Gladysz takes second successive Spanish F4 win in Aragon race one

Photo: Spanish F4

Maciej Gladysz took his second Spanish Formula 4 win in a row in race one at Motorland Aragon.

Gladysz set a 1m57.942s to top free practice one, leading an MP Motorsport 1-2-3. Mattia Colnaghi was 0.241 seconds behind in second, Keanu Al Azhari trailed by 0.435s in third and Drivex School’s Juan Cota was 0.741s back in fourth. The gap covering the top four was the same as fourth to 22nd place.

FP2 was slightly slower, with Al Azhari setting a 1m57.967s to lead the way. Rodin Motorsport’s Thomas Strauven was 0.14s slower than him in second place, Colnaghi was 0.196s behind in third, with Gladysz and Drivex’s Mikkel Pedersen 0.239s and 0.292s back in fourth and fifth. The top 17 in the session were covered by a second.

Gladysz returned to the top in qualifying, going fastest by a sizeable 0.492s with a 1m58.734s lap. Campos Racing’s James Egozi was his closest rival, and Colnaghi was 0.541s off the pace in third. MP’s Lucas Fluxa in 14th was closer to second place than second was to first, and points leader Al Azhari was only 12th fastest. Campos’s Ernesto Rivera, who entered the event fourth in the standings, qualified 17th.

On second-best laptimes, Gladysz also had a big advantage. His 1m58.784s lap earned him race two pole by 0.527s over Campos’s Nathan Tye.

Enzo Tarnvanichkul (Campos) and Rene Lammers (MP) were third and fourth, Pedersen and Fluxa were 0.9s back in fifth and sixth while Griffin Peebles (MP) and Peter Bouzinelos (Rodin) were matched on pace 0.998s behind the poleman in seventh and eighth.

Race one took place in 38C heat, and Egozi had a slow start while Strauven peeled away from his fourth place grid spot then stopped. Campos’s Jan Przyrowski spun off a few corners in, Egozi had a chicane-cutting off and the safety car was summoned as Tecnicar Motorsport’s Lorenzo Castillo crashed out.

Gladysz ended lap one leading Colnaghi, Tye, Egozi, Tarnvanichkhul and Lammers, and they were set free to race again on lap four.

Egozi almost had an off at the same place as before and lost out to Tarnvnichkul, then Lammers and Al Azhari on the next lap, before the safety car returned due to Global Racing Service’s Alexander Jacoby crashing.

The next restart was on lap nine, and Lammers passed Tarnvanickhul for fourth after several corners of wheel-to-wheel action. Al Azhari also cleared him late in the lap, as Gladysz created a small gap over Colnaghi.

MP team-mates Lammers and Al Azhari started to battle, and an off for the former exiting turn one on lap 11 lost him two spots. Rivera retired in the pits, and in the remaining two tours there were more position changes.

A mistake from Fluxa lost him eighth to Cram Motorsport’s Adam Hideg, and Al Azhari did a dummy move on Tye to snatch third. It mattered little since Tye had a 15s penalty for track limits violations, which dropped him to 14th, while Fluxa fell to 28th on the final lap.

Race results (13 laps)