Marco Albertini's motorsport blog.

Following a difficult but promising maiden season in FRECA with G4 Racing, which saw him score a podium at Paul Ricard, Kanato Le is set to return for a second season of Formula Regional, competing in both the Middle East and European championships with ART Grand Prix. Born in Tokyo, Kanato Le got his first taste of karting after his mother, a big motorsport fan, took him to an amusement park and later, a proper karting track. "Honestly I wasn't really interested in motorsports at first," Le said. "It was when I went to a go-karting place at an amusement park where I found it fun, but I didn't think at the time that it was something I wanted to do in the future until my mom took me to a proper place and that's when I realized that this is what I wanted to do. First years for fun, but after I turned 10 I realized this is what I wanted to do." Racing karts in Asia for a few years, Le moved to Europe in 2019 to continue his karting career. In his first year...

After a strong rookie year in FR Europe in which he scored two overall podiums, Pedro Clerot is set to return to Van Amersfoort Racing for his sophomore season in the championship, aiming to fight for the title. Hailing from Brasilia, Pedro Clerot began his career in his native Brazil. Racing in karts until 2021, Clerot won the Brazilian Open Cup twice in 2020 and 2021 before switching to single-seaters for the rest of the 2021 season. Racing in Formula Delta, known as a "Formula 5" championship to most, Clerot won two races and finished runner-up in the standings to Gabriel Fonseca in his first single-seater season. Stepping up to Formula 4 for 2022, Clerot made two appearances for AKM Motorsport in the Italian F4 championship, nearly scoring points in his second-ever race with an 11th-place finish at Imola. Heading back to Brazil to compete in the inaugural season of the Brazilian F4 Championship, Clerot took pole and won the championship's first-ever race, at Velo Citt...

Formula Regional Middle East race winner Nikhil Bohra heads into 2025 on the sidelines after two difficult years in FR Europe with Trident and MP, which yielded only one podium and a best points finish of 12th. Born in New York City, Nikhil Bohra spent his early years in Bangalore before moving to Singapore. His interest in cars began early and at his eighth birthday party, on his first outing in karts, he impressed a karting team.  "When I was 8 I wanted to have my birthday party at a local go-karting track and brought some friends over and there was a team there, which was testing for the [Indian] National Championship," said Bohra. "At some point, the team's coach was talking to my dad saying 'This kid is quite quick, has he ever driven before?'. After that, I started training with that team and then I raced in the Indian National Karting Championship before moving to Singapore, racing in the Asian championship." After not racing throughout 2020 and a...

Coming off a tough season in Italian F4, Liu Ruiqi stepped up to FRECA in 2024 with Trident. The Shanghai-born driver had a difficult season but scored points on two occasions and made a one-off cameo in the F4 Chinese Championship, where he finished on the podium in the Formula One-supported round. After a difficult season in Italian F4 with US Racing, Liu joined PHM Racing for the Formula Regional Middle East Championship in the winter of 2024. The winter series proved to be a scoreless affair for Liu, who headed back to China to compete in the opening round of that year's F4 Chinese Championship at Shanghai with Black Blade GP. In a weekend part of Formula One's Chinese Grand Prix, Liu took fifth- and third-place finishes in the two races. Reflecting on the experience, he said: "I think the championship has improved a lot. The level compared to before is way higher, the teams, the race engineers and the environment of China are also making progress and I'm happy wit...

After racing in the last half of the 2023 Formula 4 United States Championship, Jett Bowling stepped up to Formula Regional competition for 2024. The American had a break-out year, finishing third in the Americas championship while also making cameos in Oceania, Europe and the Macau Grand Prix. Having competed in a dozen races in F4 with Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport, Bowling stepped up to the Formula Regional Oceania in early 2024, staying with Kiwi Motorsport as he made his first trip overseas. Bowling had a consistent season, finishing 12th in the standings, achieving ninth place three times and being one of six drivers to score points in every race. After his first full-season in New Zealand, Bowling returned to the U.S. to focus on the Formula Regional Americas Championship, where he rejoined Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport. Starting the season at NOLA, Bowling suffered a puncture on the opening lap of race one, which led to an early retirement. However, fortunes turned around for the remai...

Having finished third in British F4 and the FIA Motorsport Games F4 Cup in his maiden year of single-seaters with Hitech GP, Reza Seewooruthun is set to step up to GB3 for 2025, joining series newcomers Argenti with Prema. Coming off a karting career highlighted by winning the 2022 English Karting Championship in Junior Rotax, Seewooruthun made his car racing debut racing in the Ginetta Junior Championship for R Racing in 2023 and finished third in the standings. In a season dominated by Freddie Slater, Seewooruthun won all three races of the Brands Hatch round and finished no lower than second in the season-ending Donington Park round, where he won race two. Reflecting on his experience with the Ginetta cars, Seewooruthun said: "In the Ginetta, you're in a car which is super soft, obviously it's a tin top car and it's got a sequential gearbox but you're on a road tire so the car slides all around the place." Following his Ginetta Junior campaign, Seewooruthun...

