Photo: Spanish F4
Spanish Formula 4’s season ended at Barcelona on Sunday with victories for Reno Francot and Ean Eyckmans.
The day began with qualifying, which set race three’s grid. TC Racing claimed its first ever pole as Alfio Spina topped the times by 0.221 seconds over Eyckmans, with Francot 0.338s behind.
G4 Racing’s Jean Paul Karras in seventh was one of only two non-MP Motorsport drivers in the top eight, who were split by a second on pace.
Rene Lammers and Jan Przyrowski, Eyckmans’ rivals for the championship runner-up spot, were eighth and 16th fastest, and champion Thomas Strauven qualified 10th.
They were spread out across the grid for race two as well, which had its starting order set by race one’s fastest laps. MP’s Reno Francot started on pole ahead of Campos Racing’s Vivek Kanthan and MP’s debutant Rocco Coronel, with Strauven seventh, Lammers ninth, Spina 10th, Przyrowski 11th and Eyckmans 17th.
Cold track temperatures meant the race started behind the safety car so drivers could warm their tyres. Francot led the field into action on lap three and gapped Kanthan immediately, then the safety car was called back out a lap later as Drivex School’s Filippo Fiorentino and Global Racing Service’s Alexandar Bogunovic crashed out.
The next restart was on lap eight, and Francot pulled away through the race’s second half to take his first win by 3.247s.
There was initially a train of cars from second down to ninth, but Kanthan and Coronel were able to shake off the group behind for their first podiums of the season.
MP’s Niklas Schaufler held fourth ahead of Campos’s Strauven and Ryba, and on the penultimate lap Strauven dived down Schaufler’s inside at turn 10. Schaufler had the better speed through turn 12 to stay ahead, then on the last lap Strauven had a look at turn one and tried a switchback move into the turn 10 hairpin.
Tecnicar Motorsport’s Andrej Petrovic finished seventh, and Przyrowski kept himself in the train by climbing to eighth. That required passing Lammers, who he forced an error from at turn 10 on lap 10. Next time by he dived down his inside there but Lammers was back alongside through turns 11 and 12, where contact then sent Lammers off and into the barriers.
Przyrowski only gained two points on his rivals, as Eyckmans struggled to 17th place. Drivex’s Christopher Feghali had an impressive race, charging from 15th to ninth.
Eyckmans rebounded with victory in race three, squeezing past Spina before the opening corner then pulling away after a safety car period. Francot made a great move on Spina for second on lap six, with Lammers and Przyrowski overtaking him later in the lap. Przyrowski had leapt to seventh on lap one, then passed Juan Cota and Strauven on the restart lap.
Lammers was his next target after Spina, but could not get past before an end-of-race safety car period. However a five-second penalty for track limits abuse dropped Lammers to 15th, ensuring Eyckmans became championship runner-up.
Once Spina dropped to sixth, his defensive driving improved and he lost no further places.
Results round-up
Race 2 (14 laps)
1 Reno Francot MP Motorsport 28m11.866s
2 Vivek Kanthan Campos Racing +3.247s
3 Rocco Coronel MP Motorsport +4.659s
4 Niklas Schaufler MP Motorsport +7.658s
5 Thomas Strauven Campos Racing +8.070s
6 Matus Ryba Campos Racing +8.407s
7 Andrej Petrovic Tecnicar Motorsport +9.683s
8 Jan Przyrowski Campos Racing +10.387s
9 Christopher Feghali Drivex School +11.700s
10 Santino Panetta TC Racing +13.096s
FL: Francot, 1m43.006s
Race 3 (17 laps)
1 Ean Eyckmans MP Motorsport 33m04.776s
2 Francot +0.227s
3 Przyrowski +0.852s
4 Strauven +1.137s
5 Alfio Spina TC Racing +1.518s
6 Petrovic +1.746s
7 Juan Cota MP Motorsport +2.795s
8 Jean Paul Karras G4 Racing +3.513s
9 Kanthan +3.723s
10 Ryba +3.843s
P: Spina, 1m58.539s
FL: Francot, 1m43.003s
Championship standings
1 Strauven 392 2 Eyckmans 235 3 Przyrowski 223 4 Lammers 220 5 Francot 153 6 Cota 118 7 Tye 108 8 Monteiro 97 9 Kanthan 80 10 Schaufler 75