Theo Palmer Leads Formula Trophy Standings After Dubai Season-Opener

• UAE driver wins race one to kickstart title bid
• Alp Aksoy claims final race victory and takes clean sweep of Rookie Class
• Female talent Payton Westcott shrugs off intense pressure to claim race two win

United Arab Emirates November 30, 2025: Theo Palmer leads the 2025 Formula Trophy series after the first weekend of racing at Dubai Autodrome. Hitech TGR’s 15-year-old UAE driver enjoyed a hugely consistent three races, claiming victory from Briton Rowan Campbell-Pilling and Australian Hunter Salvatore in the first race after on-the-road winner Alp Aksoy was penalised for a jumped start. Palmer then took sixth in race two and second place in the final encounter of the opening round.

Aksoy made a superb debut in car racing. The Turkish talent only celebrated his 15th birthday last month, to make him old enough to compete in the Formula 4 cars used in Formula Trophy. Aksoy showed invincible form with the Prema-run Mumbai Falcons Racing team in qualifying to take two pole positions, and ended the weekend with his maiden win ahead of Palmer and Campbell-Pilling, to follow his penalised sixth in race one and fifth in race two.

The other race winner in Dubai was Payton Westcott. The American 16-year-old female driver soaked up intense pressure from local hero Adam Al Azhari and Romanian David Cosma-Cristofor in the second event to claim her first win in single-seaters with the Mumbai Falcons team.

As the field heads for its high-profile showcase round supporting the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit next weekend, Palmer therefore leads the Formula Trophy standings with 51 points to the 43 of Aksoy, with the consistent Cosma-Cristofor third on 35. Aksoy, meanwhile, took a clean sweep of Rookie class wins and leads that table with 75 points to the 38 of Felipe Reijs.

Race 1

Alp Aksoy started the weekend by setting two laps quicker than the best anyone else could manage to top Saturday’s first qualifying session and earn pole position for race one by 0.172 seconds. After a quick break, the cars were back on track for second qualifying, to set the grid for Sunday’s third race of the weekend, and this time he topped the times by 0.250s.

At the start of Saturday’s race, Aksoy got away in front, but video footage studied after the race showed that his car was moving before the lights went out. He had to fend off a bold move from third qualifier Palmer, who ran side by side with the polesitter through Turn 1 before Aksoy prevailed. The race was quickly brought under safety car conditions, after an incident further down the pack left the cars of Noah Killion and Yuta Suzuki stranded.

Quick work by the marshals meant the field was greeted by the green flag after just one lap, and Aksoy immediately sprinted away from Palmer. Indeed, the 15-year-old Emirates driver soon began to come under pressure from Xcel Motorsport’s British talent Rowan Campbell-Pilling. While Palmer had to focus on keeping things clean and not allowing Campbell-Pilling a run on him, Aksoy was able to build a margin that stretched as far as 3.4 seconds before taking the chequered flag 3.256s in front.

While Campbell-Pilling pursued Palmer, this duo in turn had Hunter Salvatore latching onto them. The Australian’s Evans GP car fell back slightly in the closing laps, but it was still a strong performance. Aksoy’s 10-second penalty dropped him to sixth, meaning Palmer claimed victory from Campbell-Pilling in second and Salvatore in third.

One of the best battles of the race took place for fifth on the road during the laps immediately after the safety car. A terrific move from Xcel’s Romanian hopeful David Cosma-Cristofor around the outside of Turn 12 won him the position from Italian Niccolò Maccagnani. But the Pinnacle Motorsport driver fought back, diving down the inside at Turn 1 a lap and a half later. Maccagnani, a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, then closed in on Salvatore and was only half a second adrift at the finish, but had to settle for fourth after Aksoy’s penalty, with Cosma-Cristofor fifth.

Local hero Adam Al Azhari had to fend off a big challenge from behind before the Dubai racer established himself in seventh place with his Yas Heat Racing car. Behind him, Swedish Red Bull Junior Scott Kin Lindblom (Hitech TGR) won a furious battle for eighth to lead home Payton Westcott and Dutchman Felipe Reijs (Xcel), but Lindblom was given a five-second penalty for forcing Westcott off track, dropping him to 11th. That elevated fellow Swede Leon Hedfors (X GP) into 10th. Reijs and Hedfors also claimed second and third respectively in the Rookie class, which was won by Aksoy even with his penalty applied.

Race 2

Payton Westcott’s eighth-place result on Saturday earned her pole position on the reversed grid for race two, and she made no mistake on her way to victory. That was despite the constant presence of fellow front-row starter Adam Al Azhari right behind.

While Westcott led away, Al Azhari found Niccolò Maccagnani trying to sweep around his outside into Turn 1, but he emerged ahead of the Italian. By the third lap, Al Azhari’s Yas Heat car was edging towards the Mumbai Falcons machine of Westcott, and by the middle of the race he was in a position to challenge.

