Feeder Series Weekly Recap: F3 testing, driver news and more
- DIVEBOMB Motorsport
- 58 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Written by Liam Ploetner and Vyas Ponnuri
Welcome to Feeder Series Weekly Recap, a series bringing you all the news from the world of junior racing series. With F3's post-season tests complete, and driver announcements rife this week, DIVEBOMB recaps the news from the world of Feeder Series in the last week.
F3 post-season tests: Barcelona and Imola

Post-season testing for Formula 3 continued in Barcelona, with Campos continuing to look strong after the Jerez test and Hitech continuing to struggle.
Day One began with the morning session. MP set competitive times early on, with Alessandro Giusti’s lap of a 1:29.135 being the fastest time after an hour from teammates Tuukka Taponen and Mattia Colnaghi.
Giusti would not improve on this time for the rest of the day, as while others improved with the track conditions, MP did not, finishing 16th, 17th and 22nd overall on day one. Van Amersfoort Racing’s Bruno del Pino, who set the most laps of any on day two in Jerez, then went top with a marginally quicker time.
Soon after, the only red flag of the morning session came out as Hitech TGR’s Michael Shin stopped on track. His time would put him 19th overall by the end of the day, and despite causing the red flag, Shin would set the most laps of anyone on day one.
Then, Campos, Trident and Prema arrived as Campos’ Ugo Ugochukwu went fastest by six-tenths. Trident’s Noah Strømsted went second fastest but was still four tenths down on the American. This gap of four-tenths was filled by Prema duo of Louis Sharp and James Wharton, who went second and third with a 1:28.709 and a 1:28.804, marginally beating Strømsted’s 1:28.857 lap time.
Ugochukwu improved further to a 1:28.322, which meant he was almost four tenths clear again until teammate Theophile Naël jumped into second behind his teammate.
Rodin’s trio of Christian Ho, Brando Badoer and Pedro Clerot put in some impressive laps towards the end of the morning session, slotting between Sharp and Wharton. The ten fastest times from day one came in the morning session, as after Wharton in seventh was Strømsted, del Pino and Prema’s other driver Enzo Deligny.
Struggling were Hitech and DAMS in particular, as Hitech’s Shin was the only Hitech to get an official time on the board in the morning, and DAMS’ trio of Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi, Nicola Lacorte and Gerrard Xie were 18th, 22nd and 27th.
The afternoon session was the session which was more about banking the laps, rather than going for the quickest time.
Rodin and MP started the afternoon well, with Badoer ahead of Taponen, Giusti, Ho and Clerot at halfway distance. Soon after, Sharp and Wharton went fifth and sixth for Prema. Taponen and Wharton both improved to go first and second, but these times were in the mid 1:29s. ART’s Maciej Gładysz went third briefly before Xie improved to go second.
The final red flag of the day came out, as Deligny spun at Turn 3. After the gravel was cleared, times improved, as Gładysz went fastest with a 1:29.003. Campos’ Ernesto Rivera went second, while his teammates Ugochukwu and Naël went third and fourth. Gładysz’s ART teammate Taito Kato went fifth. Naël’s times were deleted later, promoting Ho to fifth.
The driver with the most laps was Shin, setting 86 laps over the two sessions, while Nicola Lacorte set only 44 on the other end. The team with the most laps was Prema with 219, while DAMS completed only 142.
Day two had one change as Joseph Loake replaced Michael Shin at Hitech TGR. It rained overnight, so not many drivers were setting competitive times early on. AIX’s Yevan David was quickest by almost two seconds from Loake before del Pino set two fastest laps. In true F3 fashion, del Pino’s teammate Hiyu Yamakoshi set the same time as the Spaniard.
David’s teammate, Brad Benavide,s went quicker than both to go top before Naël went top by 0.001 seconds. Trident’s Freddie Slater and Ugochukwu both improved before Loake went off at turn three to bring out the first red flag of day two. Del Pino improved again to go top before another red flag came out as Giusti had a mechanical issue at turn 10. Taponen and Naël both went quicker in the final three minutes.

