The spectacular racing across the Austrian Grand Prix support package was only a portion of this weekend’s single-seater activity, with Formula Regional Japan, GB4 and Chinese F4 also holding events. Feeder Series reviews the action.

By Feeder Series

F1, F2 and F3 this weekend at the Red Bull Ring produced some truly entertaining motorsport, and we were in the paddock to see it all unfold. The F3 feature race was a particular highlight but certainly not the only race worth watching, so if you missed the action, keep an eye on our takeaways, to be released later today for F2 and tomorrow for F3, and our upcoming episode of Race Recap. 

The Red Bull Ring is also famous for the qualifying bottlenecks it produces. This weekend, bizarre qualifying occurrences proved a theme across all the junior single-seater series we followed this weekend. In FR Japan, there were no sessions at all because of a typhoon; in GB4, more than three-quarters of the laps were disallowed because of track limits; and in Chinese F4, two of the frontrunners were disqualified from the second session. Read on to find out what happened and how it affected the rest of the round in each championship.

Elsewhere, Nordic 4’s return to Sturup Raceway brought the first qualifying 1-2 for the new Aquila Nova car, with Richard Olson beating Jonathan Öhlander to pole by almost a second and a half. Olson took the win in race one, and although he lost one position to podium mainstay Matteis Stigsen, Öhlander took his maiden podium with a third place.

Race two went the way of Rosanne den Drijver, followed by Olson and Stigsen. Race three’s podium matched race one’s, and a sixth win for Olson means he now leads the championship by one point from Matteis Stigsen, who has not stood on the top step since round one. Den Drijver moves into third overall, but she is more than 80 points back from the leading pair.

In Formula Nordic’s Ljungbyhed round, meanwhile, Hampus Varis won both races from Robin Hafström. Vera Jurland was promoted to third in race one after the position’s original occupant, Andreas Aichhorn, was disqualified. Olivia Ernstson bounced back from a non-start in race one to complete the podium in race two.

Additional reporting by Mitchell Ash

1. FRegional Japan: Omiya sweeps Motegi as Ponos teammate Horachi ties Miura for points lead
2. GB4: Hilton takes a clean sweep of podiums at Donington Park
3. Chinese F4: Chan maintains points lead as Chen takes first win of the season

FRegional Japan: Omiya sweeps Motegi as Ponos teammate Horachi ties Miura for points lead

Kento Omiya won both races at FRegional Japan’s third round at Motegi, while his Ponos Racing teammate Ryora Horachi now leads the drivers’ standings, tied on points with TOM’S’ Yuzuki Miura. 

Both qualifying sessions due to be held on Saturday morning were cancelled on Friday because of the two expected typhoons. The fastest times in practice one set the first race’s grid, while the second-fastest times set the second race’s grid. 

Omiya thus started race one from pole ahead of his teammate Horachi and TOM’S’ Masana Muto. Championship leader Miura only started fifth. 

Omiya kept his lead off the line, but Horachi dropped to fifth behind Miura, Muto and Dr.Dry Racing’s Rio Shimono. Horachi repassed Shimono at Turn 3 as she went deep after running over the kerb. 

Horachi passed Muto for third with a switchback manoeuvre at Turn 1 on lap eight, having closed in on him and Miura the previous lap. 

Miura initially benefitted from Horachi’s fight with Muto, but Horachi closed in the following lap and launched an attack at Turn 10. The pair went side by side into Turn 11, where Horachi made the move stick. 

Miura then faced pressure from Muto, who himself had to keep an eye on Shimono. Muto finally passed Miura at Turn 3 on lap 12, and the championship leader even lost fourth to Shimono at the same spot on lap 14.

After 15 laps, Omiya clinched his second win of the season by 14.590 seconds over Horachi. Muto came home third, 22.304s behind, while Shimono finished a season-best fourth. 

Muto started race two from pole but dropped to third behind Omiya and Horachi, who started second and third. 

Muto then briefly passed Horachi for second at Turn 3 but came out behind exiting Turn 4. Another passing attempt at Turn 5 failed. 

