Photo: KIC Motorsport
There was a flurry of announcements by driver management firms this week signing drivers on the junior rungs of the motorsport ladder with the intention of guiding their career paths.
The most high-profile of these was Ferrari junior Maya Weug, who came third in the all-female, Formula 4-spec F1 Academy series last year but does have over a season’s worth of experience in Formula Regional Europe.
Ferrari is yet to announce her racing plans for 2025, and in the meanwhile the 20-year-old has signed with the Minardi Management firm that also looks after F4 racer Luka Sammalisto and previously had Red Bull juniors James Egozi and Christopher Feghali on its books as well as working with the Formula 1-bound Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
The Nicolas Todt-led All Road Management has signed China’s Anzhe Sun and Indonesia’s Qarrar Firhand, who will compete in senior and junior karting respectively in Europe this year. On OK Junior karts, Firhand has already come fifth in Italy’s Trofeo delle Industrie and Trofeo Andrea Margutti and 10th in the WSK Champions Cup.
All Road had previously announced Ricardo Escotto as an addition for 2025, with the 20-year-old Mexican headed to Andretti Cape for his first full season in Indy Nxt this year after five starts in 2024 alongside a full USF Pro 2000 campaign in which he claimed two podiums and a Euroformula cameo.
The company also runs an annual talent shootout, and Ean Eyckmans will step up from karting to Spanish F4 with MP Motorsport as his prize for winning the 2024 edition.
Infinity Sports Management, best known for its backing of Antonelli’s Mercedes-AMG F1 team-mate George Russell, has many clients in junior single-seaters and in the driver development programmes of F1 teams. Its latest two signings are both karters: Liam Nachawati and Ollie Warner.
Nachawati will be racing for Jay Howard Driver Development, a team that is active on the Road to Indy ladder, in SuperKarts USA’s Winter Series which begins this weekend. Warner came third in the IAME Euro Series and seventh in the IAME Winter Cup for X30 Mini karts in 2024.