Photo: Dutch Photo Agency
MP Motorsport has announced the three-driver line-up it will start the 2026 Formula Regional Middle East season with.
Alexander Abkhazava and Alceu Feldmann Neto will do the full four-round campaign, which begins this weekend, while Christian Ho is contesting the first half of the season at Yas Marina Circuit only.
This year is Abkhazava’s third at the FRegional level, and second with MP. In 2024 he raced for Pinnacle Motorsport in FRME, coming 15th in the standings. He then joined Sainteloc Racing for Eurocup-3, where he took one win en route to ninth in the championship, and the FIA FRegional World Cup-awarding Macau Grand Prix which he finished ninth in.
At the start of 2025 the now 19-year-old Kazakh [pictured top] joined MP for Eurocup-3, which was using FRegional chassis at the time. He came 15th in the winter series then 12th in the main championship with two podiums.
“It’s great to remain part of the MP family and head to the Middle East for the FRegional Trophy,” said Abkhazava. “It’s always helpful to get some mileage in before the regular season. It also allows the team to get an early start on the new [Tatuus T-326] FRegional chassis and engine.”
Feldmann heads to FRME after two years in his home championship Brazilian Formula 4 and one year in Eurocup-3. In the former he came 14th in his half-season as a rookie, then was fifth last year with two wins, four other podiums and two poles. Racing in the latter he was a points-free 29th in the winter series and 32nd in the main championship with Palou Motorsport.
Ho, who is 19 and hails from Singapore, will be stepping down the single-seater ladder to race in FRME. He was 2023 Spanish F4 runner-up, 2024 Eurocup-3 champion and was 22nd in the FIA Formula 3 Championship last year. His FRME outings are to warm up for a second season in Formula 1’s support paddock, where he will switch from DAMS to Rodin Motorsport.
MP already knows him well, having run him as a car racing rookie in F4 United Arab Emirates and Spanish F4 back in 2022.
French team R-ace GP now has two FRME drivers, as Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior Rashid Al Dhaheri joins its line-up. The 17-year-old Emirati ends a three-year association with Prema, with whom he was sixth in FRME and eighth in the FRegional European Championship last year after being Formula Trophy runner-up and fourth in F4 UAE in 2024.
Yuki Sano had already been announced as Al Dhaheri’s team-mate, while Euroformula race-winner and FIA F3 points-scorer Gerrard Xie has been driving one of R-ace’s cars in pre-season testing.