After the first lap, the drivers out front extended their gaps. Omiya even led by 7.4 seconds after lap seven before a safety car was called out for “Yuki”, who was beached at Turn 9.

The race resumed at the end of lap 10 with Omiya leading. Horachi in second lost momentum at Turn 1, allowing Muto to close in and briefly pass him at Turn 3. The pair ran side by side through the following section, and Muto made the move stick at Turn 7. At Turn 9, Miura attacked Horachi for third but was unsuccessful. 

The safety car returned on laps 12 and 13, meaning drivers faced a one-lap shootout that yielded no position changes. 

Omiya ultimately scored his second win of the weekend, ahead of Muto and Horachi. Miura came fourth – his first weekend without a podium finish this year – but remains in the points lead in a dead heat with Horachi on 123 points. Omiya is third, 10 points behind, and Muto fourth, another 10 behind Omiya. 

In the masters’ class, Toriba won the first race, ending a five-race win streak for “Akita”, who finished fifth. “Akita” bounced back with victory in race two as Toriba finished eighth and last in class. 

Report by Finjo Muschlien

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Cancelled
Qualifying 2
Race 1 (15 laps)	Kento Omiya, 30:01.404	Ryota Horachi, +14.590s	Masana Muto, +22.304s
Race 2 (14 laps)	Kento Omiya, 31:46.993	Masana Muto, +0.903s	Ryota Horachi, +2.725s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Masters
P1	Yuzuki Miura and Ryota Horachi, 123 (absolute tie)	Ponos Racing, 161	“Akita”, 160
P2		TOM’S, 137	Yukata Toriba, 108
P3	Kento Omiya, 113	Rn-sports, 69	Hideaki Irie, 95
P4	Masana Muto, 103	Ragno Motor Sports, 51	Masayuki Ueda, 87
P5	Lin Chenghua, 51	Dr. Dry Racing Team, 42	Shoichiro Akamatsu, 70
P6	Rio Shimono, 42	Abbey Racing, 30	“Yuki”, 52
P7	Hibiki Komatsu, 35	Team LeMans, 17	Paul Wong, 38
P8	“Akita”, 30	Aiwin, 12	“Yugo”, 30
P9	Shunji Okumoto, 20	Eagle Sports, 11	“Seimei”, 20
P10	Li Xuanyu, 17	Fujita Pharmacy Racing, 3	“Daisuke”, 14

Read the previous round’s report here.

GB4: Hilton takes a clean sweep of podiums at Donington Park

Nitrous Competition ADM Racing’s Luke Hilton enjoyed a stellar weekend at Donington Park, picking up three podiums, including a win, in a round heavily affected by track limits.  

This was most apparent by the farcical situation that unfolded after qualifying. Alex O’Grady was due for a double pole position – but more than three-quarters of the 242 laps set, including all but one of O’Grady’s, were disallowed for track limits violations.

Of the 59 laps still considered valid,  Hilton’s was the best, and he was promoted to pole position for race one despite originally qualifying in eighth. Fortec Motorsports’ Franciszek Cegielski and Douglas Motorsport’s Dayton Coulthard followed him, Demitri Nolan lost only one of his nine laps and had the best second-fastest time in addition to the fourth-best time overall, while Michael Koh, seventh overall, was the only driver not to accumulate a single track limits violation.

In race one, Hilton got a strong start from pole and built up a gap from the pursuing pack before a collision between Douglas Motorsport’s Conor Grant and Scorpio Motorsport’s Archie Davies later on the opening lap led to a safety car. When the race got back underway, Hilton got a good restart and once again pulled away from the cars behind him.

Coulthard got close to making a move on Cegielski on multiple occasions, but the Polish driver held him off. Hilton crossed the line in first position, having led from lights to flag to take his first race win in GB4.

