.952	“Kentaro”, +1.457s	Masayuki Ueda, +3.291s

Standings	Champion Class		Independent Class
	Drivers	Teams	Drivers	Teams
P1	Masana Muto, 69	TGR-DC Racing School, 86	“Hirobon”, 65	Team 5Zigen, 65
P2	Ryo Shirasaki, 50	Kageyama Racing, 58	Yutaka Toriba, 62	Kageyama Racing, 62
P3	Buntaro Igarashi, 40	OTG Motor Sports, 40	“Ikari”, 47	Bionic Jack Racing, 47
P4	Kenta Kumagai, 40	Mitsusada Racing, 27	Masayoshi Oyama, 43	Akiland Racing, 43
P5	Yuzuki Miura, 34	B-Max Engineering, 18	“Kentaro”, 36	B-Max Engineering, 42
P6	Ryutaro Sakai, 27	HFDP with B-Max Racing, 18	Nobuhiro Imada, 26	Field Motorsport, 36
P7	Ryo Sakai, 27	Akiland Racing, 18	“Dragon”, 24	Rn-sports, 35
P8	Haruto Nakai, 18	Team 5Zigen, 10	Isao Nakashima, 22	Helm Motorsports, 16
P9	You De Lu, 18	Falcon Motorsport, 10	William Sakai, 16	Eagle Sports, 14
P10	Syo Momose, 16	Zap Speed, 1	Masayuki Ueda, 15	Zap Speed, 14

Read the previous round’s report here.

FRegional Americas: Hauanio takes maiden victory, Papasavvas wins home race at Mid-Ohio

Crosslink Motorsports swept the weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, taking home a pair of victories earned by Kekai Hauanio and Ohio resident Evagoras Papasavvas.

Practice was topped by Brady Golan on Friday afternoon, with Cooper Shipman and Papasavvas following closely behind. Golan backed up this performance in Saturday morning qualifying, taking pole by 0.077 seconds over Papasavvas, followed by Hauanio and Shipman.

Hauanio wasted no time in race one, jumping from third to first on the opening lap. He, along with Papasavvas and Golan, quickly built up a gap over the rest of the pack. A brief safety car in the latter half of the race tightened the field again, but Hauanio was unstoppable at the head of the group. The 19-year-old went on to lead every lap and earned his first victory in the series.

Papasavvas and Golan remained in second and third positions, with Shipman staying close to his championship rivals in fourth and Christian Bogle placing fifth.

By setting the fastest lap in the first race, Shipman earned pole for race two, with second through fourth on the starting grid matching the podium from race one. Shipman’s lead only lasted two corners, however. As he and Hauanio fought for the lead on the opening lap, contact was made, sending both drivers off of the circuit and to the bottom of the order. Papasavvas, who started third, claimed the lead as the safety car was deployed.

Papasavvas and Golan, now unchallenged by their troubled championship rivals, drove away from the rest of the field, a group led by Harbir Dass. A safety car within the final 10 minutes of the race grouped the field together once again, but Papasavvas didn’t crack under pressure from the restart onwards. The Ohio resident won by 0.598s over Golan. Although Dass finished third on the road for what would have been his second podium in two race weekends, his car’s oil level was found to be below the minimum level, dropping him to 12th and last in classification. 

Much of the overtaking in the race was done by Hauanio and Shipman in their attempts to mitigate the points lost to Papasavvas and Golan. Shipman raced his way back to fifth place, which became fourth after the penalty given to Dass. Hauanio was able to recover to sixth on track but was later given a 30-second time penalty for the contact with Shipman on lap one, putting him 10th in the final classification.

Exiting the weekend, Papasavvas maintains control of the championship lead, sitting on 118.5 points. Golan climbs to second, with 87.5, pipping Shipman, who sits third with 87. Bogle and Hauanio round out the top five, with 82.5 and 82 points respectively.

