Mighty 39-strong entry announced for UAE4 Series Abu Dhabi season-opener

• Galaxy of future stars sets stratospheric benchmark for fledgling talent

• F1 juniors and star karting graduates go head-to-head over 12 races

• Season kicks of January 16 at prestigious Yas Marina Circuit

Abu Dhabi, January 14, 2026:

A mighty entry of 39 drivers has been attracted for the 2026 UAE4 Series, which kicks off this weekend at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit (January 16-18). With many of the international field as young as 15 years of age, a number of them protégés of Formula 1 teams and several making their first steps in car racing as star karting graduates, it promises to be a memorably exciting season.

UAE4, for Formula 4 machinery, takes place over four weekends comprising 12 races. A week after the opener, the drivers are back in action at Yas Marina once more, before a stop-off at Dubai Autodrome and then the season finale, which takes place at Qatar’s Lusail circuit on February 11-13.

Last year’s champion Emanuele Olivieri has now moved up the ladder to Formula Regional, and the team that fielded the Italian, highly regarded French operation R-ace GP, has assembled a bumper crop of five drivers. Two of them are Mercedes Formula 1 juniors, with 15-year-old Briton Kenzo Craigie taking his first steps in car racing after winning a European karting title last year, and Andy Consani staying on in F4 after a season spent predominantly in the French championship. Female English racer Emily Cotty was a points scorer in this championship in 2025 and is back for more, while German Elia Weiss, like Cotty, had an Italian-based F4 programme for the bulk of last year but is new to the Middle East. Another driver out of karting, Hungarian Tomika Gender, completes the R-ace GP quintet.
  

Italian powerhouse Prema Racing will be looking to avenge its defeat in this series in 2025, with three cars run under its own name and four beneath the banner of Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited. Many eyes will be upon the Mumbai Falcons stable because it houses the top two drivers from last year’s end-of-season Formula Trophy series: Alp Aksoy and Niccolò Maccagnani. Turkish talent Aksoy was a revelation on his car racing debut, while Italian Ferrari protégé Maccagnani finished not too far adrift. Williams F1-backed Ukrainian Oleksandr Bondarev was another winner in Formula Trophy at the end of his first full season in cars, while completing the Mumbai Falcons line-up is Chinese karting graduate Kingsley Zheng Kwan Ho.

In the Prema corner, Spanish karting sensation Christian Costoya is a new recruit to the McLaren F1 junior programme. The 15-year-old makes his debut in single-seaters alongside two drivers who shone in Formula Trophy a few weeks ago: American Payton Westcott took her first win in F4 machinery in the series, and Romanian David Cosma-Cristofor was a regular contender near the front.

As well as Maccagnani, Ferrari has another of its youngsters in UAE4, with Dane Alba Larsen, seventh in F1 Academy last season, making her way into the Evans GP line-up. She will be joined by Briton Thomas Ingram-Hill, who was sixth in the GB4 rankings in 2025 as well as Singaporean Rafael Vaessen and Vietnamese driver Ben Nguyen – each was part of the Evans GP line-up in the recent Formula Trophy series.

Most single-seater series feature a Red Bull Junior and UAE4 is no exception: Swede Scott Kin Lindblom looks to build upon a strong late-2025 entry to F4 that included third in the Saudi Arabian series and ninth in Formula Trophy after a strong campaign in Ginetta Juniors in the UK. Lindblom lines up with Hitech alongside Emirati Theo Palmer, yet another race winner from last year’s Formula Trophy who ended up fourth in that series. Hitech also brings the Qatari motorsport federation’s QMMF team to the series, with Bader Al Sulaiti staying on for a second year in UAE4 and Sheikh Nasser Al Thani competing as a Rookie.

The attentions of many UAE motorsport aficionados will no doubt be upon the Yas Heat Racing Academy team. Not only do its cars sport one of the most spectacular liveries on the grid, but Dubai’s own Adam Al Azhari will surely be a title contender. He now enters his second full season of F4 competition after strong showings last year in the Middle East and Britain, where he was sixth in the championship. Al Azhari’s less experienced Emirates-based team-mates – Zakaria Doleh, Edoardo Iacobucci and Charbel Abi Gebrayel – all stay on after competing in Formula Trophy.

Yet another driver to have stood atop a Formula Trophy podium is Britain’s Rowan Campbell-Pilling, who finished third in the series after claiming a top-10 spot in his domestic F4 championship. Campbell-Pilling leads a four-car attack from Pinnacle Motorsport that includes another American female in the form of Kaylee Countryman (she also raced in Formula Trophy) as well as Japanese F4 racer Ryusho Nakazato and Vladimir Verkholantsev, who was a race winner last year in Russia’s SMP F4 series.

Completing the Dubai-based teams are Xcel Motorsport and its sister X-GP line-up. Xcel enters Britons Joseph Smith and Jarrett Clark, who raced last year against Lindblom in Ginetta Juniors before graduating to F4 in Britain and Formula Trophy respectively. Also on board is Australian Brock Burton, who looked good on some outings in AU4 in 2025, while Kuwaiti Jaber Alsabah created an excellent impression in Formula Trophy. Italian Lucas Pasquinetti flies the X-GP flag after one outing in Formula Trophy last year.

Two more strong teams from Europe complete the field. From Germany comes PHM Racing, with Austrian Emma Felbermayr – whose father and grandfather both contested the Le Mans 24 Hours – staying on in F4 machinery after finishing 10th in F1 Academy in 2025, when she was a protégée of the Sauber F1 team. Joining her are Italian karting graduate Iacopo Martinese and Platon Kostin, another driver out of SMP F4.

Italian squad Trident Motorsport, meanwhile, is entering the F4 arena and takes its first steps in the category in UAE4. Trident is renowned as the modern-day dominator of FIA Formula 3, and begins its new programme with Bernardo Bernoldi, son of Brazilian ex-F1 driver Enrique who stays on after competing in Formula Trophy, Swiss Florentin Hattemer, who had some limited F4 race experience in 2025, and Czech karting graduate Dominik Simek.

It is impossible to predict a winner from such a strong field, and for many it will be a major accomplishment to even score points among such a competitive international entry in what looks set to be a riveting UAE4 Series.

Italian squad Trident Motorsport, meanwhile, is entering the F4 arena and takes its first steps in the category in UAE4. Trident is renowned as the modern-day dominator of FIA Formula 3, and begins its new programme with Bernardo Bernoldi, son of Brazilian ex-F1 driver Enrique who stays on after competing in Formula Trophy, Swiss Florentin Hattemer, who had some limited F4 race experience in 2025, and Czech karting graduate Dominik Simek.

It is impossible to predict a winner from such a strong field, and for many it will be a major accomplishment to even score points among such a competitive international entry in what looks set to be a riveting UAE4 Series.

Team/Driver/Partner Enquiries:
Cyrille Taesch  cyrille@topspeedchina.com

Matthijs Hoitink matthijs.hoitink@gmail.com