Finlay McSporran
Published: 23:07 26 April 2026
A new name, new car, new team, new drivers and new winners – there’s a lot to unpack here.
Formula Regional is back!
The European series returns, this time under a new name and with full FIA accreditation.
Now know as the FIA Formula Regional European Championship, after dropping the Alpine branding, the series returns this year with a new team in Rodin Motorsport, a new car, and a new format for this weekend.
The Format
This season there will be ten races, down two from last year.
To make up the difference, an extra race is being held on Saturday afternoons at some rounds this year, including this weekend at the Redbull Ring. The grid for this race is determined by reversing the top 12 from qualifying for race 1, similar to how it’s done in Formula 3.
Race one and three are still held on Saturday and Sunday, with their respective qualifying sessions taking place on a Friday afternoon and Sunday Morning.
Lets get into the action!
Race 1
For the first time, we got to see the new Tatuus T-326 car in action in Europe, after it made its debut earlier this year in Formula Regional Middle-east.
That championship was won by Kean Nakamura-Berta, who snatched the title from Rashid Al Dhaheri in the final race.
It seemed fitting then, that those two would top their respective qualifying sessions, locking out the front row for race one with Nakamura-Berta starting from pole positoon.
Nakamura Berta came out of turn one in the lead as they began the climb up the hill towards turn three. However, Al Dhaheri came charging round the outside to take the lead.
The safety car was deployed just two laps in as Gabriel Gomez, who finished second in Italian F4 to Nakamura-Berta last year, stopped at the side of the track. The Brazilian had made contact with Matteo Giaccardi, damaging the suspension of his Rodin.
Racing resumed with 22 minutes still to go. A big lock up for Al Dhaheri put his lead under threat, and he was passed by Nakamura-Berta and then Sebastian Wheldon a lap later.
Their battle was interrupted however by another safety car, as the G4 machine of Saqer Almaosherji was spotted upside down in the gravel at turn four.
Luckily Almaosherji’s crash wasn’t as bad as it looked. His car had skated off the track, digging itself into the gravel which flipped it over. Thankfully he walked away uninured.
After the restart, Al Dhaheri lost another position, this time to reigning GB3 champion Alex Ninovic. His chances of challenging for the win seemingly over. Or were they?
The Emirati raced in this series last year, and used his experience to get passed Wheldon and Ninovic at the same time.
Those two had been battling for second, but when Wheldon broke too late and went wide at turn three, it left Ninovic exposed. Al Dhaheri used the push to pass to get by down the straight.
Unfortunately for him, by the time he had done so the clock was almost at zero.
Nakamura-Berta crossed the line to win the first race of the season, with Al Dhaheri having to settle for a close second. Alex Ninovic finished third on the road, but was later handed a 10 second penalty post-race for track imits, with the podium going to Wheldon.
Race 2
2025 rookie champion Dion Gowda started race two from reverse grid pole, with Reza Seewooruthun alongside.
Our protagonists from the last race, Al Dhaheri and Nakamura-Berta, lined up 11th and 12th respectively.
A crazy start saw pole-sitter Gowda jump the start, earning himself a five-second penalty.
Behind him however, from third on the grid, French F4 champion Alexandre Munoz did not get off the line. Alexander Abkhazava swerved right to avoid him, but accidently clipped the rear of Marcu Saeter, which sent the Norwegian driver spinning into the wall.
Unsurprisingly, the incident resulted in a safety car.
Amid the chaos, Al Dhaheri managed to gain two positions and was now in ninth.
The Emeriti would gain another two on the restart, but his progress was halted by another safety car. This time for an incident involving Almaosherji, Enea Frey, and Miguel Costa which took all three out the race.
This also halted the progress of race leader Gowda, who needed to create a gap behind or else that five-second penalty would drop him right down the order.
Al Dhaheri resumed his charge once the safety car period ended. With 12 minutes plus a lap to go, the R-ace GP driver slowly crept his way up the order.
He passed Ninovic, then Popov and Stolcermanis on the same lap, before passing Francot a couple of laps later, putting himself in third.
Seewooruthun was in second and in position to take the win, as Gowda hadn’t built much of a gap.
But on the penultimate lap, Al Dhaheri, who had been so precise with his use of push to pass, used the last few second of it to blast by Seewooruthun’s Rodin and into second.
Gowda crossed the line in first, but could only build a two second gap as his penalty dropped him down to fourth.
That meant Al Dhaheri took the win, an immense performance from 11th on the grid. Seewooruthun took Rodin’s first piece of silverware with second.
It would have been a double podium for the new team, but Ninovic once again received a post-race penalty which dropped him from third to 16th.
The final spot on the podium instead went to Dutch driver Reno Francot.
Race 3
Francot continued his good form into Sunday, topping group one in qualifying.
But that wasn’t enough for pole, as Nakamura-berta set an even faster time in group two to bag his second pole of the weekend.
Race two winner Al Dhaheri could only manage 10th. Furthermore, he was handed a five place grid penalty for activating push to pass in qualifying, dropping him down to 15th.
Nakamura-Berta once again held the lead at the start, this time over Francot. However, their battle was interrupted.
Another lap one incident took Yuki Sano out before he had even reached the first corner. The Japanese driver tried to dodge the slow-moving RPM of Jan Przyrowski, but bumped into his teammate Emanuele Olivieri, picking up suspension damage.
That resulted in another lap one safety car, however racing resumed shortly after… for about a minute. As the cars were getting back up to racing speed, Olivieri pulled to a halt, likely with damage from his lap one incident.
Whilst that was happening, race leader Nakamura-Berta had dropped from first to tenth.
We never saw exactly what happened as the cameras were focused on Olivieri. However, Francot, who was running behind him at the time, said Nakamura-Berta made a “mistake” when speaking to media after the race.
This “mistake” clearly unsettled the Prema driver, as he had what can only be described as a scrappy race from then on.
After the restart he made contact with Seewooruthun at turn 6 which saw him run through the gravel, before running wide into the gravel again at the very next corner.
A third safety car provided him some respite. As a collision on the main straight between Przyrowski and Rahim Alibhai sent both cars into the barriers and resulted in a lengthy delay.
But, with five minutes plus a lap left on he clock, Reno Francot once again led the field on the restart. He managed the restart well, creating a gap behind him, as he tried to bring home what would be a first win at this level for G4 racing.
Behind him, Nakamura-Berta continued struggle in the midfield. As they approached the fast right-hand sweepers of turns nine and ten, Nakamura-Berta went wide once again through turns seven and eight.
That allowed his teammate Tomass Stolcermanis to draw alongside as they approached the corner.
Not wanting to lose a place to his teammate, Nakamura-Berta tried to hold his own around the outside. However the pair made contact, with Nakamura-Berta coming off worse.
He ran off the track at high speed, but amazingly managed to spin the car round, keeping it out the barriers. However his race was over, as he pulled to the side with damage.
A devastated Nakamura-Berta climbed out the car, hands on head. This was not how wanted his weekend to end, especially after starting from pole.
Contrasting emotions. While that was happening, Francot danced his car across the line, having just given CL Motorsport their first win in the championship.
Behind him came Ninovic who, at the time of writing, has not received any penalties. It appears this one is his to keep! In third was Wheldon who took his second podium of the weekend.
So, it was a pretty crazy weekend. It had everything, on track battles, different winners, underdog stories and inter-team drama just to name a few of the things that happened.
The new cars also proved their worth again, after doing so in the Middle-East earlier in the year. Not just in terms of racing, but safety as well.
It’s a solid start to what is already shaping up to be a memorable season.
Driver Standings:
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