Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
Jules Caranta and Vivek Kanthan topped practice for Eurocup-3 and Spanish Formula 4’s winter champiosnhips at Algarve on Friday.
Before the event, Campos Racing revised its driver rotation plan to bring in Enzo Tarnvanichkul in the second of its Red Bull-branded cars and have Ernesto Rivera drive it next month at Motorland Aragon rather than the other way around.
Another change to its line-up was Spanish F4 race-winner Lucas Fluxa replacing Tsolov’s fellow FIA F3 racer Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak.
Also joining the field this weekend is Zack Scoular, who is driving for Palou Motorsport ahead of his main series campaign with the team, and Valerio Rinicella (who won both races of 2024’s non-championship Eurocup-3 event) replaces Matteo Comparatto at MP Motorsport.
Caranta topped FP1, setting a 1m39.261s to pip team-mate Kacper Sztuka by 0.094 seconds and MP’s Maciej Gladysz by a further 0.001s. Fluxa was fourth, 0.128s off the top, and Drivex School’s Juan Cota was fifth fastest. It was incredibly close further down the order, as just 0.104s split Palou Motorsport’s Luciano Morano in eighth and MP’s Alexander Abkhazava in 15th. A further five drivers were within three quarters of a second of Caranta, and Scoular was down in 24th place.
Tarnvanichkul was quickest in FP2, setting a 1m39.600s to edge Gladysz by 0.08s. Caranta and Sztuka trailed by 0.28s in third and fourth, and Campos’s Jesse Carrasquedo Jr was fifth. Fluxa was 0.451s off Tarnvanichkul, and a second covered the top 15.
Only three drivers improved their pace: Tarnvanichkul, who was eighth fastest overall, and Allay Racing’s Emil and Linus Hellberg.
There are also changes to Spanish F4’s entry list at Algarve. MP has a sixth car out for Reno Francot, who is currently fifth in F4 Middle East and was 14th in Italian F4 last year, and making their single-seater debuts with Cram Motorsport and Tecnicar Motorsport respectively are Alexandar Bogunovic and Nacho Tunon.
Slovenian teenager Bogunovic was fifth in the FIA Motorsport Games’ junior karting event, sixth in the Trofeo delle Industrie’s OK Junior class and seventh in the FIA Karting Academy Trophy in 2022, but lacked strong results when he stepped up to senior karting in 2023.
Tunon, from Spain, finished 15th in the CIK-FIA World championship three years ago when racing on OK karts, and was 13th in the Italian championship. Last year he raced on KZ2 shifter karts and was 18th in the CIK-FIA European championship.
Campos’s Kanthan was the pacesetter in FP1, a 1m44.699s putting him a third of a second ahead of team-mate Jan Przyrowski. Thomas Strauven made it a Campos 1-2-3, and Drivex’s Christopher Feghali was the only other driver within a second of Kanthan.
Kathan improved to 1m44.506s in FP2, and Przyrowski reduced his advantage to 0.145s. Strauven was third again, only 0.276s behind, and MP’s Rene Lammers and Rodin Motorsport’s Nathan Tye were 0.5s back in fourth and fifth.
The majority of drivers set new personal bests, with only 11 of the 36 not improving.
Results round-up
Eurocup-3 winter series practice
1 Jules Caranta Campos Racing 1m39.261s
2 Kacper Sztuka Campos Racing +0.094s
3 Maciej Gladysz MP Motorsport +0.095s
4 Lucas Fluxa Campos Racing +0.128s
5 Juan Cota Drivex School +0.174s
6 Oscar Wurz Drivex School +0.277s
7 Mattia Colnaghi MP Motorsport +0.328s
8 Enzo Tarnvanichkul Campos Racing +0.339s
9 Luciano Morano Palou Motorsport +0.377s
10 James Egozi Palou Motorsport +0.421s
Spanish F4 Winter Championship practice
1 Vivek Kanthan Campos Racing 1m44.506s
2 Jan Przyrowski Campos Racing +0.145s
3 Thomas Strauven Campos Racing +0.276s
4 Rene Lammers MP Motorsport +0.565s
5 Nathan Tye Rodin Motorsport +0.566s
6 Christopher Feghali Drivex School +0.621s
7 Ean Eyckmans MP Motorsport +0.717s
8 Alfio Spina TC Racing +0.874s
9 Miguel Costa Campos Racing +0.895s
10 Matus Ryba Campos Racing +0.942s