The 2026 FIA Formula Regional European Championship was a multi-event, Formula Regional open-wheel single seater motor racing championship held across Europe. The championship featured a mix of professional and amateur drivers, competing in Formula Regional cars that conform to the FIA Formula Regional regulations for the championship. This was the eighth season of the championship.
After five seasons of working together with Alpine for championship and engine branding purposes, the championship and the manufacturer split in 2026, coinciding with the series retiring the Tatuus FR-19 after seven seasons and switching to the new Tatuus T-326 chassis.
R-ace GP driver Emanuele Olivieri won the Drivers' Championship title with a 9-point gap over MP Motorsport driver Sebastian Wheldon. Olivieri also won the Rookies' Championship, and became the first rookie to win the overall championship since 2020. R-ace GP defended their Teams' Championship title with one race to spare.
Teams and drivers All teams competed using identical Tatuus T-326 cars powered by Toyota engines on Pirelli tyres. The ten pre-selected teams for the 2026 season were announced on 2 October 2025. Team No. Driver Status Rounds Rodin Motorsport 2 Alex Ninovic All 4 Reza Seewooruthun All 78 Gabriel Gomez All G4 Racing 3 Saqer Al-Maosherji All 23 Rahim Alibhai All 67 Marcus Sæter All RPM 5 Miguel Costa All 8 Jan Przyrowski All 99 Giovanni Maschio 1–7 Lewis Wherrell8 CL Motorsport 6 Enea Frey 1 9 Thomas Strauven 2–3 14 Noah Lisle 5–6 22 René Lammers 7 24 Jules Roussel All 42 Kyuho Lee 446 Ary Bansal8 69 Reno Francot All Van Amersfoort Racing 7 Andrea Dupé All 11 Francisco Macedo 1–6 Oleksandr Bondarev7–8 55 Dion Gowda All R-ace GP 12 Yuki Sano All 71 Rashid Al Dhaheri All 73 Emanuele Olivieri All MP Motorsport 15 Alexander Abkhazava All 28 Zhenrui Chi All98 Sebastian Wheldon All ART Grand Prix 19 Kabir Anurag All 27 Matteo Giaccardi All 95 Alexandre Munoz All Trident Motorsport 33 Maximilian Popov All 47 Andrija Kostić All 87 Kai Daryanani All Prema Racing51 Kean Nakamura-Berta All 60 Tomass Štolcermanis All 88 Salim Hanna All Icon Status Rookie
Team changes After three years of competing in the series, Saintéloc Racing discontinued their FREC programme. AKCEL GP, who joined the series in 2025 and already ended its efforts after six of ten rounds, also did not return.
MP Motorsport returned to the series after a one-year absence, while New Zealand-based team Rodin Motorsport made their series debut.
Driver changes
Team's champion R-ace GP renewed their lineup after both Enzo Deligny and Jin Nakamura moved up to FIA F3 with Van Amersfoort Racing and Hitech respectively, and Akshay Bohra moved to Super Formula Lights with TOM'S. The team signed Rashid Al Dhaheri, who finished eighth with Prema Racing in 2025, hired TOM'S driver and Super Formula Lights runner-up Yuki Sano and promoted Emanuele Olivieri from their Italian F4 outfit after he came seventh in 2025.
Reigning Drivers' Champion Freddie Slater left Prema Racing as he graduated to FIA F3 with Trident, while Rashid Al Dhaheri moved to R-ace GP and Jack Beeton left the series to compete in Indy NXT with HMD Motorsports. Prema promoted reigning Italian F4, E4 and FRMET champion Kean Nakamura-Berta as well as Italian F4 rookie champion Salim Hanna from their Formula 4 operation. The team initially signed Sebastian Wheldon, but ahead of the start of the season, he joined MP Motorsport instead. The seat was taken by Tomass Štolcermanis, who finished fourth in 2025 F4 Middle East Championship and made a one-off appearance with RPM in 2025.
Van Amersfoort Racing saw two of their drivers move up to FIA F3, with Pedro Clerot joining Rodin Motorsport and Hiyu Yamakoshi remaining with VAR's F3 outfit. To replace them, the team signed Francisco Macedo, who moved over from Eurocup-3 after coming 14th in 2025 driving for Campos Racing's Griffin Core outfit, and Andrea Dupé, who graduated from Italian F4 and the E4 Championship.
ART Grand Prix saw both Taito Kato and Kanato Le get promoted to the team's FIA F3 setup, while Evan Giltaire moved to Super Formula Lights with B-Max Racing Team. The team signed three F4 graduates in Alpine junior driver Kabir Anurag who steps up after coming 16th in Italian F4 with US Racing, and French F4 drivers Alexandre Munoz and Matteo Giaccardi, who step up after finishing as 1st and 11th respectively.
Trident had an all-new line up after they promoted runner-up Matteo De Palo to their FIA F3 team, Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi joined DAMS in FIA F3 and Ruiqi Liu moved to Porsche Carrera Cup Asia with Phantom Global Racing. The team signed Italian F4 graduates Maksimilian Popov and Andrija Kostić, who took sixth place with Van Amersfoort Racing and 17th with US Racing respectively in 2025. Luka Sammalisto also was to join the team, but was replaced ahead of the season by Kai Daryanani, who finished 11th with JHR Developments in the 2025 GB3 Championship.
CL Motorsport saw all of their 2025 entrants bar Enea Frey depart the team, with Zhenrui Chi joining MP Motorsport and the other four competitors all leaving the series. Frey rejoined the team for a full season after a three-round campaign in 2025 saw him finish 25th. He was joined by reigning FIA F4 World Cup winner Jules Roussel, who stepped up from French F4, where he came third in 2025, and Reno Francot, who graduated to FREC after coming fifth in Spanish F4 and third in E4 in 2025 driving for KCL/MP and PHM Racing, respectively.
RPM saw Enzo Yeh and the other nine part-time entries of 2025 all depart the team. They signed two drivers departing Campos Racing in Spanish F4 in Jan Przyrowski, who was third and already made a one-round guest appearance in 2025, and Miguel Costa, who came 14th in 2025.
G4 Racing rehired Saqer Al-Maosherji, who had joined the team for the final three rounds of 2025 after AKCEL GP's mid-season departure, while the teams' five other 2025 competitors all left the series. G4 signed Italian F4 graduate Marcus Sæter, who finished 15th in 2025 with Van Amersfoort Racing, and Rahim Alibhai, who steps up to FREC after a part-time USF Juniors season with Zanella Racing.
New team Rodin Motorsport recruited two drivers from the GB3 championship in reigning champion Alex Ninovic, who moved over from the team's outfit in that championship, and Reza Seewooruthun, who joined Rodin after finishing fifth with Argenti with Prema. Italian F4 and Euro 4 runner-up Gabriel Gomez completed the teams' lineup.
Returning team MP Motorsport saw Alexander Abkhazava move from the teams' KCL-branded Eurocup-3 satellite outfit, with whom he came 12th in 2025, to FREC, and took on Zhenrui Chi for his full-season FREC debut after a four-race campaign for CL Motorsport in 2025. Sebastian Wheldon, third in Italian F4 with Prema Racing, was originally slated to remain with the Italian team before joining MP Motorsport to complete the team's lineup.
Departing team Saintéloc Racing saw Nikita Bedrin move to the GB3 Championship with VRD Racing, Tim Gerhards move to the Le Mans Cup in the LMP3 class with More Motorsport, and Yaroslav Veselaho join AF Corse in the Pro Cup of the International GT Open.
Mid-season Enea Frey ended his affiliation with CL Motorsport and his FREC campaign after the opening round of the season. The team enlisted reigning Spanish F4 champion Thomas Strauven to replace Frey for the next two rounds, before the car was then piloted by Genesis Magma junior driver Kyuho Lee at Monza. For rounds five and six, CL Motorsport would then field Noah Lisle, who withdrew from his originally planned GB3 Championship season, in that car. At Imola, the car was piloted by series debutant and Eurocup-3 competitor René Lammers, before Italian F4 driver Ary Bansal took over for the season finale.
