Mexican
The climb
Jose Antonio Garfias Martinez Lavin (born 26 October 2004 in San Luis Potosi), known as "Joss," is a Mexican single-seater driver trying to follow Sergio Perez's path into the upper rungs of international racing. He came up through SKUSA SuperNationals karting and Mexico's domestic ladder, entering NACAM F4 in 2018-19 with Telcel RPL Racing and taking three wins to finish fourth in 2019-20, alongside a podium finish in Formula Mexico.
His move to Europe was gradual and not always smooth. A 2021 GB3 campaign with Elite Motorsport was cut short mid-season, and a parallel Formula Regional European cameo brought little. He found his feet in Eurocup-3, taking a maiden podium at Aragon in 2023 and finishing fourth, then graduated to Euroformula Open with Team Motopark - where the breakthrough came. His full 2025 EFO season delivered three wins and a string of podiums for fourth overall, and a tenth-place run at the Macau Grand Prix, the form that finally opened the FIA Formula 3 door.
Formula 3
Garfias's first taste of F3 came as a 2025 one-off, standing in for the injured James Hedley at the Barcelona round with AIX Racing. It was a baptism of fire - 24th in the sprint and a retirement in the feature, no points - but it put him on the radar.
2026 / current season
The full-time chance arrived in unexpected fashion. When Enzo Deligny abruptly left Prema Racing for Van Amersfoort before the 2026 pre-season test, Prema signed Garfias as his replacement, handing the Mexican a debut full F3 season with one of the category's benchmark teams, carrying car number 22 alongside James Wharton and Louis Sharp. Garfias admitted the call was "a bit of a surprise." Adapting to F3 at a top team has been demanding: he scored Prema's only point of the early rounds at the Monaco sprint race, but otherwise endured a tough start with a retirement and lower-order finishes, sitting near the back of the standings in mid-season. The talent that won three Euroformula races is there; converting it at F3 level is the challenge in front of him.