The 2025 class of the FPAK Junior Team has been confirmed, with six drivers selected who are expected to showcase their potential for a promising future throughout the season in the Campeonato de Portugal de Velocidade and Iberian Supercars.
The success of this federative programme has been evident, with several young drivers from the 2023 edition making the jump to more demanding categories in 2024. A similar outcome is anticipated this year for some of the drivers who participated last season.
The six young drivers selected for 2025 are Diogo Figueiredo Castro, João Faria, Martim Romão, Rodrigo Vilaça, Tomás Gomes, and Tomás Martins. All of them come from karting and have no prior experience in car racing, with ages ranging from 15 to 19.
Diogo Figueiredo is 17 years old and has ten seasons of karting experience. He will make his circuit racing debut in 2025.
João Faria started karting later than most, but the 18-year-old has demonstrated potential over his four seasons in the sport and is now ready for his debut in car racing.
Martim Romão, aged 19, only began karting in 2021 but has shown steady progress over his four competitive seasons.
Rodrigo Vilaça, despite being only 17, already has eight seasons of karting experience, a discipline that has produced some of the greatest talents of the future.
Tomás Gomes is the youngest of the group, at just 15 years old, but he already boasts six seasons of high-level karting experience.
Tomás Martins, now 18, is another promising driver for this season, with nine years of karting experience under his belt.
Throughout the season, these six young drivers will share the three Ginetta G40 cars of the FPAK Junior Team, which will be operated on track by Monteiros Competições.
According to Diogo Ferrão, CEO of Race Ready, “we welcome the 2025 class with great satisfaction, hoping that this season in the FPAK Junior Team will be crucial in transitioning from karting to circuit racing. It’s a key step for drivers, moving from a world where they spend many days training and competing to one with fewer opportunities to test and race, where every lap behind the wheel is vital, and they must learn to make the most of every minute in the car”.
Ni Amorim, President of FPAK, added: “FPAK remains committed to giving young drivers the opportunity to progress from karting to other disciplines, particularly circuit racing. This programme has yielded great results season after season, and we intend to keep it going. The drivers are all very young, but that’s the whole point, and we believe that, with the guidance of César Campaniço, the project’s coach, they will all learn and evolve throughout the four rounds of the season”.
This year’s season of the Iberian Supercars, Campeonato de Portugal de Velocidade and Supercars España will kick off on the 5th and 6th of April at the Autódromo Internacional Algarve. The official test will take place this coming Saturday at the Autódromo do Estoril.
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