Francisco Macedo and Van Amersfoort Racing parted ways ahead of the penultimate round of the season, with the Portuguese driver replaced by FREC debutant Oleksandr Bondarev on his step up from Formula 4.
Giovanni Maschio did not enter the season finale as he prioritized his Le Mans Cup LMP3 campaign. To replace him, RPM enlisted British F4 driver Lewis Wherrell.
Race calendar The FIA announced the series' provisional calendar on 2 December 2025. The series will reduce its calendar from ten to eight events, with Misano and Barcelona not returning to the calendar. To compensate for this, four rounds will divert from the series' two-race format and hold three races.
Round Circuit Date SupportingMap of circuit locations 1R1 Red Bull Ring, Spielberg 25 AprilDeutsche Tourenwagen MastersADAC GT MastersADAC GT4 GermanyPorsche Carrera Cup GermanyR2R326 April 2R1 Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort 23 MayR224 May 3R1 Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot 30 May GB3 ChampionshipSupercar ChallengeBritcar Endurance ChampionshipR2R331 May 4R1 Monza Circuit, Monza 20 June Italian GT Championship Endurance CupItalian F4 ChampionshipTCR Italy Touring Car ChampionshipPorsche Carrera Cup ItaliaR2R321 June 5R1 Hungaroring, Mogyoród 4 July International GT OpenTCR Europe Touring Car SeriesR25 July 6R1 Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet 18 July International GT OpenGT Cup Open EuropeR219 July 7R1 Imola Circuit, Imola 5 September Italian GT Championship Endurance CupItalian F4 ChampionshipGT4 Italian SeriesR2R36 September 8R1 Hockenheimring, Hockenheim 12 September International GT OpenEuroformula Open ChampionshipPorsche Carrera Cup BeneluxSupercar ChallengeR213 September
Season report
First half The 2026 FIA Formula Regional European Championship began at the Red Bull Ring with pole position for Prema's Kean Nakamura-Berta in the opening qualifying session. The opening race saw Nakamura-Berta and R-ace GP's Rashid Al Dhaheri taking turns leading the race while Rodin's Alex Ninovic and MP's Sebastian Wheldon were also part of the lead battle. Nakamura-Berta was victorious in the end, with Al Dhaheri second and Wheldon inheriting third after a penalty for Ninovic. A reverse-grid race followed, where VAR driver Dion Gowda led from start to finish, but was classified fourth after a jump start penalty. That saw Al Dhaheri take his maiden victory after rising from eleventh on the grid to second on the road as Rodin's Reza Seewooruthun and CL's Reno Francot completed the podium. Nakamura-Berta claimed pole position again for race three, but lost his lead to Francot ahead of the first of four safety car interruptions. Francot remained faultless throughout all the restarts to clinch his and his team's first victory ahead of Ninovic and Wheldon. Polesitter Nakamura-Berta was involved in multiple incidents, ending in damage to his rear wing and a non-finish as Francot assumed the lead in the standings.
Round two at Circuit Zandvoort saw Wheldon take pole position for the first race, with Prema's Salim Hanna starting alongside him. At the start of race 1, Prema's Tomass Štolcermanis surged from the second row to take the lead around the outside of Wheldon at Tarzan. After an early safety car, Wheldon reclaimed the lead by drafting past him on the restart. As Štolcermanis faded, Hanna moved into second and spent the remainder of the race chasing Wheldon. Despite narrowing the gap to 0.249 seconds, Wheldon resisted late pressure to claim his first career victory in the series as R-ace GP's Emanuele Olivieri finished third. Nakamura-Berta was fastest in qualifying for race 2, which began with a major incident as the Trident of Andrija Kostić was pitched into a barrel roll, causing a red flag. After the restart, Wheldon overtook Nakamura-Berta for the lead at the banked final turn. He successfully defended his position to complete the weekend sweep and take the championship lead by twelve points over Francot, who finished third.