Egozi claims pole for Spanish F4 finale, title contenders on row three

Photo: Campos Racing

Campos Racing’s James Egozi claimed pole for the Spanish Formula 4 finale at Barcelona in a cool qualifying session.

A circuit assessment by the safety car driver determined that the track was dry, so slick tyres were used.

Tecnicar Motorsport’s Wiktor Dobrzanski laid down the first benchmark, a 1m54.739s, four-and-a-half minutes into the 20-minute qualifying session but just as he was about to complete his next lap he was summoned back to the pitlane by race control and did no further running.

His team-mate Teodor Borenstein knocked him off top spot with a 1m53.675s lap, seconds before Drivex School’s Joanna Ciconte posted a 1m53.602s. All but Dobrzanski was now on track, although only four drivers had set laps seven minutes in.

Campos’s Enzo Tarnvanichkul went fourth fastest half a minute later, then Drivex’s Matus Ryba lowered the pace to 1m48.201s. Monlau Motorsport’s Hudson Schwartz reduced his gap at the top to 4.23 seconds a minute later, and after nine minutes there were 17 drivers with laptimes next to their name.

That number stuck though as Sainteloc Racing’s Oscar Wurz had his first flying lap come to an end at turn three, and red flags waved so his stopped car could be retrieved.

The session restarted five minutes later with just under 11 minutes left on the clock, and the next bunch of laptimes came in with seven minutes to go.

MP Motorsport’s Mattia Colnaghi set a 1m46.695s to lead Cram Motorsport’s Adam Hideg by 0.718s, with Global Racing Service’s Ariel Elkin demoting Ryba to fourth.

Ryba responded with a 1m44.661s, and with six minutes left held provisional pole by 1.063s over team-mate Juan Cota who had previously been in 28th place. Adam Al Azhari (Tecnicar Motorsport) and Griffin Peebles (MP) were now third and fourth, with 1.924s covering the top seven.

Egozi moved to the top with five minutes remaining, setting a 1m43.657s to lead Colnaghi by 0.388s and MP’s Maciej Gladysz by 0.741s.

Colnaghi then improved by a second, with Campos’s Jan Przyrowski and Andres Cardenas just 0.077s and 0.141s behind going into the final three minutes as Schwartz kept himself in the top four.

But Colnaghi’s lap was then deleted and he dropped to 21st, and Cota took first place with a 1m42.875s. Egozi beat that by 0.354s, and MP’s points leader Keanu Al Azhari went third fastest with 90s left of qualifying.

Tarnvanichkul got within 0.26s of Egozi, Cota even closer with a 0.191s defecit, then both he and Egozi improved on their final laps. The latter set a 1m42.290s, clinching a maiden pole by 0.246s.

Campos’s Ernesto Rivera also improved at the chequered flag, climbing from 19th to third, while title rivals Colnaghi and Al Azhari ended up fifth and sixth.

Qualifying results