Photo: FRME
Theophile Nael will contest two last Formula Regional events with Sainteloc Racing this month before graduating to FIA Formula 3.
The 17-year-old Frenchman will join Van Amersfoort Racing to compete in F3 this year having spent his entire car racing career so far with Sainteloc.
Nael was the team’s first driver when it expanded into single-seaters midway through 2022 in Spanish Formula 4 and together they went on to dominate the 2023 championship.
That campaign was preceded by one in United Arab Emirates F4 and both team and driver returned to the country at the start of 2024 to compete in FRegional Middle East. Nael took a race win in round two at Yas Marina plus two other podiums as he finished 11th in the standings.
He went on to finish ninth with Sainteloc in the FRegional European Championship after a late run of form that included a first win at the Red Bull Ring and pole position for the last race of the season at Monza, and took part in the Macau Grand Prix with the team too.
Now he will return to Yas Marina to contest the opening two rounds of the FRME season with Sainteloc.
The team had already announced that Yaroslav Veselaho would be part of its line-up for the series. The Ukrainian driver took part in the championship last year with Xcel Motorsport with a best finish of 19th, before joining ART Grand Prix for the subsequent European championship, where his best result was 20th.
Aditya Kulkarni will make his FRegional debut in the Middle East with PHM Racing, driving alongside fellow Indian driver Jaden Pariat under the team’s collaboration with Akcel GP. Kulkarni came sixth in GB4 in 2023 with Fortec Motorsports before stepping up to GB3 last year with Hillspeed, finishing 19th in the standings.