Photo: F4 CEZ
Gino Trappa won twice at Autodrom Most last weekend to grow his Formula 4 Central European Zone points lead.
Jenzer Motorsport locked out qualifying’s top four spots, with Trappa taking pole by 0.181 seconds over Nicolas Cortes. Max Karhan and Javier Herrera were both within 0.275s of pole, and Maffi Racing’s David Walther was 0.679s behind and best of the rest in fifth. The 18-car field, a record for a round held outside of Austria, was covered by 3.929s.
Cortes made a strong start to race one and found room to squeeze down the inside of Trappa on the run to turn one. They banged wheels twice, and Cortes ran deep into the corner. He was briefly ahead, but back into second by turn two.
Exiting turn 10, Mathilda Paatz spun around the front of Walther, who then rode over her car. Several drivers went off in avoidance, and Maffi’s Teodor Borenstein crashed as he went off going past them.
The safety car was called, then on lap three red flags waved. After a 14-minute stoppage, the race restarted on lap three behind the safety car.
Green flags waved on lap five, and Herrera dived down the inside of Renauer Motorsport’s Hady Mimassi for fourth at turn one. Trappa pulled away, but the safety car returned on lap seven due to Kiara Henni getting beached in the gravel between the last two corners.
The next restart came with two laps remaining, and on the final lap Zengo Motorsport’s Benett Gaspar went around the outside of F4 CEZ Academy driver Frantisek Nemec at turn one for seventh. Trappa finished 1.457s ahead of Cortes, who got a personal-best result.
The finishing order set race two’s grid, and Trappa romped to victory by 7.961s as the top four held positions. Mimassi stuck his nose in on Herrera at the opening corner but had contact, missed turn two, lost his front wing and pitted.
His team-mate Simon Schranz missed the first turns entirely and rejoined in fifth. Nemec and Gaspar were on his tail until the latter broke his rear-left suspension at the end of lap two, then Walther passed Nemec through the turns six/seven chicane on lap five. Nemec ran off exiting the last corner and lost two more spots, with Janik Motorsport’s David Gorcica and Maffi’s Andreas Lo Bue soon starting another train behind Schranz after Walther got past him.
Race one’s top eight were reversed for race three’s grid, putting Nemec on pole. Gaspar stalled from second, and at turn one Walther and Gorcica collided. The safety car was called due to debris, and Cortes pitted due to damage.
On the lap four restart, Schranz went down the inside of Nemec but missed the opening corners. After rejoining, he dropped behing Nemec just as he was passed by Herrera.
Schranz, Karhan and Mimassi had cleared Nemec by lap-end, as Herrera sprinted off to victory. Karhan took second into turn one on lap six, Trappa secured fifth there the lap before, and Herrera was three seconds clear when the safety car and then race-ending red flags appeared due to AS Motorsport’s Michalina Sabaj crashing out.
Results round-up
Race 1 (12 laps)
1 Gino Trappa Jenzer Motorsport 25m33.737s
2 Nicolas Cortes Jenzer Motorsport +1.457s
3 Max Karhan Jenzer Motorsport +2.119s
4 Javier Herrera Jenzer Motorsport +3.874s
5 Hady Mimassi Renauer Motorsport +4.407s
6 Simon Schranz Renauer Motorsport +4.898s
7 Benett Gaspar Zengo Motorsport +6.592s
8 Frantisek Nemec F4 CEZ Academy +7.441s
9 David Gorcica Janik Motorsport +7.729s
10 Andreas Lo Bue Maffi Racing +8.039s
Pole: Trappa, 1m33.565s
Fastest lap: Trappa, 1m34.080s
Race 2 (16 laps)
1 Trappa 25m10.583s
2 Cortes +7.961s
3 Karhan +9.047s
4 Herrera +10.821s
5 David Walther Maffi Racing +14.955s
6 Schranz +28.937s
7 Gorcica +29.201s
8 Lo Bue +29.674s
9 Mathilda Paatz Mathilda Racing +29.973s
10 Teodor Borenstein Maffi Racing +31.798s
FL: Trappa, 1m33.716s
Race 3 (11 laps)
1 Herrera 20m03.362s
2 Karhan +0.963s
3 Schranz +2.276s
4 Mimassi +2.834s
5 Trappa +3.759s
6 Lo Bue +6.211s
7 Nemec +7.610s
8 Borenstein +8.197s
9 Gaspar +12.406s
10 Walther +14.269s
FL: Herrera, 1m33.803s
Championship standings
1 Trappa 237 2 Karhan 183 3 Walther 113 4 Cortes 99 5 Herrera 93 6 Mimassi 73 7 Bart Harrison 65 8 Schranz 64 9 Paatz 60 10 William Karlsson 42