Photo: F4 CEZ/Petr Fryba
Jenzer Motorsport’s Elia Weiss wrapped up the F4 Central European Zone title in style with two victories on the series’ first trip to the Hungaroring since 2023. However, championship runner-up Teo Borenstein denied his team-mate an 11th win by taking victory in the final race of the weekend.
Jenzer Motorsport rounded off another near-perfect season by adding the Rookie title courtesy of Markas Silkunas and the Women’s Trophy thanks to Ella Hakkinen to go with the teams’ and drivers’ titles.
Weiss made sure of the title at the earliest opportunity, mastering the tricky conditions to win the opening heat from pole position, as his main rival, Borenstein, came home third behind their team-mate Silkunas. The race started behind the safety car in the light drizzle with most of the field opting for slicks. Ginevra Panzeri took a punt on wets to storm into an early lead but was soon overhauled by Weiss and the rest of the field as the Italian dropped back to 19th at the flag.
The third driver with a thin outside chance of taking the title, Max Karhan, was out of contention immediately after getting a puncture in a collision with Simon Rechenmacher before the race even went green.
Georgiy Zasov took advantage of Weiss’s absence from the second race to record his second win of the season, holding off Borenstein to the flag.
Weiss took a dominant victory in the third heat, leading from lights-to-flag while Zasov inherited second after Silkunas was given a 10s penalty for a jump start.
Borenstein managed to get some recompense for his efforts in the final as he took advantage of an early safety car restart to get past polesitter Weiss throughs Turns 2 and 3. Borenstein held the lead to the end, despite the race being halted after an accident for Benett Gaspar.
Zasov finished third on the road after a tense battle with Rechenmacher but was later penalised for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. That penalty promoted Hitech’s Archie Owen to fourth on the British team’s first appearance in the F4 CEZ championship.
The new champion admitted that “it will take a while for everything to really sink in. It’s been an incredible season for me and the whole team. We kept improving from race to race, everyone worked incredibly hard, and we all pushed each other to get better.
“It was actually the first time racing at this circuit for all of us, but I knew we had the potential to be very competitive again,” he said. “To be honest, though, I wouldn’t say I arrived here feeling completely relaxed. Maybe I was a little calmer than at previous rounds, but definitely not entirely.
“Fortunately, we managed to get great starts in all three races. It was only in the final race that I made a small mistake after the restart, which ultimately cost us the victory,” Weiss added. “It’s an amazing feeling.”
Results round-up
Race 1 (12 laps)
1 Elia Weiss Jenzer Motorsport 25m36.394s
2 Markas Silkunas Jenzer Motorsport +0.580s
3 Teo Borenstein Jenzer Motorsport +1.405s
4 Simon Rechenmacher Cram Motorsport +6.279s
5 Erik Poulsen STEP Motorsport +6.750s
6 Dean Pedersen Mathilda Racing +7.149s
7 Victoria Farfus Cram Motorsport +15.025s
8 David Gorcica Janik Motorsport +15.235s
9 Viktor Poulsen STEP Motorsport +15.953s
10 Antonio Errigo Technorace Competition +17.135s
Pole: Weiss, 1m45.193s
Fastest lap: Silkunas, 1m47.190s
Race 2 (13 laps)
1 Georgiy Zasov Jenzer Motorsport 25m17.653s
2 Borenstein +0.454s
3 Max Karhan Jenzer Motorsport +1.084s
4 Aleksandar Bogunovic ABA Racing by SG Motors +2.597s
5 Erik Poulsen +3.243s
6 Farfus +3.807s
7 Ginevra Panzeri PA Racing by AS Motorsport +4.808s
8 Francesco Pio Coppola Technorace Competition +5.194s
9 Errigo +5.832s
10 Archie Owen Hitech +6.138s
Pole: Borenstein, 1m45.248s
Fastest lap: Zasov, 1m45.909s
Race 3 (15 laps)
1 Weiss 26m33.670s
2 Zasov +3.742s
3 Silkunas +12.073s
4 Rechenmacher +14.199s
5 Bogunovic +15.451s
6 Pio Coppola +16.029s
7 Pedersen +21.145s
8 Benet Gaspar Zengo Motorsport +30.408s
9 Ella Hakkinen Jenzer Motorsport +32.675s
10 Mio Olert SG Motors +35.970s
Pole: Weiss, 1m45.193s
Fastest lap: Zasov, 1m45.477s
Race 4 – Final (11 laps)
1 Borenstein 23m06.904s
2 Weiss +1.213s
3 Rechenmacher +6.383s
4 Owen +7.138s
5 Bogunovic +7.990s
6 Pedersen +8.691s
7 Erik Poulsen +9.045s
8 Zasov +9.794s
9 Coppola +9.934s
10 Gorcica +10.595s
Pole: Weiss
Fastest lap: Borenstein, 1m46.043s
Championship standings (Final)
1 Weiss 369 2 Borenstein 318 3 Karhan 256 4 David Walther 237 5 Rechenmacher 197 6 Silkunas 192 7 Zasov 185 8 Bogunovic 167 9 Pio Coppola 115 10 Pedersen 107