
Photo: F4 Spain
Gabriel Gomez will move to top team US Racing this year to race in Italian Formula 4 and Formula Winter Series.
The 18-year-old Brazilian will contest an incomplete FWinter Series campaign, which starts next week, and he is one of four drivers signed to US’s Italian F4 line-up.
Gomez has not had strong results in F4 since debuting in late 2023, but he has primarily driven for small teams. His first car races were in Spanish F4 with Cram Motorsport, and he finished 16th on debut.
For 2024 he raced full-time there with TC Racing, a new team founded by football goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois with the assistance of ex-Formula 1 driver Roberto Merhi. The combinatin’s inexperience showed, with Gomez only scoring three times and coming 18th in the standings. A fourth place was his best result.
He also made a E4 (nee Euro 4) cameo with PHM Racing at Mugello, which resulted in a best finish of 12th.
“I’m excited to finally announce that I will be racing for US Racing,” said Gomez. “The focus of my season will be the Italian F4 championship. I enjoy working with the team. Our winter tests went well and I feel well prepared for the upcoming season opener next week in Portimao as part of the FWinter Series.”
Gomez had stepped up to cars as a highly rated karter, having been Brazilian champion on OK Junior karts in 2020, winning the Italian championship for OK karts in 2022 and being a finalist in the Richard Mille Young Talent Academy shootout that year, then in 2023 being CIK-FIA European championship runner-up and retiring in a clash while fighting for the lead of the World championship.
US Racing boss Gerhard Ungar said: “We know Gabriel already a while and watched him racing in Spanish F4 last year. The contact with Gabriel never broke down and I am now very happy that Gabriel is now part of US Racing. Gabriel is a very talented, young driver with quite a good speed.”
Also combining FWinter Series and Italian F4 this year will be Maffi Racing’s signings Kornelia Olkucka and David Walther.
Polish racer Olkucka will be embarking on a second year with the Swiss team, having raced for it in F4 Central European Zone in 2024. She came 17th in the standings with a best finish of sixth as a single-seater rookie.
The 16-year-old Walther is making his first steps in car racing after a strong karting career, and will do select rounds in F4 CEZ, FWinter Series and Italian F4.
On OK-J karts he was fourth in the World championship, fifth in the WSK Final Cup and 16th in the WSK Euro Series in 2021, when he was also FIA Karting Academy Trophy runner-up, and over three years on OK karts won the WSK Champions Cup, came fourth in WSK’s Super Master Series twice, fifth in its Euro Series, ninth in its Final Cup, 11th in the European championship and 12th in Champions of the Future.