Cota quickest in Spanish F4 test at Valencia, Lammers signed by A14

Photo: Spanish F4

MP Motorsport’s Juan Cota was quickest in Spanish Formula 4’s in-season test at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit.

The 36-car field was split into two groups, each with six sessions. Group A kicked off proceedings on Wednesday, and Thomas Strauven set a 1m34.168s to lead Drivex School’s Gino Trappa by 0.391 seconds and Campos Racing team-mate Jan Przyrowski by 0.467s.

MP’s Rene Lammers lowered the pace to 1m33.927s in group B, going fastest by 0.221s over Tecnicar Motorsport’s long-time leader Andrej Petrovic. Cota improved late on to be third, a further 0.042s back.

Lammers had the logos of A14 Management on his kit, with the Dutchman’s career now overseen by the Fernando Alonso-fronted firm.

Strauven improved to 1m34.062s in group A’s second session, pipping Rodin Motorsport’s to top spot by 0.106s and Przyrowski by 0.115s. Trappa and Campos’s Vivek Kanthan and Noah Monteiro were within 0.3s of Strauven, woth 0.326s covering the top eight.

Lammers set another benchmark in group B, posting a 1m33.795s on his final lap to pip fellow late improver Cota by 0.051s and Petrovic by 0.334s. MP’s Reno Francot was fourth, 0.405s off.

Przyrowski topped group A session three, setting a 1m34.175s. He had a 0.107s gap to Trappa, 0.126s to Strauven then Kanthan, Monlau Motorsport’s Miki Blascos and Campos’s Matus Ryba were split by 0.009s in fourth to sixth and within 0.36s of the pace.

MP’s Ean Eyckmans ended the day with a big improvement, setting a 1m34.332s to top the last session by 0.03s. Lammers was second, Petrovic was 0.097s behind in third and TC’s Alfio Spina was another non-improver in fourth while Global Racing Service’s Yani Stevenheydens made gains to be fifth fastest.

Group B headed out first on Thursday, and on the penultimate lap of the first session Cota set a 1m33.728s that would go unbeaten. He was fastest by 0.264s over Eyckmans and 0.269s over Lammers. Just 0.031s covered the next four drivers, all within half a second of the pace.

Strauven, Kanthan, Przyrowski and Monteiro set personal bests at the top of group A’s first session and were split by 0.144s. A 1m34.037s earned Strauven first place by 0.043s.

Lammers found a 0.005s gain when group B returned to track, and led Cota by 0.021s. MP’s Hudson Schwartz improved by 0.401s to 1m33.976s and put himself third overall in the test. Francot was 0.26s back in fourth.

Trappa climbed the combined classification in the next session, setting a 1m34.237s to pip Strauven to top spot by 0.006s. Drivex’s Christopher Feghali, Arthur Dorison and Monlau’s Lorenzo Campos were within 0.2s of Trappa, and 0.5s split the top 12.

A 1m34.461s was enough to put Eyckmans on top of group B’s last session, by 0.062s over Lammers and with 0.117s in hand over Cota, while a 1m34.247s earned Kanthan first place in group A’s final hour on track. Monteiro and Strauven were just 0.005s and 0.066s behind. In the test’s overall classification, a second covered the top 30.

Test results