On lap six, Al Azhari had a glance down the inside at Turn 10, at the end of the long back straight. Next time around he committed to a move at the same spot, but his lost momentum allowed David Cosma-Cristofor to latch onto him. Behind the Romanian, Hunter Salvatore was also making inroads to make it a leading quartet. It was an intriguing cat-and-mouse game over the final laps, but Westcott held on to beat Al Azhari by just 0.534 seconds, with Cosma-Cristofor third and Salvatore fourth – 1.752s covered the top four.

Alp Aksoy had been given a grid penalty, converting third to eighth, so as not to benefit from his jumped-start penalty from race one. But the young Turkish talent recovered nicely to fifth. After his win in race one, Theo Palmer finished sixth, with Maccagnani fading to an eventual seventh.

Once again Scott Kin Lindblom was involved in a highly entertaining battle, this time keeping his eighth place ahead of AKCEL GP’s Belgian-Emirati Arthur de Doncker, who made spectacular progress from 17th on the grid to ninth, and second in the Rookie class behind Aksoy. Rowan Campbell-Pilling completed the top 10 ahead of Leon Hedfors, who was the third Rookie home.

Race 3

This time, Alp Aksoy made no mistake. His start from pole was good and, although Theo Palmer used his front-row position to draw alongside at Turn 1, the Turkish starlet asserted himself in front and began to draw away from the field.

While Aksoy looked serene, Palmer lost two further positions, with Rowan Campbell-Pilling getting down the inside of him at the Turn 5 left-hander for second, and Niccolò Maccagnani wresting third at Turn 8. David Cosma-Cristofor was in the process of lining up a move to demote Palmer further when the safety car boards emerged, the Romanian allowing Palmer back ahead while the race was under caution.

The reason for the pause in activity was a multi-car incident at Turn 1. Contact involving Adam Al Azhari, Payton Westcott and Rafael Vaessen sent a multitude of cars into the run-off. There was also a collision that ended with Scott Kin Lindblom out of the race and needing retrieval, and Hunter Salvatore, who was adjudged to be at fault and given a three-place grid penalty for the next race in Abu Dhabi, heading to the pits for repairs to damage.

Once the race went green, Aksoy wasted no time stamping his authority, easing away from Campbell-Pilling. Attention turned to Palmer, who completed a bold dive on Maccagnani into Turn 10 on the seventh lap to take third position. Now he set off in pursuit of Campbell-Pilling. Palmer got a run on the Briton out of the final corner on lap nine, and completed the move into Turn 1.

By this time, Aksoy was six seconds in front and he completed the 13 laps with a 6.301s buffer to Palmer, with Campbell-Pilling third, Maccagnani fourth and Cosma-Cristofor fifth.

The tangle on the opening lap allowed some new names into the battle for points, with Xcel Motorsport’s Kuwaiti Jaber Alsabah eventually establishing himself in sixth place, and second in the Rookie class behind overall winner Aksoy.

An extraordinary rise from 20th on the grid to seventh within one and a half laps of racing gave Australian Noah Killion (AGI Sport) his first points score, and he shadowed Alsabah to the flag, with China’s Chen Sicong (Black Blade Racing) just behind in eighth, and Yuta Suzuki of Japan ninth in his AKCEL GP car. Al Azhari struggled for pace after the first-corner incident, but somehow fended off a swarm of opponents for 10th on the road, just ahead of third Rookie Arthur de Doncker. But Al Azhari, along with the others involved in the first-lap incident, was penalised five seconds for not following the prescribed route back to the track after running off course. Suzuki was also given a penalty of five seconds, in his case because his mechanics were on the grid raising his car’s rear ride height after the three-minute signal. That gave de Doncker ninth place in the results, with Suzuki claiming the final point for 10th.

Formula Trophy 2025 calendar

November 27 / Dubai Autodrome / Pre-Season Test

November 28-30 / Dubai Autodrome / Races 1-3

December 5-7 / Yas Marina Circuit / Races 4-5

December 11-13 / Yas Marina Circuit / Races 6-7

ABOUT TOP SPEED: Established in 2008, Top Speed has been intrinsic to the rapid development of motorsport across Asia Pacific over the last seventeen years. Providing a wide spectrum of services – from race organization, technical and logistical support to event and sponsorship management – Top Speed has played an integral role in the success of series such as the Macau Grand Prix – FIA FR World Cup, Ferrari Challenge Asia Pacific, Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia, Porsche Carrera Cup Asia, Porsche Sports Cup China, Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup, Formula Masters China Series and Scirocco Cup. Top Speed is the official promoter for the Formula Regional Middle East Trophy and Formula 4 UAE Trophy, Formula 4 South East Asia, and the China GT Championship.

Headquartered in Shanghai, Top Speed also has offices in Hong Kong, Dubai and Malaysia.

Ends

November 30, 2025

Team/Driver/Partner Enquiries:

Cyrille Taesch cyrille@topspeedchina.com

Matthijs Hoitink matthijs.hoitink@gmail.com