2026 UIM F4 World Championship: Driver Guide

Adam Wrenkler is one of the most experienced active F4 racers in the field. The son of veteran offshore racers Thomas and Annika, he won the UIM GT15 World Championship in Finland in 2017 before progressing to F4. His 2025 season ended with championship bronze – 54 points after finishing third at the decisive Viverone round, where he also set the pace in qualifying before William Leithe-Martinsen stole pole position.

For 2026 he has joined Black Pharaoh Team, the Sudanese-backed outfit that ran Norwegian driver William Martinsen to two race wins in 2025 before Martinsen and sports director Frode Sundsdal departed. Wrenkler also raced at the 24 Heures Motonautiques de Normandie in May, sharing Boat 38 with Hilmer Wiberg, Benjamin Berti and Maverick Grolet.

William Leithe-Martinsen was the standout newcomer of the 2025 season. In his first full international campaign he won the F4 European Championship and took two race victories. A DNF in Race 3 at Viverone cost him a genuine world title challenge; he finished fourth with 45 points despite having winning pace throughout the year. He goes into 2026 as a title contender with one complete season of world championship experience behind him.

Jean Baptiste-Thomas came within two points of the 2025 UIM F4 world title – one of the closest championship finales in the series’ recent history. He went into the Viverone decider level on points with Slakteris after winning Race 3, the first Grand Prix victory of his 25-year career. When he lost power in the final race as the lake conditions worsened, Slakteris drove past and took the title. Thomas finished runner-up with 63 points. He returns in 2026 hungry for a title that came within a mechanical failure of being his.

Pierre Lambert is a returning face rather than a new one. He contested the full 2025 UIM F4 World Championship under the same number 9, scoring four points in the opening race at Mons and eight in the second before an ACC at Viverone ended his campaign. He finished the season equal twelfth on twelve points.

He has spent 2026 in endurance racing, taking third overall in the UIM S3 World Endurance Championship with Team Torpilleur Racing on Boat 9 alongside Romain Nedelec and Alexandre Jean. The crew reached the podium in all three races at Poses, including third place in Race 1 of the 24 Heures Motonautiques de Normandie. Lambert did not enter Klaipeda, so Viverone is his first world championship start of the year.

Izzeldin Ibrahim arrives at Viverone from the UAE F4 Championship, where he races as Izzelden Salih Ahmed Ibrahim and sits third after the opening two rounds at Abu Dhabi Marine Sports Club. He scored nine points in each race, finishing behind Ismat Moani and Salem Alyafeai on both days. This is his first appearance on a UIM F4 World Championship entry list in Powerboat News records.

The Viverone entry document lists him at number 9, the same number carried by Pierre Lambert, and flags a change of race number without stating what it becomes. His number will be confirmed at the event.

Hungary’s most prominent F4 presence and one of the series’ established competitors. At the 2025 Viverone finale he claimed second place in Race 2 behind Leithe-Martinsen, his strongest world championship result to date. He returns in 2026 as one of the longer-serving drivers on the grid.

Alia Abdulsalam was the first Emirati woman to compete in Formula 4 powerboat racing at international level. She races as Alia Abdulsalam Fairooz and followed her father Abdulsalam Fairooz into the sport; he was the first Arab promoter of the F2 UAE President’s Cup and the F2 World Cup.

Her world championship debut came at Viverone in 2025, where she scored in both Italian races to finish the season nineteenth on eight points. She signed a sponsorship agreement with Nirvana Holding and 9Yards Communications in August 2025 and currently lies fourth in the 2026 UAE F4 Championship on fourteen points. She did not enter Klaipeda, so her return to Lake Viverone comes a year on from her first world championship start.

Andor Füke returns to the world championship after a 2025 season that brought ten points and equal fourteenth overall. His strongest result came at Viverone, where he took seven points in Race 3 on the same water that hosts this year’s finale. He raced under the Fuke Yacht banner in 2025.

He did not enter Klaipeda, so he arrives with no 2026 points, and joins Attila Horváth as the second Hungarian on the entry list. The Viverone entry document prints his name in surname-first form as ANDOR Fuke.