Photo: ACI Sport
Two new teams, Invicta Racing and Lando Norris’s LN4 Fusion, and two potential new events, Silverstone and Algarve, are, if confirmed, likely to further increase the appeal of the Formula Regional European Championship ahead of its second season with full FIA support.
The Hockenheim weekend, which saw Emanuele Olivieri and R-ace GP clinch the drivers’ and teams’ titles respectively, gave Formula Scout the chance to pick up on the rumoured changes to the series for 2027.
Though no formal announcement has yet been made, the championship is expected to expand to 12 teams with the addition of reigning Formula 2 champions Invicta Racing and LN4 Fusion, the new team co-founded by Lando Norris and operated by former Prema team principal Rene Rosin.
The deadline for the submission of applications for the 2027 championship passed on 21 August 2026 although Norris’s team referred to the team’s entry during its recent much-publicised launch. With 12 teams and 36 cars the championship will return to a full grid, last seen in 2023.
The arrival of two high profile and highly-successful operations, based on Rosin’s past achievements, was welcomed by rivals throughout the paddock. The two teams can only add further to the championship’s prestige and status within Europe’s junior single-seater scene. Wisely, the organisers have confirmed that the existing 10 teams will retain their slots on the grid.
Promoter ACI Sport has been working tirelessly with the FIA and individual circuits and series organisers to put together a calendar for 2027, aiming to avoid missing out again on certain key venues such as Barcelona, as it did this year due to delays in the final sign-off of the championship.
Formula Scout understands that the 2027 calendar is likely to include rounds at Silverstone and Algarve, neither of which has ever held a European Formula Regional championship event, as well as the return of Barcelona. The only previous appearance of Formula Regional-spec cars at Silverstone was back in 2019, when the British GP venue hosted the Formula Renault Eurocup, Oscar Piastri winning both races for R-ace GP.
Tantalisingly, it seems that the promoters are still working on running one of the rounds as a support to a Formula 1 Grand Prix, possibly at the Hungaroring, for the first time since the loss of the traditional Monaco GP race for 2023.
Having reduced this year’s calendar to just eight events, the aim is to revert to a 10-round season, meaning that only one current venue – expected to be Hockenheim – would be lost to accommodate the three new circuits.
A final decision on the weekend format is yet to be taken, but Formula Scout understands that the series will most likely drop its four reverse-grid races to return to its traditional format of two races per weekend, each with its own qualifying session, although this may have to be amended if it manages to obtain an F1-support event.
As ever, the calendar and the individual races are not yet set in stone. FREC does not operate its own events so is obliged to join forces for individual weekends with other promoters such as DTM or Euroformula Open-promoter, GT Sport.