February 11, 2026 | News | Formula Winter Series

Van Langendonck builds Formula Winter Series points advantage at Portimão

A pair of race victories allowed Rodin Motorsport’s Dries Van Langendonck to extend his championship lead in the Formula Winter Series, in a weekend where the competitive order of the 2026 season was established.

Following a dramatic and heavily-disrupted opening weekend at Estoril, the championship standings were somewhat skewed; no driver on the 32-car grid had managed to score points in all three races. However, Van Langendonck – touted as a favourite pre-season – was the only driver to score two podiums. As such, he arrived to Portimão with a 17-point advantage over US Racing’s Oleksandr Savinkov.

For the first race of the weekend – held in wet conditions – Ethan Lennon lined up on pole for Rodin Motorsport. The South African racer was joined by teammate Van Langendonck on the first row, while US Racing’s Ary Bansal and Rodin’s Alfie Slater lined-up on row two.

As the lights went out, both Van Langendonck and Slater failed to launch their cars. And as the spray began to kick-up as the field accelerated away, Van Amersfoort’s Pedro Lima was unsighted, and collected the rear of Slater. Both drivers were okay, but the contact and resulting damage was significant, and the Safety Car was required.

Dries Van Langendonck was eventually able to get his car started, and joined the rear of the pack.

Behind the Safety Car, Ethan Lennon was the race leader, followed by Ary Bansal, Thomas Bearman and Teo Borenstein.

Once the race resumed, Bansal managed to perfectly anticipate the launch from Lennon, and drew alongside the leader as they approached the first corner. With the outside yielding superior grip in the treacherous conditions, Bansal swept into the lead, while Lennon had to defend hard through the early corners to stave off Thomas Bearman.

Bansal retained his lead through the middle portion of the race, before a second Safety Car period was triggered by the stricken Mathilda Racing car of Emmilio Del Grosso, who pulled up at turn three after contact.

The track was cleared with time to spare, which left an anticipated two additional laps of racing to the chequered flag in the 30-minute +1 lap race. However, Ary Bansal elected to perform an extremely slow run to the green flag, allowing the clock to tick down to zero, thus ensuring just one more lap of racing. The Indian racer managed to gain a critical car length over Lennon when he eventually hit the throttle, and held the lead through the final lap.

Bansal crossed the line to win his first Formula Winter Series race, while Lennon was second on the road, but would later receive a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. This promoted Oliver Bearman (Van Amersfoort Racing) to second place, and Jenzer Motorsport’s Teo Borenstein rounded out the podium.

After dropping to the back after his delayed start, Dries Van Langendonck surged back to the points positions and was ultimately classified seventh, ahead of the penalised Lennon. Mathilda Paatz won the Female Trophy class.

Race Two:
Unusually for the Formula Winter Series, there were two races on Saturday, owing to the Sunday timetable being dominated by GEDLICH Racing’s 6H of Portimão GT race. This meant a limited turnaround for the teams, but thankfully both Alfie Slater and Pedro Lima were able to take the start after their race one start-line collision.

Once again, Ethan Lennon and Dries Van Langendonck made up the front row of the grid. This time, the race sprang into life under a single-file rolling start owing to the wet conditions, and Lennon held the early lead. Further back, Oleksandr Savinkov had Rocco Coronel on his outside heading into the first turn; unfortunately, the pair touched, sending Savinkov spinning to the rear of the field.

While Lennon held the lead off the line, Van Langendonck wasted no time challenging the South African. At turn five, the McLaren junior driver got to Lennon’s inside, and secured the race lead. The Belgian set about building a cushion at the front, while Lennon fought teammate Alfie Slater for second place.

Van Langendonck would go on to build an eight-second lead for a dominant win, while Slater battled past his Rodin Motorsport teammate Lennon to secure second place. Lennon would take third, marking a 1-2-3 finish for the Kiwi-flagged team.

Mathilda Paatz and Zoe Florescu had an exciting battle further back in the field. And, while the German would win the Female Trophy class on the road, she would later received ten seconds of penalties for track limits infringements. Therefore, in her first F4 race finish, Florescu won the class.

Race Three:
The third race saw Van Langendonck start from pole position, with Oleksandr Savinkov alongside on the front row. As the race began, Savinkov made the better launch, and briefly led the field on the run to the first corner. Further back, Roman Kamyab (US Racing) failed to get his car started, but was thankfully avoided by the rest of the pack.

Savinkov’s time at the head of the order proved to be short-lived, as – in a mirror of his race two opening lap – Van Langendonck once again eased by at the turn five hairpin, settling into the race lead. However, with Tomas Rudokas (Renauer Motorsport) and Vittorio Orsini (AKM Motorsport) colliding at turn three, a Safety Car was scrambled.

Once the resumed, Van Langendonck was able to manage the launch well. Meanwhile, Oleksandr Savinkov asked too much of his Tatuus running around the sweeping corner, and ran wide at the restart. This left him vulnerable to an attack from US Racing teammate Ludovico Busso and Rodin’s Ethan Lennon, but remained in second position.

Savinkov was able to build a gap to Busso behind, however, he could not match the pace of Van Langendonck. Rodin’s Belgian racer won by 7.980 seconds over Savinkov, while Busso performed brilliantly to hold off Ethan Lennon, and claim his inaugural Formula Winter Series podium. Further back, Rocco Coronel briefly fell out of the points in a VAR car that looked tricky in the wet conditions, but would ultimately finish in ninth place. Meanwhile, Zoe Florescu won the Female Trophy once again, staving off significant pressure from Campos Racing teammate Chiara Bättig.

Courtesy of two more race victories and a recovery to a points-scoring finish in race one, Dries Van Langendonck extended his points lead. He now has 108 points, and a 42-point advantage over his closest rival. Portimão race on winner Ary Bansal moved up to second in the standings with 66 points, after US Racing teammate Oleksandr Savinkov finished 14th in race two. Savinkov now sits third in the standings, ahead of Rocco Coronel and Thomas Bearman.

The Formula Winter Series teams now cross the border into Spain, for the third round of the season at Valencia’s Circuit Ricardo Tormo. The F4 talents will once again take on three races on the 14-15 February, at an event that is expected to welcome a significant crowd of fans.