Report by Owen White

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Brady Golan, 1:18.066	Evagoras Papasavvas, +0.077s	Kekai Hauanio, +0.225s
Race 1 (22 laps)	Kekai Hauanio, 30:37.365	Evagoras Papasavvas, +0.513s	Brady Golan, +1.099s
Race 2 (19 laps)	Evagoras Papasavvas, 31:10.755	Brady Golan, +0.598s	Christian Bogle, +1.808s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Evagoras Papasavvas, 118.5	Crosslink Motorsports, 209.5	Evagoras Papasavvas, 118.5
P2	Brady Golan, 87.5	Toney Driver Development, 196.5	Cooper Shipman, 87
P3	Cooper Shipman, 87	Kiwi Motorsport, 110	Kekai Hauanio, 82
P4	Christian Bogle, 82.5	Atlantic Racing Team, 34	Luke Powers, 45
P5	Kekai Hauanio, 82	Hillenburg Motorsports, 34	Harbir Dass, 23
P6	Luke Powers, 45	MLT Motorsports, 6	Eric Wiśniewski, 23
P7	James Lawley, 34	Momentum Motorsports, 0	Aidan Schuh, 17
P8	Harbir Dass, 23		Alex Bobadilla, 13
P9	Barrett Wolfe, 23		Whitney Strickland, 11
P10	Eric Wiśniewski, 23		Jonathan Cottrill, 6

Read the previous round’s report here.

F4 US: Irazú, Campbell continue winning form at Mid-Ohio

Gastón Irazú climbed to second in the F4 US championship standings after winning the opening race of the weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, while Caleb Campbell protected his championship lead by taking victory in race two.

Zach Fourie led Friday’s practice session, but that timesheet-topping performance could not be replicated in a qualifying session that saw Irazú take pole position ahead of Cole Medeiros and Campbell. Medeiros was later given a five-position grid penalty for failing to respect a red flag caused by Austin Kaszuba, elevating Campbell to the front row and Fourie to fifth position for race one.

Fourie’s Saturday worsened at the start as he tumbled down to the 11th and final position on the opening lap. Medeiros, on the other hand, made his way into the top five by the end of lap two. Irazú and Campbell built up a sizable gap over the rest of the field as Medeiros continued his forward progress into third.

The only safety car of the race was deployed after Fernando Rivera found himself beached in the Turn 4 gravel trap. A late restart gave Campbell another opportunity to challenge Irazú, but the Uruguayan remained precise in the closing laps, taking his third consecutive victory by 1.806 seconds. Campbell held off a late charge from Medeiros to maintain second, with Fourie finishing fourth and Clemente Huerta finishing fifth.

Irazú started the second race of the weekend from pole, alongside Kaszuba, with Medeiros, Campbell, and Fourie lined up from third to fifth. Kaszuba did not make it past the first lap, however, and Campbell charged from fourth to first, taking the lead from Irazú on lap six.

An issue for Ben Ramirez on lap eight led to a safety car, but the latter half of the race ran without interruption. Campbell maintained a steady gap over Irazú, winning the race over Irazú by a margin of 2.973s.

The main story of the weekend’s second race developed in the battle for the final spot on the podium between Medeiros and Fourie, with the stewards placing responsibility on Medeiros on several occasions for several incidents.

First, Medeiros was found responsible for forcing Fourie off on the exit of Turn 4, leading to a spin for Fourie. 

Over the next 15 minutes, Medeiros was also deemed responsible for forcing Fourie off the circuit twice more at two different corners and for dangerously blocking him on two additional occasions. As a result, Medeiros was moved ninth and last in the race two classification. Additionally, he will be required to start his next race from pit lane and take a three-position grid penalty in the race following that one. Fourie was elevated to third position in the final classification of race two.

Exiting the weekend, Campbell maintains his championship lead on 151 points, while Irazú climbs to second with 123. Fourie sits on 114, distantly ahead of the rest of the field heading into New Jersey Motorsports Park.

Report by Owen White

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Gastón Irazú, 1:23.901	Cole Medeiros, +0.141s	Caleb Campbell, +0.191s
Race 1 (18 laps)	Gastón Irazú, 30:37.365	Caleb Campbell, +1.806s	Cole Medeiros, +2.247s
Race 2 (18 laps)	Caleb Campbell, 30:48.196	Gastón Irazú, +2.973s	Zach Fourie, +13.367s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Caleb Campbell, 151	Kiwi Motorsport, 265	Gastón Irazú, 123
P2	Gastón Irazú, 123	Champagne Racing, 123	Zach Fourie, 114
P3	Zach Fourie, 114	MLT Motorsports, 56	Cole Medeiros, 56
P4	Cole Medeiros, 56	Speed Factory, 54	Luca Day, 42
P5	Clemente Huerta, 54	Crosslink Motorsports, 44	Ayden Kohut, 40
P6	Luca Day, 42	Momentum Motorsports, 42	Fernando Rivera, 36
P7	Ayden Kohut, 40	Vmax Motorsport, 28	Ben Ramirez, 16
P8	Fernando Rivera, 36	RASE Motorsports, 16	Zain Khan, 5
P9	Robert Soroka, 28	USNG Racing, 5
P10	Ben Ramirez, 16

Read the previous round’s report here.