Hillspeed’s Nolan started on pole for race two but soon lost out to Coulthard, who had started in second position. A jump start for championship leader Fred Green brought the race start under investigation, but Green was never penalised as he was taken out at the end of the first lap by Fortec Motorsports’ Jordyn Martin, which brought out the safety car.

Chasing his second win of the season, Coulthard delivered a strong restart after this, but incidents for Fortec Motorsports’ Thomas Ingram-Hill and Arden Motorsport’s Koh brought out the race’s second safety car soon after. Coulthard had another good restart after that, this time followed by Luke Hilton as Nolan, previously running second, had to pit with rear wing damage.

In his stead, Pace Performance’s Torrin Byrne, who had started the race in 17th, worked his way to third position with three laps remaining and finished there behind Coulthard and Hilton for his first podium. Several other potential challengers – Fox Motorsport’s Jasser Iskander and Enzo Rujugiro, Hillspeed’s Connor Willis and Enzo Hallman, Pace Performance’s John O’Donnell – all fell out of podium contention in the final laps after a string of incidents. 

In the reverse-grid race three, Iskanderder started on pole position and held the lead before an opening-lap incident at the final corner involving six cars brought out the red flags.

After a full race restart, Iskanderder lost his lead to Josh McLean, who had started in fifth. A safety car on lap two brought the pack back together, and at the restart, Nolan challenged McLean for the lead. The American succeeded and led for five laps but was re-passed late on by McLean, who held the pack off for the final two laps to take his second win of the season. Nolan finished in second, marking his best finish of the season, and Hilton took his third podium after starting ninth.  

O’Grady, who finished fourth, now holds the championship lead, 11 points ahead of Green. Hilton’s performance this weekend hands him fourth place in the championship behind Hallman heading into Silverstone in just over a month’s time.

Report by Isabelle Chandler

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Luke Hilton, 1:29.954	Franciszek Cegielski, +0.172s	Dayton Coulthard, +0.259s
Race 1 (11 laps)	Luke Hilton, 20:38.943	Franciszek Cegielski, +0.528s	Dayton Coulthard, +1.856s
Race 2 (11 laps)	Dayton Coulthard, 20:36.968	Luke Hilton, +1.414s	Torrin Byrne, +6.167s
Race 3 (12 laps)	Josh McLean, 20:15.789	Demitri Nolan, +1.103s	Luke Hilton, +1.553s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Alex O’Grady, 184	Hillspeed, 282	Franciszek Cegielski, 101
P2	Fred Green, 173	Douglas Motorsport, 246	Conor Grant, 54
P3	Enzo Hallman, 168	Pace Performance, 234	Jordyn Martin, 42
P4	Luke Hilton, 146	Fortec Motorsports, 231	Michael Koh, 33
P5	Dayton Coulthard, 131	KMR Sport, 215	Jamie Leverton, 31
P6	Thomas Ingram Hill, 113	Elite Motorsport, 195	Charlie Myers, 24
P7	Torrin Byrne, 111	Nitrous Competitions ADM Racing, 188	Jasser Iskander, 24
P8	Josh McLean, 106	Scorpio Motorsport, 116	Enzo Rujugiro, 19
P9	Franciszek Cegielski, 101	Arden Motorsport, 72	Archie Bullard, 18
P10	Matan Achituv, 95	Fox Motorsport, 61

Read the previous round’s report here.

Chinese F4: Chan maintains points lead as Chen takes first win of the season

Chinese F4’s Ningbo round saw four different drivers take the top step of the podium, with Kimi Chan extending his championship lead over Timur Shagaliev.

Chan started the weekend off with pole in qualifying one with a 1:46.914, ahead of Chen Sicong and Zhao Zijun. Yu Yan took his first pole of the season in qualifying two, with Shagaliev and Chen in the top three. Chan and Zhao were both disqualified from the second session, Chan for breaching parc fermé rules and Zhao for a technical infringement.

Chen got a better start in race one and snatched the lead from Chan. Shagaliev overtook Zhao at the start for third as well before setting his sights on Chan up ahead. The safety car came out on lap two by Tian Feng, who had stopped on track. Chen maintained his lead at the restart, with Chan and Shagaliev behind. 

