Former FIA Formula 3 driver Zdeněk Chovanec passed away 18 July 2026 aged 21.  Chovanec, born in Venezuela and raised in Czechia and Portugal, was best known for his F3 stints at Charouz Racing System in 2021 and 2022. Feeder Series remembers the life and career of a young racer taken from us too soon.

By H. M. Gillard and Michael McClure

Zdeněk Chovanec López was born 9 October 2004 in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela. He moved to Prague in Czechia, his father’s home country, as a young child before relocating again to Portugal in 2018.

Gaining his first experiences at the Kartódromo Cabo do Mundo, Chovanec began his competitive karting career that same year, placing ninth in the Junior class of the Portuguese national karting championship in 2018 and sixth in the X30 category in 2019. Chovanec also competed in the Spanish karting championship’s senior category that year.

Chovanec moved to single-seaters in 2020, racing in the F4 UAE Championship for Xcel Motorsport. He took two podiums, both third-place finishes, on his way to seventh in the standings. Future Charouz teammate Francesco Pizzi was crowned champion.

His F4 career continued through the second half of 2020 in the Italian F4 Championship, in which Chovanec competed for Bhaitech. Despite not completing the full season, he finished 17th in the standings, second of the five Bhaitech drivers at the end of the season. A fifth-place finish at Imola was the higher of his two points finishes.

The next year, Chovanec made his regional F3 debut in the opening round of the F3 Asian Championship, scoring two points from two starts for BlackArts Racing. He then spent most of the year in the Euroformula Open Championship, racing for Double R Racing alongside Josh Mason. In his 18 Euroformula Open starts, Chovanec racked up 33 points with a best finish of seventh en route to 15th in the championship.

By the end of the year, he was also racing in the FIA F3 Championship for Czech team Charouz, having replaced Reshad de Gerus. Though he only managed a best result of 20th place, he was a reliable pair of hands who reached the flag in each of the eight races he contested. He placed 34th in the standings.

In 2022, Chovanec moved into the Boss GP championship, racing a Dallara GP2/11 for MM International Motorsport in the Formula class. He finished first in his class five times in his six starts and second in class in his remaining start, ending the 12-race season fifth in the championship.

Chovanec had abandoned his Boss GP campaign to return to F3, once again for Charouz, as one of six drivers to partner Pizzi and László Tóth that year. The team scored just one point in what was their final season as a standalone entity, and Chovanec retired twice from four starts. He was classified 40th in the standings with a best finish of 24th in the Silverstone feature race.

Chovanec’s final career start came in September 2023, when he competed at Estoril – his home circuit – in the LMP3 class of the Ultimate Cup Series for TS Corse. This entry saw him reunited with onetime Charouz teammate Ayrton Simmons and partnered with Portuguese-Mozambican driver Pedro Perino. The trio finished in 11th place overall and fourth in class in that race, scoring 24 points, which was enough to place Chovanec 15th in the LMP3 class standings at the end of the year.

Chovanec also had several racing ventures that did not pan out. In 2021, he was set to compete in the Campeonato de Portugal de Velocidade in a Ferrari 458 Challenge car. In 2023, he was meant to join German team GetSpeed in a Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup. And in January 2025, he was listed among the entrants at Fast Track Racing for a pre-season test at Daytona International Speedway for the ARCA Menards Series, the premier category on the Automobile Racing Club of America stock car ladder.

Chovanec was a graduate of the Colégio Novo da Maia in Milheirós, Portugal, outside of Porto. Known for his kindness and sense of humour, Chovanec enjoyed working on road cars, and he was also learning to play classical piano alongside his racing career.

Chovanec’s passing was announced Tuesday evening. A cause of death was not disclosed. Per O Notícias de Trofa, Chovanec’s hometown news outlet, a wake was held Wednesday morning at 10:00 local (GMT+1) at the Tanatorio de Matosinhos. A funeral will follow tomorrow, 23 July, at 11:00 local at the same funeral parlour.

Feeder Series sends its condolences to Zdeněk Chovanec’s family, friends and loved ones.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency