Mexican
Ricardo Escotto (full name Ricardo Escotto Lechuga, born 14 December 2004) is a Mexican racing driver with an unusually transatlantic CV, who in 2026 added a one-off FIA Formula 3 cameo to a full Indy NXT campaign — a rare driver moving the other way across the Atlantic.
The climb
Escotto made his open-wheel debut as a teenager in the 2018 NACAM Formula 4 Championship, scoring two top-10s in three races. In 2022 he broadened his horizons with stints in both the UAE and Spanish Formula 4 Championships, finishing inside the top five of the UAE rookies' standings. That patchwork of regional F4 experience set the stage for a decisive choice: rather than chase Europe's F3 ladder, he committed to the American road-to-Indy system.
The American ladder
Escotto joined the IndyCar ladder in 2023 after coming through the Jay Howard Driver Development program. As a USF Pro 2000 rookie he claimed four top-10s and a maiden win at Indianapolis. He returned in 2024 with a sharper campaign, taking two podiums — at Road America and Toronto — and five top-five finishes, before stepping up to Indy NXT. He made a five-race Indy NXT debut for Juncos Hollinger Racing in 2024 (best of 13th at Laguna Seca and Milwaukee), then went full-time in 2025 with Andretti Cape, though that pairing ended mid-season ahead of the Laguna Seca double-header.
Formula 3
For 2026 Escotto returned to Juncos Hollinger Racing for a full Indy NXT season — but his year took an unexpected detour to Europe. AIX Racing signed him to deputise for the injured Brad Benavides at the Barcelona round of the FIA Formula 3 Championship, after Benavides suffered three fractured vertebrae in an opening-lap crash at Monaco. On his category debut at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya the 21-year-old qualified 29th and finished 22nd in the Sprint and 23rd in the Feature — a creditable showing for a one-off substitute crossing over from US single-seaters with no prior mileage in the machinery.
2026 / temporada actual
With his main 2026 programme firmly in Indy NXT, the AIX appearance stands as a brief but notable European cameo rather than a full F3 assault. Still, for an ambitious young Mexican who has openly set his sights on Formula 1, the chance to sample an FIA F3 car on a Grand Prix weekend was a valuable line on a CV that already spans two continents and three F4 series.