Photo: Spanish F4
Campos Racing’s Noah Monteiro and Thomas Strauven took a pole position each in the first qualifying session of the Spanish Formula 4 season at Motorland Aragon.
Monteiro was first to the top in the 20-minute session, although he was among a group of drivers lapping at an unrepresentative pace in the first five minutes.
The first laptime that looked a little more reflective of what drivers were capable of was a 2m05.556s from Monlau Motorsport’s Lorenzo Campos, then TC Racing’s Santino Panetta brought the pace down into the 2m04s.
Approaching the seven-minute mark, Campos’s Jan Przyrowski moved to the top with a 2m01.520s, and Monlau’s Francisco monarca was just 0.148 seconds behind.
There were was still plenty of pace to be found, and nine minutes in Campos’s Vivek Kanthan posted a new 1m59.665s benchmark. Przyrowski and MP Motorsport’s Juan Cota also broke the two-minute barrier just after.
Kanthan only spent 20s in first place before Strauven went 0.124s faster than him, and Tecnicar Motorsport’s Andrej Petrovic was 0.032s shy of him to end the first half of Q1 in third.
The next changes near the top occurred 11 minutes in, with Eyckmans getting within 0.115s of Strauven’s benchmark and Monteiro going fifth fastest. Shortly after the gaps grew as Strauven improved to 1m59.232s, but then Petrovic reduced his advantage back down to 0.226s and Tecnicar’s Sacha Van’t Pad Bosch set a 1m59.605s to rise to third.
Monteiro returned to the top with seven minutes to go, a 1m59.138s putting him just 0.048s ahead of Eyckmans who had also set a new personal best. Kanthan improved too but was down to sixth, behind MP’s Reno Francot.
Free practice pacesetter Rene Lammers went third fastest with just over five-and-a-half minutes left on the clock, before Przyrowski and then Eyckmans went faster ahead.
Lammers then went quickest on his next lap ahead of Strauven and Schwartz, with Monteiro improving to fourth with three minutes to go.
Next time around Monteiro reclaimed top spot with the 1m58.142s that would give him pole position ahead of improvements from Eyckmans and Kanthan.
In the final moments, Strauven moved back up to second place and his second-best lap would give him pole for race two in front of Kanthan, Eyckmans and Lammers, with Monteiro only fifth.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Noah Monteiro Campos Racing 1m58.142s
2 Thomas Strauven Campos Racing +0.104s
3 Ean Eyckmans MP Motorsport +0.158s
4 Rene Lammers MP Motorsport +0.313s
5 Vivek Kanthan Campos Racing +0.349s
6 Jan Przyrowski Campos Racing +0.397s
7 Hudson Schwartz MP Motorsport +0.566s
8 Miguel Costa Campos Racing +0.683s
9 Andrej Petrovic Tecnicar Motorsport +0.693s
10 Francisco Monarca Monlau Motorsport +0.805s
Race 2 grid
1 Strauven 1m58.365s
2 Kanthan +0.126s
3 Eyckmans +0.194s
4 Lammers +0.212s
5 Monteiro +0.242s
6 Przyrowski +0.268s
7 Schwartz +0.358s
8 Petrovic +0.628s
9 Costa +0.634s
10 Monarca +0.655s