Photo: FRAC
The FIA’s Single-Seater Committee announced the creation of a new competition format for junior single-seater categories in this week’s World Motor Sport Council meeting.
Organisers of Formula Regional and Formula 4 championships will be able to adopt the FIA Regional Trophy format from 2026 onwards, which will enable them to “choose between a traditional championship format lasting over a longer period or concentrating their competitions within a shorter timeframe with fewer events” according to the FIA.
It states that championship status would not be lost from FIA-certified competitions organised by national sporting authorities (ASNs) if they adopted the regional format, and laid out an initial plan for what the format would entail:
The new proposed format will follow strict regulations to respect the imposed framework:
- Duration: An FR/F4 Trophy must be held within a maximum of two consecutive months within the same calendar year.
- Calendar: An FR/F4 Trophy must hold either three or four events per season.
- Sporting format: A season of FR/F4 Trophy must comprise a minimum of nine races.
- Regulatory framework: An FR/F4 Trophy must strictly follow the FR/F4 homologation, technical and sporting regulations.
Despite its name, FRegional actually has national championships in Australia and Japan, while the American, Middle East and Oceania championships all have single-nation schedules.
In addition to national series across the globe, there is the Mexico-based North and Central American F4 championship, F4 South East Asia, F4 Central European Zone and F4 Middle East which are certified by the FIA.
A route to F4 has also been created through the FIA’s new ‘Arrive and Drive’ Karting World Cup, which it confirmed will take place at Malaysia’s LYL International circuit on November 14–16. The winner of the Senior final at that event will recieve a scholarship to race in F4.