Ligier Junior Formula Championship: Kennedy, Jacir win twice at Mid-Ohio as Speth maintains Gen 2 lead

Edward Kennedy won twice outright in the Mid-Ohio round of the Ligier Junior Formula Championship,whilst Beckham Jacir extended his Gen 1 points lead with two wins. Jack Speth maintained his Gen 2 lead with a win in race three, whilst Lázaro Bainotti took his maiden Gen 1 win in race two.

Coming back from a cameo in USF Juniors that caused him to miss the second round at Road America, Kennedy picked up where he left off. He set the fastest overall time in qualifying, which netted him the Gen 2 pole, while Jacir was 0.740s behind as he took Gen 1 pole.

Despite starting at the back of the grid per the rulebook, Kennedy climbed through the field to take his first outright win of the weekend ahead of Gen 2 points leader Speth and Jacir, who rounded out the overall podium. Bainotti and AJ Abdullah closed out the Gen 1 podium, while Tyler Wade and Ella White were the last cars to cross the line on the lead lap in the nine-car field.

On Sunday, Kennedy began the day with a crushing display in race two, securing the outright win 20.874s over Gen 1 winner Bainotti, who was a further 0.620s ahead of from Speth. Bainotti, however, inherited the Gen 1 victory after original winner Jacir was given a 30-second post-race penalty for forcing the Uruguayan off track. With the points leader dropping him to fourth in class, Ava Hanssen and Alexander Savage finished second and third.

Race three, held later that day, proved to be a different story. Speth held off Kennedy to take his third win of the season and maintain his points lead, while Jacir also maintained his class points lead with a Gen 1 win and an overall podium. Joining him on the class podium were Bainotti and Savage, with Hanssen and Abdullah closing out the top five in class.

Speth, the only driver to have taken part in all three rounds, now leads Kennedy by 22 points in the Gen 2 standings, while Jacir holds a 45-point lead over Bainotti in Gen 1, with Hanssen a further 35 back. In the teams’ championship, Berg Racing leads the way on 186 points, holding a slim six-point advantage over Champagne Racing and a 51-point gap over Bainotti’s Maestro Racing Team.

Report by Marco Albertini

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Edward Kennedy, 1:25.049	Beckham Jacir, +0.740s	Lázaro Bainotti, +1.677s
Race 1 (19 laps)	Edward Kennedy, 30:37.138	Jack Speth, +0.616s	Beckham Jacir, +1.563s
Race 2 (21 laps)	Edward Kennedy, 30:30.429	Lázaro Bainotti, +20.874s	Jack Speth, +21.494s
Race 3 (20 laps)	Jack Speth, 30:31.196	Edward Kennedy, +2.578s	Beckham Jacir, +9.248s

Standings	Gen 1			Gen 2
	Drivers	Teams	Rookies	Drivers
P1	Beckham Jacir, 180	Berg Racing, 186	Lázaro Bainotti, 135	Jack Speth, 165
P2	Lázaro Bainotti, 135	Champagne Racing, 180	AJ Abdullah, 83	Edward Kennedy, 143
P3	Ava Hanssen, 100	Maestro Racing Team, 135	Alexander Savage, 72	Michael Fatutta, 18
P4	AJ Abdullah, 83	Ava Hanssen Racing, 100	Tyler Wade, 54
P5	Alexander Savage, 72	G Tech Motorsport, 86	Truly Adams, 51
P6	Tyler Wade, 54	Kiwi Motorsport, 30	Ella White, 41
P7	Truly Adams, 51		Will Franklin, 30
P8	Ella White, 41
P9	Will Franklin, 30
P10	Michael Fatutta, 14

Read the previous round’s report here.

Header photo credit: Super Formula Lights