First half
The Algarve International Circuit played host for the season opener, where ten cars were present. Series returnee Enzo Trulli claimed pole position for CryptoTower Racing, and held the lead at the start of race one, while his teammate Tim Tramnitz dropped to fourth. He spent the race getting back into second, leaving Motopark's Noel León to complete the podium. His teammate Cian Shields was to start race two from pole position, but was unable to take the start, allowing BVM Racing's Francesco Simonazzi to rocket into the lead. Trulli also had a good start and ended up second. He and Tramnitz closed up to Simonazzi and had a three-way battle for the lead, where Simonazzi prevailed to win. The third race saw a brilliant win by León, who dropped to eighth at the start, but kept his determination and slowly climbed back up the order. Tramnitz finished second to make it three out of three podiums and take the championship lead, two points ahead of León. Simonazzi came third in race three and was one point further back. [26] [27] [28]
Next, the championship headed to Spa, and León took pole position ahead of Shields. Both had a poor getaway in race one, allowing Simonazzi into the lead battle. Shields and Simonazzi spent a few laps battling for the lead, before León eventually got past both of them and Simonazzi started dropping back, relinquishing the final podium position to Motopark's Bryce Aron. Simonazzi once again claimed the lead with a great start in the second race, but again could not hold on to it. He got passed by Aron, who ended up winning, and León, who had climbed up the order. León attacked Aron for the lead on the final lap, but could not get past. The third race was stopped after a startline crash when CryptoTower's Gerrard Xie stalled. Shields battled his way to the lead after the restart, ahead of Simonazzi and León, before the Italian crashed out. This resulted in a race-ending red flag that allowed Simonazzi to keep his second place. In the absence of Tramnitz, León claimed the championship lead by 22 points over Simonazzi. [29] [30] [31]
León continued his qualifying form to take another pole position at the Hungaroring. He cruised to the win in the first race, more than five seconds ahead of Shields and largely unchallenged. CryptoTower's Josh Mason came third after passing Simonazzi on lap one. Aron had reverse grid pole position for the second race, and benefitted from Noda's poor start in second to hold on to the lead. Mason started fourth and got by Simonazzi and Noda into second. From there on, Aron built a lead of over eight seconds, while the other podium positions remained static, allowing Noda to take her maiden podium. She then had another bad start in race three, allowing Mason by into second, before he eventually took the lead past Motopark's Jakob Bergmeister. Noda battled up the order, but collided with Mason when she attempted to pass him. She sustained damage and finished ninth, allowing Bergmeister and León to take the podium spots. Aron's win helped him overtake Simonazzi in the standings, now 42 points behind León. [32] [33] [34]
The first half of the season ended at Paul Ricard with a third consecutive pole position for León. The first race began with a battle for the lead between him and Simonazzi, before the pair collided. In the ensuing chaos, Noda moved into the lead before a caution was called. Noda held on to the lead for the rest of the race and claimed her maiden win ahead of Bergmeister and Aron. Multiple drivers had poor starts in race two, so Aron was able to claim the lead. Behind him, CryptoTower's debutant Vladislav Ryabov fought with multiple drivers, but eventually had to give up the podium in favour of Shields and Simonazzi. Shields started race three at the front and kept the lead despite a bad getaway. Simonazzi climbed up to third behind Noda in second, but León had another race where he climbed up the order past both of them to end up second. His first weekend without a win and retirement in the first race meant the championship closed back up, with Leóns lead over Aron now only 18 points. [35] [36]
Second half
A seven-week break did not change León's one-lap pace as he took another pole position at the Red Bull Ring. Four drivers stalled at the start of race one, allowing Shields into second place and NV Racing's Gold Cup driver Vladimír Netušil into third, but the latter soon dropped back down again. CryptoTower's debutant Joshua Dufek claimed third place and held on to it until the end. Aron was on reverse grid pole position for race two, while León started sixth. The latter got stuck behind Dufek in fourth, but eventually got by. Simonazzi then attacked Aron and spun him around, before León got past both CryptoTower's Charlie Wurz and the Italian into the lead to take the win. Shields took the lead of race three after poor getaways for both front-row starters as León started another climb up the order. This time, he only got into second, leaving Shields with the win and second place in the standings, albeit now 60 points behind the Mexican. Dufek took another podium in third. [37] [38]
León took his fifth pole position in a row at Monza. Torrential rain necessitated a safety car start to race one. Aquaplaning occurred when the caution was withdrawn, causing another safety car and finally an early end to the race after seven laps. León therefore won, ahead of Dufek and Wurz. Shields started race two from pole position. A battle between him and Wurz ensued that lasted until León and Aron collided after catching up to the fight. A safety car later, another three-way battle for the lead was won by Wurz, who claimed the win ahead of Dufek, while Shields sustained damage and had to give up third to Motopark's debutant Levente Révész. Race three saw similarly turbulent battles all throughout the field. Dufek came out on top, only 0.046 seconds ahead of León, and the last podium place was similarly close, with Révész pipping Simonazzi by 0.034 seconds. Shields had to retire his car, therefore outwheighing Leóns retirement the race before, so the standings gap grew again to 85 points. [39] [40]
Wurz was the one to bring Leóns pole position streak to an end at Mugello. León started race one third and went straight past Dufek into second. Wurz then crashed out on lap three and Simonazzi took the lead at the restart. He held it until he made a mistake on lap 12 and had to give it away to León. The latter managed his gap until the end to take his seventh victory, while Simonazzi held Dufek behind. Révész had reverse grid pole position and initially held on to the lead, until Shields took it on lap three. The Brit did not look back after that and took his fourth win of the season, while the Hungarian tried to stop his slip down the order. This did not work, however, as he had to give up the podium places to Dufek and León. This was Leóns fifteenth podium in only twenty races. Shields' race two win could not keep the championship tight enough to leave it open going into the final race. 101 points in the lead, León took the title. [41]
Trulli returned to the championship for the final round at Barcelona, and took pole position straight away. Trulli started race one cleanly while behind him all other positions were disputed. Once the dust had settled - and a safety car had been called for León ending his race in the gravel - Wurz overtook Trulli, but had to hand the position back, leaving the Italian to win, with Shields completing the podium. Révész overtook reverse grid polesitter Bergmeister at the start of race two and was largely unbothered for the rest of the race. Wurz tried attacking him twice, but had to be content with second place, while Shields once again came third. Race three started in similar fashion, but this time Bergmeister had to concede the lead to Simonazzi. Unlike the day before, Bergmeister was able to stay with the leader this time to finish the race in second and claim an uncontested Rookies' Championship. León bookended his campaign with another podium, with his points advantage over Shields at 87 points at the end of the season. [42]
Only three drivers contested every race of the season, with entries never surpassing ten cars at any moment. Most races were being contested by a single-digit number of cars due to regular non-starters and withdrawals. León was a deserved and largely uncontested champion, while the drivers closest to his form did not contest the full season. The ever strong Formula Regional European Championship and the newly founded Eurocup-3 drew interest away from the series, and its future became more and more unclear. Away from the track, further drama did not help the popularity of the championship, after it became apparent that a special rule benefitting female drivers had been introduced. Noda, the only women competing, withdrew her entry after this rule was dropped. [43]
