Photo: F4 Spain
MP Motorsport’s Mattia Colnaghi moved into the Spanish Formula 4 points lead with two victories at Jerez.
Free practice kicked off proceedings on Saturday morning, and Drivex School’s Juan Cota set a 1m42.890s to go fastest by just 0.026 seconds over Colnaghi. His team-mate Keanu Al Azhari was only 0.022s further behind, and 0.95s covered the top 19. Tecnicar Motorsport’s Wiktor Dobrzanski failed to set any laps.
There was a slower pace in qualifying, and Al Azhari set a 1m43.215s to go fastest. The gaps at the top were even smaller than practice, with Colnaghi only 0.011s behind in second, team-mate Maciej Gladysz trailing by 0.023s in third and Cota only being 0.059s off in fourth.
A further four drivers were were within 0.2s of Al Azhari, and incredibly there was only 0.948s between him and 27th place. However a three-place grid penalty for the pace-setter meant Colnaghi earned race one pole, while Al Azhari’s second-best laptime earned him race two pole by 0.037s over his title rival and 0.054s over Gladysz.
Cota made a brilliant start to race one to immediately challenge Colnaghi for the lead through turn one. Gladysz tried to come back at Cota at turn two by exceeding track limits but had to settl for third while Cota pressured the leader all race long.
A safety car period caused by Drivex’s debuting guest driver Joanne Ciconte crashing into the back of Global Racing Service’s Alexander Jacoby paused their battle, but once green flag action resumed they were glued to each other again.
Campos Racing’s Ernesto Rivera passed Al Azhari on lap one and held him off, helping Colnaghi slash Al Azhari’s points lead.
James Egozi passed Rene Lammers on lap nine, then both cleared Thomas Strauven after the safety car period to finish sixth and seventh.
Q2 on Sunday morning was another closely fought session, as Colnaghi earned pole by 0.178s over Strauven with his final lap. Campos’s Jan Przyrowski beat MP’s Griffin Peebles to third by 0.004s, with 0.002s splitting Gladysz and Al Azhari in fifth and sixth. 23rd place was only 0.963s off first.
Al Azhari comfortably won race two, building a lead on lap one after Colnaghi made a slow start and then managing that gap. A safety car period meant he had to do the work all over again, but it was not difficult. Colnaghi only lost one spot to Gladysz, Cota was fourth and Egozi passed Rivera on lap one for fifth.
Race three was stopped almost as soon as it started after a startline crash involving Sainteloc Racing’s Maxi Restrepo and TC Racing’s Cristian Cantu and Rivera. After it restarted with a lap behind the safety car, Colnaghi raced away to win and Cota beat Strauven to second after they made contact on the pit straight mid-race.
Al Azhari’s failure to get past Przyrowski for fourth meant he lost the points lead.
Results round-up
Race 1 (18 laps)
1 Mattia Colnaghi MP Motorsport 32m52.750s
2 Juan Cota Drivex School +0.577s
3 Maciej Gladysz MP Motorsport +2.082s
4 Ernesto Rivera Campos Racing +4.383s
5 Keanu Al Azhari MP Motorsport +4.560s
6 James Egozi Campos Racing +4.970s
7 Rene Lammers MP Motorsport +5.427s
8 Lucas Fluxa MP Motorsport +5.893s
9 Thomas Strauven Rodin Motorsport +6.556s
10 Griffin Peebles MP Motorsport +6.927s
Pole: Colnaghi, 1m43.226s
Fastest lap: Cota, 1m44.092s
Race 2 (15 laps)
1 Al Azhari 27m33.834s
2 Gladysz +0.885s
3 Colnaghi +1.439s
4 Cota +2.112s
5 Egozi +2.537s
6 Rivera +3.862s
7 Jan Przyrowski Campos Racing +4.240s
8 Peebles +5.240s
9 Strauven +6.013s
10 Fluxa +7.644s
P: Al Azhari, 1m43.218s
FL: Al Azhari, 1m43.897s
Race 3 (16 laps)
1 Colnaghi 30m57.930s
2 Cota +0.280s
3 Strauven +0.636s
4 Przyrowski +1.173s
5 Al Azhari +1.698s
6 Gladysz +3.622s
7 Egozi +3.740s
8 Fluxa +4.231s
9 Peebles +4.571s
10 Gabriel Gomez TC Racing +4.734s
P: Colnaghi, 1m42.959s
FL: Colnaghi, 1m43.759s
Championship standings
1 Colnaghi 228 2 Al Azhari 220 3 Gladysz 178 4 Cota 145 5 Rivera 126 6 Strauven 122 7 Fluxa 114 8 Egozi 113 9 Peebles 87 10 Przyrowski 80