Photo: ACI Sport
Kacper Sztuka will spend a third season in the Italian Formula 4 championship in 2023, having previously aimed to move up to a higher category for this year.
The 17-year-old Pole graduated from junior karting to cars in 2021, with 26th in WSK’s Champions Cup and 35th in its Super Master Series being highlights of his time on OK-Junior karts.
He raced for AS Motorsport and Iron Lynx in his rookie Italian F4 season, and came 36th in the standings with a best finish of 11th.
Last year he joined German team US Racing and came sixth in the championship with two wins, and stretched his budget to also include two rounds in ADAC F4 where he claimed two podiums.
Sztuka’s ambition for 2023 was to step up to FIA Formula 3, and “if we don’t find the budget for F3, we’ll try to go in the Formula Regional European Championship”. That budget did not arise, and Sztuka signed with US Racing to contest the new F4-spec Formula Winter Series in Spain last month.
Five wins from six races meant Sztuka won the title and could skip the final round, and he will continue with the team as he returns to Italian F4.
“Happy to announce I’m back on the Italian F4 grid,” said Sztuka. “We’ve had a great previous season with US Racing. I am sure our hard work will give us top positions in the upcoming season.”
“We are very happy that Kacper will be again part of US Racing this season,” US Racing co-owner Gerhard Ungar said.
“Being in our second season together, we are able to work even better on Kacper’s performance. I think last year, Kacper was able to show that he is a very talented race driver and I’m convinced that we will see strong races this year.”
Sztuka is US Racing’s fifth signing for Italian F4, with FWinter Series team-mate Gianmarco Pradel also being added to the team’s line-up there.
He has already won in an F4 car, in a state-level championship in his home country Australia, and claimed a pole and six podiums en route to being FWinter Series runner-up.