An August of junior single-seater racing largely away from Europe concludes with action in both the Americas and East Asia. Feeder Series previews racing in Indy NXT, USF Pro 2000, Super Formula Lights, Formula Regional Japan, and Chinese F4.

By Feeder Series

The end is near – at least for racing in 2026 for Indy NXT. 

The premier junior single-seater championship in America won’t be crowning a champion this weekend; only 54 of a possible 162 points will be awarded at the Milwaukee Mile, and the top two in the standings are separated by one point. In some ways, therefore, it will be even less in the spotlight than its paddock neighbour IndyCar, in which Palou Motorsport co-owner and Chip Ganassi Racing driver Álex Palou is likely to wrap up the title this weekend.

USF Pro 2000 will join them with their second oval round of the year, visiting Milwaukee for the first time since 2014. The sole race on Saturday will mark the return of Leonardo Escorpioni, who missed the Markham round a fortnight ago because of visa issues. Both Indy NXT and USF Pro 2000 completed a test day at Milwaukee in June.

Outside of America, Super Formula Lights and FR Japan are on track together at Sportsland Sugo with two of the tightest duels in all of junior racing. One point separates the top two drivers in the former, and nothing – not even a tiebreaker – splits the top two in latter. Chinese F4 is also racing in Chengdu for the fourth of six rounds this weekend. Keep reading to get the latest info on drivers shuffling around this weekend.

While we aren’t covering it in detail, there is technically F4 racing on the European continent in the form of SMP F4’s fourth round of the 2026 season at the NRing. Notably, two of the current championship top five will be missing. Maksim Orlov, currently fourth, is skipping the round to compete in the Grand Prix Karting Le Mans event this weekend in the KZ class, while Timur Shagaliev, one place behind him, is prioritising Chinese F4 as he battles points leader Kimi Chan.

Formula Nordic is also holding its penultimate round this weekend at Ring Knutstorp, but with far less on the line after Hampus Varis secured the championship last time out.

Indy NXT: Round 15, Milwaukee

Circuit: Milwaukee Mile, 1.633 km

Schedule: All times local (UTC−5)

Saturday 29 August 

• 08:00–08:50: Practice
• 11:35–12:29: Qualifying

Sunday 30 August 

• 10:00–11:00: Race (90 laps)

How to follow: Internationally, all sessions will be streamed live on IndyCar Live. Live timing will be available on the Indy NXT website. In the United States, practice will be shown on Fox Sports 2, while qualifying and the race are shown on Fox Sports 1. In addition, all sessions are streamed on the Fox One app.

Weather forecast: Mostly sunny all weekend with a chance of showers on Sunday.

What to know: Indy NXT visits the Milwaukee Mile short oval in support of the IndyCar Series for one race scheduled for 90 laps.

Last year, Salvador de Alba won his first Indy NXT race at Milwaukee ahead of Dennis Hauger, who clinched the Indy NXT championship at the track by finishing second. 

In 2026, however, the Indy NXT title race will remain open with three races to go in the championship.

Eight drivers are still mathematically in contention, though Enzo Fittipaldi, Nikita Johnson, and Tymek Kucharczyk are the main title contenders. Fittipaldi and Johnson are separated by just one point, while Kucharczyk sits 18 points behind the lead. Andretti Global teammates Max Taylor and Lochie Hughes need a minor miracle to get back into the title fight, at 80 and 90 points respectively behind the points lead.

In the previous oval races this season at Gateway and Nashville, Myles Rowe and Matteo Nannini were victorious.

Two changes are expected for this round. Salvador de Alba (#17) is back in the car for the final time this season with HMD Motorsports. The Mexican replaces Bart Harrison, who made his Indy NXT debut at Portland with a 10th-place finish and will return to the team for the final round at Laguna Seca.

Juncos Racing will also not field their #76 car this weekend. The team had previously announced that Nolan Allaer would take part in the remaining road courses this season after Ricardo Escotto vacated the seat to race in F3, but a replacement for the remaining oval rounds was not named.

Report by Vincent van der Hoek

From the press: Abel Motorsports driver Myles Rowe is in his third Indy NXT season this year, but his planned title assault hasn’t panned out. The American spoke with us about his spectacular last-to-first victory at Gateway, his journey on the IndyCar ladder, and salvaging what he could from a challenging season. Read the article here.

You can also read the previous round’s report here.