The afternoon saw a strong start for Prema again, as Wharton, Deligny and Sharp were second, third and fourth. Kato led for ART, while Benavides was in fifth. The Hitech TGR cars, who had struggled in Jerez, made some steps forward in long runs, as McLaughlin and Nakamura were in the top ten.
Strømsted went second, albeit a second down on Kato. Kato ended top ahead of Strømsted, Wharton, Deligny, Sharp, Nakamura, Benavides, McLaughlin, Trident’s Matteo de Palo and David were in the top ten.
The team who thrived most throughout day two of the Barcelona test was Campos once again, as they completed a solid number of laps and looked quick. Trident also looked quick with their trio, which includes two rookies in de Palo and Slater. On the other end, Hitech were in 25th, 27th and 29th, while DAMS, Rodin and AIX each had two drivers in the bottom ten.
With mileage, Sharp won the honour of most laps with 157, one ahead of Wharton on 156. Apart from Shin and Loake, who did only one day each, the lowest laps were completed by Fernando Barrichello, who did 89 laps. Prema had the most laps with their team completing 458 laps. DAMS had the least with 327 laps.
In terms of individual driver performances, Naël, Ugochukwu, Wharton, Strømsted, del Pino and Kato looked consistent, while Nakamura, McLaughlin, Barrichello, Xie and Bhirombhakdi struggled in comparison.
F2 driver moves: Dino Beganovic moves to DAMS, while Noel León confirms seat at Campos for 2026

Formula 2 activity was rife across the week, with four full-time seats officially being confirmed, including the big news of Andretti IndyCar youngster Colton Herta locking in a full-time F2 seat at Hitech for 2026.
Elsewhere, Formula E’s Cupra Kiro outfit announced Red Bull junior Pepe Martí as their driver for 2026, alongside former F2 racer Dan Ticktum. The Spaniard will depart the series, with Mexican F3 racer Noel León stepping up to take the Campos seat in F2 alongside Red Bull junior Nikola Tsolov. León, who finished 10th for Van Amersfoort Racing in a strong rookie F3 campaign in 2024, wasn’t able to strengthen his title bids with PREMA Racing in 2025.
The Italian team found themselves on the back foot in the first year of the new F3 car being raced. León eventually ended the season 17th in the standings, with two Feature Race podiums in Silverstone and Monza.

Meanwhile, Ferrari junior Dino Beganovic moved from Hitech to DAMS for the upcoming campaign. The Swede, who stepped up to F2 after three seasons in F3, has gained momentum in his rookie F2 season.
Beganovic, who had scored podiums in Bahrain and Imola amidst a run of non-scores, currently sits on a seven-race scoring streak, capped off by a maiden F2 win in the Baku sprint and a podium finish in the following day’s Feature Race. Beganovic can still build on his eighth in the F2 standings when the series returns in Qatar in November.
Finally, Invicta Racing announced a major signing on their roster for 2026, with Paraguayan racer Joshua Dürksen moving from AIX Racing to the team in yellow for the upcoming year. Dürksen competed in two seasons for AIX Racing, finishing tenth in 2024, taking two victories in Baku and Abu Dhabi. He currently sits 12th in the F2 standings in 2025, courtesy of a victory in the opening sprint of 2025 in Australia, and podiums in Austria, Monza and Baku.
F3 driver moves: Wharton, Sharp complete PREMA Racing’s line-up for 2026

PREMA Racing rounded out its Formula 3 driver line-up for 2026, signing two second-year F3 names in James Wharton and Louis Sharp to partner rookie Enzo Deligny, heading into the upcoming campaign.
Wharton moves over from ART Grand Prix, after finishing 18th in the championship standings in 2025. The Australian took his maiden F3 win in the sprint race in Austria, the only podium finish in his season.
Wharton also scored sixth in the Feature Race at Silverstone and fifth in the Hungarian sprint, finishing behind fellow teammates Tuukka Taponen and Laurens van Hoepen in the standings.
Sharp moves over from Rodin Motorsport. The New Zealander, who came into the 2025 F3 season after winning the GB3 Championship the year prior, wasn’t quite able to replicate similar form for his home outfit. Sharp managed to score 11 points in his rookie F3 season, the highlight being his fourth in the Imola sprint, as he finished 26th in the standings.