NEWS

Macau Grand Prix winner Ugo Ugochukwu leads impressive Formula Regional Middle East Championship 2025 entry

Jan 14,2025

       American McLaren F1 junior tops competitive 29-strong international line-up
 
       Origine Motorsport and AXCEL GP make debuts amongst nine-team entry
 
       Season kicks off at prestigious Abu Dhabi Grand Prix circuit January 17 

 


UAE, January 13, 2025: A galaxy of international Formula 1 aspirants is assembling to contest the Formula Regional Middle East Championship (FRMEC), beginning this week at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix venue at Yas Marina.

 

A total of 29 drivers are entered for the five-round, 15-race series, part of the Formula Middle East showcase organized by Shanghai-based Top Speed. Action begins this Tuesday and Wednesday (January 14-15) with a two-day test at Yas Marina, with more pre-event test sessions on Friday January 17, before competition begins in earnest the following day with two qualifying sessions and the first race. Two more races follow on Sunday 19 January. The teams stay in Yas Marina for the second round on January 22-23, then make the short trip to Dubai Autodrome for round three on February 7-9 and the first of two events alongside the Asian Le Mans Series. They return to Yas Marina mid-February, before the season finale on February 25-27.

 

Last season it was Tuukka Taponen, a protégé of the Ferrari Formula 1 team, who wrested the honours with the French R-ace GP squad. After a successful season in Europe the Finn is now graduating to the FIA Formula 3 Championship, but R-ace GP has some exciting talent on board in a bid to repeat its 2024 success. Last season it was Tuukka Taponen, a protégé of the Ferrari Formula 1 team, who wrested the honours with the French R-ace GP squad. After a successful season in Europe the Finn is now graduating to the FIA Formula 3 Championship, but R-ace GP has some exciting talent on board in a bid to repeat its 2024 success.

 


The R-ace GP driver whose name is most in the limelight is American youngster Ugo Ugochukwu. This junior of the McLaren Formula 1 team took a convincing victory in the biggest Formula Regional race of them all – the Macau Grand Prix  on his first outing with R-ace GP at the end of 2024. Although he is stepping up to FIA Formula 3 for this season, he is remaining in Formula Regional to keep himself race-sharp and, of course, a crack at the Middle East title. Lining up alongside him is Enzo Deligny, the Frenchman remaining at R-ace GP after finishing fourth in Macau. Akshay Bohra moves up as the reigning champion in Euro 4 to a Middle East series in which his older brother Nikhil was a race winner in 2023 and 2024. Intriguingly, Toyota protégé Jin Nakamura transfers across from the Super Formula Lights series in Japan, where he was fourth last season, after making his Formula Regional debut in Macau.

 

PHM Racing’s Taylor Barnard, now racing for McLaren in the FIA Formula E World Championship, only just missed out on the title to Taponen last season. The German team is back with another McLaren-linked driver in the form of Italian Brando Badoer.

 


The son of ex-F1 driver Luca Badoer is familiar to Middle East single-seater followers after finishing sixth in F4 UAE in 2023 and claiming podium finishes in FRME last year. After a strong season in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA), in which he finished fifth, he steps up to F3 this year but, like Ugochukwu, returns for another crack at Middle East glory. Joining him is American Everett Stack, who moves up from Formula 4 after racing in the UAE and Italian championships in 2024.

 

Mumbai Falcons Racing, operated by Italian single-seater powerhouse Prema Racing, is back and few would rule out the squad reclaiming a crown it last won with Mercedes F1-bound Andrea Kimi Antonelli in 2023. The exciting young Briton Freddie Slater won the F4 UAE Championship 12 months ago and then dominated the Italian series, before stepping up to Formula Regional in Macau. Two of his major rivals from F4 in 2024 join him, with Australia’s Jack Beeton, runner-up to Slater in Italy, making his Formula Regional debut, and Abu Dhabis own Rashid Al Dhaheri, a multiple race winner in F4, also bound to be a force. Another Briton, Reza Seewooruthun, was third in British F4 last season and is on board with Mumbai Falcons for the first two rounds. After this the team is bringing in Frenchwoman Doriane Pin, a race winner in F4 UAE in 2024 who went on to finish runner-up in the Grand Prix-supporting, all-female F1 Academy series.

 


The French ART Grand Prix squad is another major force in single-seater racing. Frenchman Evan Giltaire was a race winner in FRECA last season, and now makes his first appearance in the Middle East with ART. Partnering him is Japan’s Kanato Le, who returns for a full crack at the series after becoming a podium finisher in FRECA in 2024. Les compatriot Taito Kato, meanwhile, is backed by Honda and makes the step up to Formula Regional after succeeding Giltaire as the French Formula 4 champion.

 

The remaining French team is Saintéloc Racing, led by its exciting home-grown talent Théophile Naël, who was a race winner in FRMEC last season and in FRECA, and returns for more. He is joined by Ukrainian Yaroslav Veselaho, who is back for a second season in the series, and Mexican Lorenzo Castillo, who graduates from Spanish F4.

 

Pinnacle Motorsport is always a force in FRMEC and has entered Japanese talent Hiyu Yamakoshi, third in Italian F4 last season. Others to bolster the Rookie class are Mexico’s Ernesto Rivera, fifth in Spanish F4 in 2024, and Mercedes F1s Chinese protégé Cui Yuanpu, who won F4 races in his homeland last year and was competitive in the British series. Pinnacle also fields Italian Giovanni Maschio and Briton Fin Green, both of whose exploits are already familiar to followers of FRMEC.

 

Like Pinnacle, the Australian-run Evans GP squad is always a contender. Indian Kai Daryanani steps up a level after claiming the end-of-season F4 UAE Trophy in 2024. Interestingly, the team is also fielding Aaron Cameron, twice a champion in Australia’s hugely powerful S5000 machines and now returning to single-seaters after shining in touring cars.

 

China’s Origine Motorsport is renowned in GT racing and takes its bow in Formula Regional Middle East with Liu Ruiqi and Wang Zhongwei, who both already have experience in the series. Meanwhile, UAE hopes will be carried by AKCEL GP, this team operating in conjunction with PHM. Aditya Kulkarni heads to the Middle East after racing in the GB3 series in the UK, while Jaden Pariat steps up after finishing third in Indias F4 championship last season.

 

It all adds up to a ferociously competitive, international grid, and a likely thrilling series with multiple twists and turns before the champion is crowned next month.



 Provisional Entry List Round 1