USF Pro 2000: Round 8, Milwaukee

Circuit: Milwaukee Mile, 1.633 km

Schedule: All times local (UTC−5)

Friday 28 August 

• 14:00–14:30: Practice 1
• 16:00–16:30: Practice 2

Saturday 29 August

• 09:00–09:35: Qualifying
• 16:30–17:15: Race

How to follow: All sessions will be streamed live on the USF Pro Championships YouTube channel. Live Timing will be available on the USF Pro 2000 website and the USF Pro Championships app.

Weather forecast: Mostly sunny all weekend with a chance of showers on Sunday.

What to know: USF Pro 2000 visits the Milwaukee Mile short oval for the first time since 2014 for the 15th race of the season.

Exclusive Autosport driver Jack Jeffers took the championship lead in Markham on the back of a victory in race one and a second place in race two. His main championship rival Leonardo Escorpioni is back on the grid with Turn 3 Motorsports after travel restrictions related to his green card forced him to miss the weekend in Canada. The points gap between them in the standings is 34 points.

With Milwaukee being an oval weekend, an adjusted points system will be in effect, multiplying the standard points values by 1.5 and rounding up for any half points. That means the race winner gets 45 points instead of the usual 30, the driver in second place gets 38 points instead of 25, and the driver in third place gets 33 points instead of 22.

Eighteen entries are set to compete in Milwaukee, up from the 12 who took part in Markham. Along with the planned return of Escorpioni (#4), Tanner DeFabis (#5) returns to Jay Howard Driver Development Powered by ECR, as has been expected. Logan Adams (#21) returns with his family-run Comet/NCMP Racing team, while Jeshua Alianell (#27) is back with TJ Speed Motorsports, this time taking the place of Christian Cameron, who withdrew from the Markham round with budget issues.

Evan Cooley (#90) and Anthony Martella (#93) are also getting more experience in the USF Pro 2000 car, racing with Exclusive Autosport. The pair usually compete in USF2000, sitting fourth and seventh in the standings respectively, though the team have confirmed that Martella will remain in USF Pro 2000 for the Road America finale.

Report by Vincent van der Hoek

From the press: While many drivers focus on driving and studying data with their engineers, Tanner DeFabis has learned to play both roles in a bid to progress further in his racing career. We talked with the 20-year-old Indiana native about his unusual career path ahead of his return to action this weekend at Milwaukee. Read the article here.

You can also read the previous round’s report here.

Super Formula Lights: Round 5, Sugo

Circuit: Sportsland Sugo, 3.587 km

Schedule: All times local (UTC+9)

Friday 28 August 

• 08:30–10:30: Practice 1
• 14:00–16:00: Practice 2

Saturday 29 August

• 10:00–10:10: Qualifying 1
• 10:20–10:30: Qualifying 2
• 14:40–15:20: Race 1 (26 laps)

Sunday 30 August

• 11:20–11:50: Race 2 (19 laps)
• 15:20–15:50: Race 3 (19 laps)

How to follow: All races will be live-streamed on the series’ official YouTube channel. Live timing is available at sfl.racelive.jp.

Weather forecast: Hot and partly cloudy on Friday, with clouds and rain likely on Saturday and Sunday.

What to know: Super Formula Lights heads to its penultimate round at Sugo this weekend.

There is a mathematical chance that Delightworks Racing’s Yusuke Mitsui can become Super Formula Lights’ 2026 champion this weekend. He currently sits atop the standings on 80 points, just one ahead of Toyota junior Kiyoshi Umegaki and 17 points ahead of B-Max Racing’s Evan Giltaire. 

Last year’s round at Sugo had four races, which were all won by B-Max’s Yuto Nomura. Should B-Max repeat their success with Giltaire this weekend, a close three-way title fight would await them at the final round at Motegi in two weeks’ time. 

Rintaro Sato (#26) returns to B-Max Racing this weekend despite not being scheduled to race in the second half of the season. The 20-year-old son of former F1 driver and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato had missed the previous round because of a limited budget. 

Kenta Kumagai (#60) likewise returns at LMcorsa, having missed the previous round because of a clash with Japanese F4. 

In the masters’ class, two of B-Max’s satellite teams and drivers return: JMS Racing Team’s Nobuhiro Imada (#4), who only competed in the first round of the championship, and Art Taste Racing’s Yasuhiro Shimizu (#8), who missed the previous round because he prioritised Japanese F4. 