The battle for second intensified with six minutes left to go, and Shagaliev came out ahead with an overtake down the straight between turns 9 and 10. Chen, who finished fourth in the championship last year, came home first, with Shagaliev and Chan completing the podium.. 

Qi Diqin, who finished 12th in race one, was awarded reverse-grid pole for race two. On lap one, Qi led heading into Turn 1, but the race was quickly neutralised after a collision at Turn 4 between Shagaliev and Andy Law, who both retired.

Qi maintained his lead when the race resumed two laps later, but heading into Turn 6, Jason Chow tagged him from behind, sending him spinning. The cars behind avoided Qi’s stricken car, and he continued the race, albeit in last, as Josh Feng overtook Chow at Turn 10 for the lead. 

With 10 minutes left, Zhao overtook Feng for the lead and sailed to his third win of the season with a 4.334-second advantage over Feng. Yu rounded out the top three. 

Yu started on pole for Sunday’s first race but went wide at Turn 2. Asia Racing Team’s Shagaliev capitalised, took the lead and never looked back from then on. 

With 15 minutes left, Shagaliev’s title rival Chan had climbed from the back of the grid to eighth. The sole safety car period of the race came on lap 13 after Law, racing with a broken rear wing, crashed into the wall at Turn 14. The race resumed with one lap left, and Shagaliev held on to win, with Yu in second and Chen in third. Chan came home fifth, which cost him the points lead. 

Jiang Wei started on reverse-grid pole for the final race, but the leader heading into the first corner was Yuanyang Zeshi, who started from fourth. The safety car then came out later in the lap with Liu Taiji, Huang Xiaofeng and Chen Zhuyuan all stranded on track after a collision near Turn 3.

Before the race was neutralised, Chan was running in fourth, but he climbed up the order fast after the safety car period and had already made his way up to second by the end of the restart lap. Under pressure from a charging Chan behind, Yuanyang tried to defend heading down the start-finish straight, but the Champ Academy driver got the overtake done heading into the second corner. 

Chan was the first to take the chequered flag, ahead of his teammate Zhao, who had made up multiple positions as well. Yuanyang rounded out the top three. Chan heads into the Chengdu round with 188 points, 13 ahead of second-placed Shagaliev. Chen rounds out the top three with 139 points. 

Report by Kaylene Lau

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying 1	Kimi Chan, 1:46.914	Chen Sicong, +0.652s	Zhao Zijun, +0.772s
Qualifying 2	Yu Yan, 1:46.938	Timur Shagaliev, +0.049s	Chen Sicong, +0.838s
Race 1 (17 laps)	Chen Sicong, 31:59.520	Timur Shagaliev, +0.642s	Kimi Chan, +1.373s
Race 2 (17 laps)	Zhao Zijun, 32:59.216	Josh Feng, +4.334s	Yu Yan, +11.381s
Race 3 (17 laps)	Timur Shagaliev, 33:45.535	Yu Yan, +0.599s	Chen Sicong, +1.391s
Race 4 (17 laps)	Kimi Chan, 33:28.882	Zhao Zijun, +2.529s	Yuanyang Zeshi, +17.024s

Standings	Drivers	Teams
P1	Kimi Chan, 188	Champ Academy, 307
P2	Timur Shagaliev, 175	Asia Racing Team, 266
P3	Chen Sicong, 139	Black Blade Racing, 255
P4	Zhao Zijun, 119	Blackjack Racing, 119
P5	Chen Zhuyuan, 118	Frankenstein by Pointer Racing, 60
P6	Yu Yan, 116	Black Blade GP, 38
P7	Josh Feng, 91	Pointer Racing, 36
P8	Yuanyang Zeshi, 58	She Power Racing, 31
P9	Liu Taiji, 38	Kai Fei Motorsport, 30
P10	Zhang Jun, 37	Geeke Racing, 26

Read the previous round’s report here.

Header photo credit: Jack Morrison