Al Azhari completes clean sweep of Spanish F4 poles at Algarve

Photo: Spanish F4

Keanu Al Azhari made it three poles out of three in Spanish Formula 4’s second qualifying session at Algarve.

The MP Motorsport driver claimed pole for the weekend’s first two races in Q1 on Saturday, and on Sunday morning topped Q2 by just 0.065 seconds over Campos Racing’s Nathan Tye.

Monlau Motorsport’s Rehan Hakim was the surprise early pacesetter in Q2 with a 1m50.813s lap, and it stood as the benchmark until with just over 11 minutes left of the sesion he was demoted to eighth (having already pitted).

Tecnicar Motorsport’s Gustaw Wisniewski took over at the top, setting a 1m46.108s to lead Drivex School’s Mikkel Pederse by 0.589 seconds and Cram Motorsport duo Adam Hideg and Filippo Fiorentino by 0.788s and 0.94s.

Wisniewski’s own team-mate Lorenzo Castillo reduced his advantage to 0.423s, then Monlau’s Tim Gerhards slashed it further to 0.196s.

With 10 minutes to go Campos’s Jan Przyrowski lowered the pace to 1m45.644s, and a minute after that Drivex’s Juan Cota had set a new 1m44.907s benchmark while Tecnicar’s Wiktor Dobrzanski got into second with a laptime 0.398s slower than Cota’s.

Przyrowski reclaimed top spot with a 1m44.396s, and Rodin Motorsport’s Thomas Strauven had just got within 0.003s of that when red flags waved with eight minutes left on the clock due to TC Racing’s Cristian Cantu getting beached in the gravel at turn five.

The session clock was paused, and there was 0.964s covering the top nine when action resumed.

Campos’s James Egozi went third fastest with four-and-a-half minutes to go, but a few seconds later team-mates Enzo Tarnvanichkul and Tye beat him by a narrow margin.

Griffin Peebles slotted between those two a minute later, 0.327s off the pace, then with less than two-and-a-half minutes remaining Przyrowski improved to 1m44.285s but was knocked off top spot as Strauven set a 1m44.180s and Tye set a 1m44.277s. Tarnvanichkul and Peebles also improved in fourth and fifth, with Campos’s Andres Cardenas jumping up to sixth.

MP’s points leader Lucas Fluxa took over that position a minute later, then in the last minute Egozi went to the top with a 1m44.147s with his team-mate Ernesto Rivera just 0.028s slower than him.

Strauven responded with a 1m43.982s to reclaim pole, Tye matched Rivera, and Przyrowski improved in fifth. Al Azhari was 13th, but with 18s to go snatched pole by setting a 1m43.915s while Peebles set a personal best in sixth.

MP’s Mattia Colnaghi demoted him to seventh before the finish, and after the chequered flag Tye moved up to second.

Qualifying results