March 10, 2026 | News | Formula Winter Series
The first race of the Aragon weekend began in dry conditions, though the clouds overhead portended the likelihood of a shift in conditions. Thomas Bearman started the race from pole for Van Amersfoort Racing, alongside US Racing’s Ary Bansal. Van Langendonck started the race from third, joined on row two by Samuel Ifrid (CRAM), who achieved his best starting position of the season so far. As the race began, the top three remained solidly in their positions, while Ifrid was under pressure from US Racing’s Oleksandr Savinkov. Heading down to the corkscrew for the first time, Savinkov tapped the rear of Ifrid, sending the Swiss driver spinning to the rear of the pack. In the aftermath of this moment, Aleksander Ruta moved up to fourth, and broke away from the rest of the field along with the top three.
Thomas Bearman was resolutely defending the lead in the early minutes, finding a way to come out on top of three-wide moments and aggressive moves. However, as the race approached half-distance, Bearman outbraked himself at the turn 16 hairpin, allowing Van Langendonck through. Bearman would continue to defend hard, but again failed to get the car stopped moments later at turn one, allowing both Ruta and Bansal past.
On the same lap, Ruta – now running second – drifted wide at turn seven, allowing Bansal to ease towards his inside on the run to the corkscrew. Ruta attempted to go defensive, but spun himself out on the front nose of Bansal, which remarkably remained undamaged. Ruta would continue after the spin, ultimately finishing tenth. In the closing minutes of the race, rain began to fall around the circuit, and the slippery conditions added yet more challenges as Bearman and Bansal fought for track position. It appeared that Bansal had a slightly more compliant car, and would soon move away from Bearman and close down Dries Van Langendonck.
Heading onto the final lap, Van Langendonck had Bansal for company, as well as Nicolas Cortes and Ludovico Busso. The latter pair were a lap down, but had switched to wet tyres. Using the grip advantage, Cortes moved by. Pre-occupied with both Bansal and the fast-moving ‘traffic’, Van Langendonck outbraked himself at turn one of the final lap, handing the lead and the win to Bansal. For Bansal, his second victory of the season was a pivotal one; the gap between he and Van Langendonck was now down to 54 points. Van Langendonck ultimately took second overall – and the Rookie Trophy win – ahead of Thomas Bearman, while Chiara Bättigtook home 16th to win in the Female Trophy.
RACE TWO
Sunday morning saw dry conditions for the Formula Winter Series competitors, and Thomas Bearman once again started from pole position, with Dries Van Langendonck lined up alongside him. Ary Bansal and Samuel Ifrid Comprised row two, ahead of Alfie Slater (Rodin Motorsport) and Campos’ Chiara Bättig. VAR’s Aleksander Ruta was withdrawn from the race, having sustained a hand-injury in race one.
As the lights went out, Slater struggled to get off the line and fell to the rear of the field. Conversely, Pedro Lima launched much too early from ninth, moving up into the top five, but also gaining a five-second time penalty. At the front, Bearman turned into the first corner side-by-side with Bansal. After a busy first lap, Bearman would ultimately cross the line as the race leader as the race settled. Further back, Oleksandr Savinkov was performing a storming drive. Having started 21st, the US Racing driver quickly moved into the points paying positions, and would continue to chip away towards the top five with searing pace.
At the front, Thomas Bearman spent much of the early race under scrutiny from Bansal. However, the Indian racer began to struggle, and quickly lost out to Dries Van Langendonck. With the driver’s lap times falling away, it became a two-horse race at the front. With his car coming to him as the race progressed, Van Langendonck was soon past Bearman with a move at turn seven. This would prove to be the definitive move in the lead battle.
Further back, Ary Bansal had fallen back as far as ninth place, but was defending incredibly hard to try and retain a points-paying position. With as many as eight drivers behind him, he held on to ninth on the road. However, a track limits penalty would be applied, and would therefore drop the Indian driver out of the points. At the front, Dries Van Langendonck took a commanding victory in the overall and rookie class, winning the latter classification’s season standings. Oleksandr Savinkov crossed the line a brilliant third, and was promoted to second place following a penalty for Thomas Bearman, which dropped the Brit to third. Chiara Bättig won the Female Trophy on the road, running in the midst of the Ary Bansal-led midfield scrum. However, as the Swiss received a track limits penalty, she was ultimately demoted behind Mathilda Paatz, who won the class and finished ninth overall.
RACE THREE
As a result of Bansal finishing outside of the points, race two winner Dries Van Langendonck was now in prime position to claim the overall championship in the final race of the weekend. He would start from pole, with Ary Bansal in ninth; ‘DVL’ would only need to outscore Bansal by three points to win the title.
Joining Van Langendonck on the front row was his Rodin teammate Alfie Slater, while US Racing’s Arjen Kräling lined up third alongside Thomas Bearman. Van Langendonck got the best start of the frontrunners, while Kräling moved up to second at the expense of Alfie Slater at turn one. Further back, Ginevra Panzeri lost her front wing and sustained further damage to her AS Motorsport entry, and could not move the car beyond the run-off area at turn three. This triggered the first Safety Car period of the FWS event.
Upon the resumption of the race, Kräling looked very fast in the mirrors of Dries Van Langendonck, and would find a way by after a lap, taking the inside line at turn one. Moments later, Ary Bansal was tagged by Pedro Lima at turn five, sending the Indian racer into the gravel, where he would become beached. With this, the title picture became clear: If Van Langendonck finished eighth or above, he would be the overall champion. A second Safety Car period was necessitated to collect Bansal, and the dramas would not cease there, as a third would be called late in the race to collect the #20 car of Teo Borenstein, who’s right-rear wheel was down at the turn five run-off, having seemingly made contact with Alfie Slater.
Through all of the Safety Car periods and restarts, Arjen Kräling remained in control, and looked set to follow-up his Valencia win another top step visit at Aragon. However, on the final lap, his car’s rear stepped out on him at turn four. This fractional momentum loss was enough to put Thomas Bearman on his gearbox, and the pair would soon run through turn 13 side-by-side. Van Langendonck debated with making it three-wide for T14, but backed out.
Bearman and Kräling stifled each other’s momentum heading onto the 1.2km back straight, allowing Van Langendonck to get his nose ahead into the race lead. The trio would go three-wide into the turn 16 hairpin, but Van Langendonck did enough to finish just 0.029 clear of Bearman. With his victory, ‘DVL’ won the overall Formula Winter Series title with a round to spare, and surpassed Kacper Sztuka’s 2023 record of most wins in a season, taking a sixth P1 of the year.
Finishing second, Thomas Bearman also moved up to P2 in the championship standings, with just a nine-point buffer over Bansal headed to Barcelona. Ethan Lennon finished the race in third, pipping Arjen Kraling to a podium finish in a hectic final sequence.
With the overall and rookie championships decided in favour of Van Langendonck, the intrigue moves to the Bearman vs. Bansal vice-championship battle. Additionally, the teams’ championship fight is one of narrow margins; heading into Barcelona, Rodin lead the way with 308 points. However, with US Racing on 305 and Van Amersfoort on 287, the teams’ battle will go to the wire this coming weekend.
