Photo: F4 CEZ
Ethan Ischer won the first two Formula 4 Central European Zone races at Balaton Park, but as he was ineligible for points it is Oscar Wurz who leads the championship.
As reigning champion, Ischer had been granted a wildcard entry to race in the event for Jenzer Motorsport and made the most of it. He and team-mate Wurz topped a practice session each on Friday, with Shimo Zhang third fastest overall.
After pipping Wurz to pole in qualifying by 0.128 seconds, Ischer held off the son of ex-Formula 1 star Alex Wurz into the opening corner of race one.
Despite pulling away in the early laps, Ischer was unable to shake off Wurz, who closed back onto the leader’s tail by half-distance but was unable to find a way past.
Contact with a fast-starting Jonathan Correrella dropped their team-mate Zhang back to eighth, but thereafter the Chinese driver was flying, setting the fastest lap as he charged his way back to the podium.
Race two followed a similar pattern with Wurz shadowing Ischer and looking in vain for a way past. Ischer held his lead despite two safety car periods and a red flag.
Zhang locked up into the first corner and dropped behind Maffi Racing’s Kirill Kutskov. While he was able to stay within a second of the top two, Zhang’s race finished in the barriers and that brought about the second safety car period.
Reigning karting world champion Kutskov made a perfect getaway from reversed-grid pole in race three, with race two’s top four finishers flipped to form the front of the grid.
As Zhang bogged down, Ischer and Wurz swept past, renewing their ongoing battle, while Zhang began another charge through the field from dead last into the first corner.
Wurz was obviously keen to get the better of Ischer, challenging for second on lap one but then dropping back into third.
After another safety car appearance following an incident between two of the female drivers, Kornelia Olkucka and Michalina Sabaj, Kutskov managed the restart to perfection. Wurz immediately onto Ischer’s tail, eventually outbraking his rival into the chicane at the end of the back straight on lap eight.
Wurz closed to within 0.2s of Kutskov at the flag but the Russian held on to take his first car racing win. Ischer had to settle for third, with Formula Renault champion and Gender Racing Team driver Correrella in fourth ahead of the recovering Zhang.
Results round-up
Race 1 (16 laps)
1 Ethan Ischer Jenzer Motorsport 26m20.474s
2 Oscar Wurz Jenzer Motorsport +1.196s
3 Shimo Zhang Jenzer Motorsport +10.774s
4 Kirill Kutskov Maffi Racing +27.702s
5 Miroslav Mikes JMT Racing +28.034s
6 Andrija Kostic Jenzer Motorsport +31.025s
7 Max Karhan Jenzer Motorsport +33.354s
8 Jonathan Correrella Gender Racing Team +34.212s
9 Marek Micik Sape Motorsport +38.358s
10 Michelle Jandova Sape Motorsport +1m13.856s
Pole: Ischer, 1m37.322s
Fastest lap: Zhang, 1m37.896s
Race 2 (12 laps)
1 Ischer 25m49.814s
2 Wurz +1.207s
3 Kutskov +3.325s
4 Karhan +5.086s
5 Mikes +5.727s
6 Luca Savu Renauer Motorsport +7.594s
7 Micik +8.103s
8 Michalina Sabaj AS Motorsport +9.195s
9 Kostic +9.505s
10 Franciszek Halatnik Janik Motorsport +15.001s
FL: Ischer, 1m37.546s
Race 3 (13 laps)
1 Kutskov 25m23.104s
2 Wurz +0.181s
3 Ischer +1.037s
4 Correrella +5.176s
5 Zhang +6.623s
6 Mikes +8.645s
7 Savu +9.435s
8 Kostic +9.928s
9 Micik +12.834s
10 Karhan +13.643s
FL: Wurz, 1m38.029s
Championship standings
1 Wurz 68 2 Kutskov 58 3 Mikes 34 4 Zhang 30 5 Karhan 25 6 Correrella 21 7 Kostic 20 8 Savu 19 9 Micik 16 10 Sabaj 6