2016 Italian F4 Champion Marcos Siebert was left on the sidelines for two years after a promising career in single-seaters. Entering the world of endurance racing in 2022, Siebert's new venture proved to be successful since returning to racing full-time in 2023. The Mar del Plata-born driver began his career in Argentina, starting in karts before advancing to Formula Metropolitan on a part-time basis. He later moved to Europe in 2013 to further his career. After a year in Formula Renault 2.0 with Jenzer that didn't yield success, Siebert took a year out of motorsport. Returning to single-seaters in 2015, the Argentinean reunited with the Swiss team to take on the Italian F4 Championship. Following a slow start to the season, Siebert scored his first podium at Imola, before taking his maiden win of the season in the next round at Mugello. Despite an inconsistent final three rounds of the season, Siebert took his second win of the season in the finale at Misano.  Finishing fifth ...

Lukas Dunner, in his first full season of racing in three years, returned to Motopark after last competing with them in 2020 .  The Austrian scored two podiums and finished ninth in the standings after finishing no lower than fifth in the final three rounds. Dunner competed in single-seaters from 2017 to 2020, during which he took third and runners up spots in Euroformula Open in 2019 and 2020 respectively. Dunner scored four wins in his final year of single-seaters | Credit: Euroformula Open Championship In parallel to his 2020 Euroformula Open campaign, Dunner competed in F3 with MP Motorsport. He finished 27th in the standings, scoring a best result of 12th in the Hungarian sprint, where he avoided chaos at the start to climb eight positions by the end of the race. Following his exit from single-seater competition, Dunner competed "for fun" in the Mitropa Rally Cup, which he won. However, it wouldn't be until late 2023 when the Vienna-born driver would return to circui...

While Oliver Bearman was making his second-ever Formula One Grand Prix at the Baku City Circuit, his father was in Austria watching 15-year-old Thomas make his single-seater debut in the 2024 Euro 4 Championship.  Bearman was coming off a solid career in karts, finishing runner-up in the 2023 Rotax Winter Cup, sixth in the  British Karting Championship - Rotax Junior and the Rotax Challenge Grand Finals, most recently finishing tenth in the Wackersdorf round of the 2024 Rotax Max Euro Trophy. Teaming up with British F4 front-runner Hitech Pulse-Eight alongside current British F4 champion Deagen Fairclough and third-place finisher Reza Seewooruthun, Bearman was in a good environment for his F4 debut. "They're very nice," he said of his teammates. "It's nice to get to know both Deagen [Fairclough] and Reza [Seewooruthun], they're very good people and very good references for the track so I can try to catch up and make up for time lost." Bearman at the Red ...

Edu Robinson scored a rookie podium in his maiden weekend in Euro 4 with US Racing. A feat that the Spanish-British driver was happy with after a chaotic weekend in Austria. Up until mid-September, Robinson had been racing in the Italian F4 championship for minnows AS Motorsport, scoring a best result of fourteenth in the third race at Paul Ricard. Speaking of the Slovenian team, Robinson said: "[They] are like a family to me, they're very nice and  always try their best."  "They might be a small team but I think they're good and their car definitely had top 20 potential." Robinson scored two top 15 finishes with the Slovenian-licensed team | Credit: ACI Sport As the Red Bull Ring round of the 2024 Euro 4 season approached, it was announced that Robinson would drive for US Racing for the Austrian round (and as it would later turn out, the rest of the season). After getting to grips with the new team during the two practice sessions, Robinson qualified in fou...

Last September, I went to the Monza Circuit to attend one of the final ACI Racing Weekends of the year, to meet drivers and have somewhat of a new experience, given that I was going to the track alone for the first time in my life, so I had all the freedom to go anywhere in the paddock and attempt to meet any driver that I wanted. In my somewhat usual quest of meeting drivers that raced in notable series, I was made aware that Kang Ling (a former European FIA F3 racer) was racing on that weekend, for Ombra Racing in Porsche Carrera Cup Italy. I went to the team's tent about two hours before race one and asked if I could meet Ling and shortly after I was told to wait for him as he was in the trailer.  While I waited i spoke with one of the mechanics and during this conversation, I brought up Paolo Montin, a driver that had raced with Ombra three times between 2004 and 2005 in a few one-off Formula 3 races, and as it would soon turn out, the mechanic that I was talking to, worked wit...

While I was walking around the paddock, the day after  my interview with Kabir Anurag , I came across his manager, BRDC British Formula 3 race winner, Pavan Ravishankar and I got the chance to interview him too. MA: How has this year been so far [managing Anurag]? PR:  "I think It's been a learning year for him."  "This is his first full season in anything, so we're just kind of learning the ropes and everything, so It's been a big learning year and hopefully we'll be here again next year to do a better job". Anurag currently drives for US Racing in Italian F4 and Euro 4 Championships | Credit: Team Kabir Anurag Ravishankar was a driver himself before managing Anurag, racing in Formula Renault Asia, BRDC British Formula 3, MRF Challenge Formula 2000 and the Winter Series of the F3 Asian Championship, winning races in Formula Renault Asia and British Formula 3 and scoring a podium in the Chang round of the F3 Asian Championship Winter Series. MA: Befo...