March 23, 2026 | News | Formula Winter Series
Coming into the last event, Dries Van Langendonck had already secured the Rookie and overall standings; now, the focus was on converting a four-point lead in the Teams’ standings over US Racing.
Dries Van Langendonck would start the first race of the weekend from pole, joined on the front row by Van Amersfoort Racing’s Thomas Bearman. Ethan Lennon lined-up third in his Rodin entry, followed by US Racing’s Ary Bansal, Alfie Slater (Rodin) and Campos’ single-seater debutant Timo Jüngling.
As the lights went out, Van Langendonck and Lennon both made near-perfect getaways. Lennon was side-by-side with Bearman by turn one, while Ary Bansal performed a 360 after receiving a hit to the rear from Jüngling, who would later be judged to have made a false start; he received a five-second time penalty. Bansal ended the first lap outside the top ten.
Noah Killion and Oscar Repetto made contact at turn five, and while Repetto continued, US Racing’s Killion was stranded in the gravel. Before the end of the first lap, the Safety Car was deployed. Upon the resumption of the race, Van Langendonck made a fantastic getaway; conversely, Jenzer Motorsport suffered a double loss of top-ten positions at turn five. Levi Arn drifted wide at turn five, followed by Teo Borenstein. Both parties continued, but dropped outside of the top 15.
For fifth position, Timo Jüngling was defending hard against AKM’s George Proudford-Nalder. Jüngling continued to hold off the Australian, while further back, Chiara Bättig and Ginevra Panzeri were fighting for the Female Trophy honours. Eventually, the pair collided at turn 12, with Panzeri escaping the gravel first.
Proudford-Nalder eventually found his way by Jüngling, with a move around the outside at turn one, moments before a late-race Safety Car was triggered; Teo Borenstein had found himself in the gravel at turn 12. Upon the resumption of the race, Van Langendonck gained enough of a gap to have a comfortable run down to the first corner. However, Rodin teammate Ethan Lennon had to withstand pressure from Thomas Bearman, who was forced across the run-off area at turn two.
Meanwhile, with the field bunched together, Bättig and Panzeri were close once again. Exiting turn 12 a couple of laps from home, the pair collided once more, sending Bättig into a spin and securing the Female Trophy for Panzeri.
At the front, Dries Van Langendonck led the field home, ahead of his teammate Bearman would receive a 25-second penalty for a start procedure infringement, dropping him out of the points. This cleared the way for a Rodin 1-2-3, with Ethan Lennon and Alfie Slater completing the podium. George Proudford-Nalder finished fourth in both the overall and rookie standings, while Ary Bansal recovered from his early rotation to finish fifth.
As a result of a maximum score for Rodin, and a poor outing for US Racing, the Teams’ title lead had grown to 30 points.
Race Two:
The second race of the weekend began with a heavy impact, as Ary Bansal failed to launch his US Racing car from the third row. Several cars were able to narrowly avoid the rear of the stranded Tatuus, but Teo Borenstein found himself with nowhere to go. Both parties walked away, and remarkably, both cars would be able to take the start in race three.
After a lengthy Safety Car, pole-sitter Dries Van Langendonck led the field into racing action, followed by Van Amersfoort’s Thomas Bearman and DVL’s Rodin cohorts Ethan Lennon and Alfie Slater. Lennon and Slater were side-by-side into turn one, but would collide once on corner exit, and yet again at turn two. Both cars wouldn’t go any further, and had to be retrieved from the gravel under Safety Car.
Once the second Safety Car ended, US Racing’s Oleksandr Savinkov and Ludovico Busso had a mission. Running seventh and tenth, the pair needed to move up the standings to continue the teams’ title fight into race three, even with Rodin’s Slater and Lennon off-track.
Eventually, Savinkov and Busso would work their way up to fifth and seventh respectively. US Racing would need further complications for Rodin to have any shot of winning the teams’ title, but mathematically, the chance was still there. Out front, it was three teams in the top three, as Rodin’s Van Langendonck led home VAR’s Thomas Bearman and AKM’s George Proudford-Nalder. Chiara Bättig won the Female Trophy category.
Race Three:
With his win in race two, Dries Van Langendonck extended his record for most victories in a Formula Winter Series season. He started the final race of the season from pole, alongside US Racing’s Ary Bansal. Ethan Lennon and Thomas Bearman started third and fourth respectively.
As the race began, Bansal briefly had a nose ahead of Van Langendonck through the first two corners. However, DVL hung on around the outside at turn two, and the Belgian moved back to the lead at turn three. At turn four, Andre Rodriguez and Pedro Lima collided, and found themselves stranded in the gravel. A Safety Car was scrambled to collect them.
Upon the resumption of the race, Bansal again looked threatening for the lead through the early corners, but Van Langendonck held onto the lead, and soon set about building a gap. While the lead positions would largely remain stagnant, most of the battling took place further down the order, as the likes of Teo Borenstein, Timo Jüngling, Georgy Zasov and Chiara Bättig sparred for lower positions.
It would be a masterful, controlled performance from the McLaren Driver Development Programme talent Dries Van Langendonck. He won his ninth race of the year to wrap up an incredible 2026 season, finishing ahead of Ary Bansal and Ethan Lennon. For Rodin, a double-podium was enough to comfortably secure the Teams’ Championship, completing a clean sweep of the points standings for the UK-based squad. Thomas Bearman finished fourth, and therefore became the 2026 vice-champion ahead of Ary Bansal.
While Lennon finished third overall and second in the Rookie standings, it would not be enough to win the vice-championship over Samuel Ifird. With the pair tied on points, it would be countback that determined the battle for Ifrid, who won a race in the class at Valencia. Chiara Bättig finished her season with yet another Female Trophy victory, finishing 14th overall.
Congratulations to Dries Van Langendonck and Rodin Motorsport, on a comprehensively successful Formula Winter Series campaign. New records and performance benchmarks have been laid down by the team, who head back to the UK with great momentum for the summer ahead.
