Photo: Monolite Racing
Monolite Racing has announced Giovanni Maschio as its first Formula Regional European Championship signing for 2023.
The 16-year-old Italian made his single-seater debut last year in Formula 4, signing with AS Motorsport after spending the off-season testing for the Slovenian team. He graduated from the Italian Karting Championship’s slimly contested ROK Senior class, where he had finished eighth in 2021.
Maschio’s rookie year in F4 was primarily focused on the FIA’s Italian F4 championship, and he came 43rd in the standings with a best finish of 18th achieved twice. He missed one round, and in October switched to R-ace GP for the season finale.
He also contested the Monza finale of Formula X’s Pro Series for first-generation F4 cars, finishing third in race one and dominating race two, and two rounds of the Italian Sport Prototypes series.
“At the end of the competitive season Monolite Racing and Maschio planned a series of tests, the positive result of which convinced the two sides to reach an agreement for the 2023 championship,” Monolite said in a team statement.
“The Italian rider is currently engaged in the FRegional Middle East championship winter tournament, which, using the same Tatuus single-seaters in use in the [European] series, is an excellent training bench ahead of his FREC debut.”
Maschio is driving for Chinese team R&B Racing in FRME, and has a best finish of 11th from the first three rounds.
Monolite’s team manager Rudi Mariotto added: “I have followed Giovanni’s growth with great interest over the past season, and at the end of 2022 we wanted to give him the opportunity to test our FRegional car. The good results achieved in the tests then convinced us to extend the collaboration to 2023. It will be his debut in a very competitive championship, but I’m happy that Monolite Racing will be partnering with him in this challenge.”