Report by Finjo Muschlien

From the press: With insufficient budget for F3 in 2026, Evan Giltaire faced a choice: leave single-seaters or forge a path outside of Europe. He opted for the latter, racing in Super Formula Lights, and now sits in a much more comfortable position than many former rivals. Giltaire told us all about acclimating to Japanese racing and the Super Formula test outing that elevated his professional prospects. Click to read parts one and two of the interview.

You can also read the previous round’s report here.

Formula Regional Japanese Championship: Round 4, Sugo

Circuit: Sportsland Sugo, 3.587 km

Schedule: All times local (UTC+9)

Friday 28 August

• 11:00–11:45: Practice 1
• 13:00–13:45: Practice 2

Saturday 29 August

• 09:00–09:15: Qualifying 1
• 09:30–09:45: Qualifying 2
• 13:20–13:50: Race 1

Sunday 30 August

• 10:00–10:30: Race 2
• 14:00–14:30: Race 3

How to follow: All races are live-streamed for free on the series’ official YouTube channel. Live timing is available at RaceLive.

Weather forecast: Hot and partly cloudy on Friday, with clouds and rain likely on Saturday and Sunday.

What to know: Formula Regional Japan enters its fourth round of the season at Sugo this weekend, and the top four drivers are separated by just 20 points up front with the halfway point of the season reached.

Ponos Racing’s Kento Omiya collected three wins in the last four races and jumped to third in the drivers’ championship, now 10 points behind both his teammate Ryota Horachi on 123 points and TOM’S Yuzuki Miura, also on 123 points. The pair are locked in a dead heat atop the standings. Masana Muto in fourth is on 103 points and the only one of the leading quartet yet to take a win. 

What could stand in Muto’s favour is what he did last year in Japanese F4, in which he was the only one out of him, Miura and Horachi to score a point at Sugo. 

Hibiki Komatsu (#10) is back at Rn-sports. He competed in the first round of the season at Suzuka and came third in the second race. Komatsu replaced Yu Oda. 

In the masters’ class, “Daisuke” of TB Hoppers, Shoichiro Akamatsu of Eagle Sports and “Seimei” of Tomei Sports are absent, while N-Speed’s “Yugo” (#23) returns having missed the previous round.

Report by Finjo Muschlien

Read the previous round’s report here.

Chinese F4: Round 4, Chengdu

Circuit: Chengdu Tianfu International Circuit, 3.260 km

Schedule: All times local (UTC+8)

Friday 28 August

• 09:00–09:30: Free practice 1
• 10:50–11:20: Free practice 2
• 14:30–15:00: Qualifying 1
• 16:20–16:50: Qualifying 2

Saturday 29 August

• 10:15–10:55: Race 1
• 14:35–15:15: Race 2

Sunday 30 August

• 10:20–11:00: Race 3
• 14:15–14:55: Race 4

How to follow: Races are streamed on series’ organiser Mintimes’ WeChat channel, but users require a WeChat account to access it. 

Weather forecast: Showers likely on Friday, with cloudy conditions expected on Saturday and Sunday. 

What to know: Chinese F4 returns for its fourth round this weekend in Chengdu.

Last time out in Ningbo, four different drivers took victories in the same weekend. Chen Sicong claimed his first win of the season in the first race, while Zhao Zijun took his third win of the year in race two. Timur Shagaliev won race three to claim the championship lead, but Kimi Chan took the final win of the weekend to stay ahead of Shagaliev in the standings upon the round’s conclusion.

Chan therefore leads the standings with 188 points, just 13 points ahead of Shagaliev. Completing the top three is Chen with 139 points.

Returning to the series this weekend is Macanese driver Vernice Lao (#37), who will race with Asia Racing Team. The 16-year-old competed in the round at Chengdu last year, with her best finish being 13th in race four.

Joining Champ Motorsport starting from Chengdu is Alfred Lao (#15), who will be making his F4 debut, having previously taken part in Formula Student. Ethan Liu (#95) will replace Jiang Wei at Black Blade GP this weekend, making his Chinese F4 debut. Pointer Racing’s Liu Taiji and Zhizhen Pointer Racing’s Wang Zejun will sit out this round. 

Report by Kaylene Lau

Read the previous round’s report here.

All times and forecasts listed above are subject to change. For the most up-to-date information, follow each series’ websites or social media pages.

Header photo credit: Chris Jones / Penske Entertainment