Year in Review - Aiden Zelaya

December 25, 2025

GIFTED YOUNG TALENT AIDEN ZELAYA ROOKIE SEASON FEATURES CONSISTENT PODIUM FINISHES

 

Aiden Zelaya is a uniquely talented young race car driver as well evidenced by his impressive rookie race season where he rarely missed out on being featured in podium celebrations.

An avid sim racer, Aiden's transition to driving race cars began in April 2025 by attending one of the JENSEN team's RACING CAMP programs at the Motorsport Ranch Cresson circuit near Fort Worth, Texas.

By his second day driving the JENSEN Ligier F4 race car, Aiden was consistently setting competitive lap times with a low 1:15 as his best. Given such natural talent and the calendar, together we decided to enter Aiden in the Formula Race Promotions race event a fortnight later at the Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course. .

The decision to enter the Mid-Ohio race was strategic so that Aiden could gain track knowledge within the test ban rules of the Ligier Junior Formula Championship. This would mean that Aiden could be more competitive in the event that we decided to race at the Mid-Ohio Ligier JFC late June event.

Aiden was again impressive in his race debut driving the #7 JENSEN Ligier F4 race car, finishing both Mid-Ohio races all the while setting competitive lap times.

Formula PRO USA F4 California Championship third race of the 2025 season was also scheduled for late June at the famous Laguna Seca circuit, and together we opted to enter Aiden in that event instead of the Ligier JFC Mid-Ohio event.

The decision proved excellent, as Aiden immediately showed his talent qualifying second in both Laguna Seca F4 California series races and scored his first podium in the Sunday feature race.

Aiden featured on the podium in four successive California series races driving the #7 JENSEN Ligier F4 car at Sonoma Raceway near San Francisco in September, and Thunderhill Raceway near Sacramento in October.

Scoring five consecutive podiums dating back to Laguna Seca meant that Aiden was fifth in 2025 Formula PRO USA Championship standings in the F4 class. With another similarly competitive race weekend at the 2025 season finale at Buttonwillow Raceway, Aiden would easily have finished third in the final standings.

JENSEN team owner Eric Jensen insights about Aiden's rookie season and his 2026 plans, "Aiden showed both impressive proficiency and speed during his rookie F4 season. My main objective is to help kids take their shot at being professional race car drivers, so given the opportunity I decided to graduate Aiden to finish the 2025 season driving one of our much more powerful Formula 3 race cars at the Buttonwillow season finale, to get him a head start on his 2026 racing program."

The racing God's threw a big curveball at Aiden for his first weekend driving the much faster Ligier F3 race car, with persistent heavy rains throughout the race weekend. Despite the tricky conditions, Aiden led both races and set faster lap times than the 2025 F4 US Champion who was also testing at Buttonwillow in a Ligier F3 race car.

2026 season will see Aiden continuing his progress driving the #1 JENSEN Ligier F3 race car. With such strongly competitive results and Aiden's charismatic smile, we are also working to get brand sponsorships to fund Aiden's racing career for the long-term.

Aiden Zelaya making an outside pass driving the #1 JENSEN Ligier F3 race car

Formula 4 is the entry level junior open-wheel race category on the FIA development ladder system intended to identify and train future drivers to compete in the Formula One World Championship. JENSEN owns four Ligier JS F4 pro spec race cars, and there are multiple championships across the USA that are terrific for new drivers to learn how to optimize their driving techniques and to gain competition experience.

Formula PRO USA Championship is one such championship, where the 2026 season will again feature six race weekends at iconic California circuits including Laguna Seca and Sonoma Raceway.

For more information about Aiden Zelaya and his JENSEN young driver development program, contact Eric Jensen via email at jensen@jensenga.com

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For more information about the Formula Pro Western Championship ( F4 California Series ) visit the series website www.formulaprousa.com