Home News Javier Gonzalez wins on Spanish F4 return at Valencia

Javier Gonzalez wins on Spanish F4 return at Valencia

by Ida Wood

Javier Gonzalez returned to the Spanish Formula 4 championship at Valencia Ricardo Tormo, taking two wins and a second.

The 17-year-old Mexican currently races in Italian F4 with Jenzer Motorsport, and finished fifth in Spanish F4 last year with Drivex School.

He made his championship return with the team, taking third in qualifying behind Petr Ptacek, of the circuit-based Praga F4 team, and MP Motorsport’s Amaury Cordeel.

Cordeel started from the front for the first race, but a stall for him and a blundered jumped start for Ptacek meant Gonzalez was into the lead by the first corner, and he stayed there for the remainder of the race.

Cordeel finished second, ahead of Gonzalez’s team-mate Nazim Azman, and MP’s Patrick Schott and Laszlo Toth, another Italian F4 regular making an appearance in the championship.

Ptacek served a drive-through penalty for his starting woes, and then retired from the race on lap 11 of 19.

Championship leader Guillem Pujeu, driving for the FA Racing Team run by Fernando Alonso?s?karting mentor?Marco Genis, also received a drive-through penalty for jumping the start and finished sixth, ahead of Drivex’s Benjamin Goethe and Rafael Villanueva.

Gonzalez made it two wins out of two in the second race, with team-mate Azman finishing third once again. This time Ptacek’s race went to plan and he finished in second place, matching the result he achieved twice at last weekend’s Italian F4 round at Misano.

Having extended his championship lead in the first race thanks to the absense of MP’s Isaac Blomqvist, fourth place in second race saw it reduced by two points as Azman moved into second in the standings.

Ptacek went one better in the final race of the weekend, taking both the win and fastest lap from pole and moving into fourth in the standings.

Gonzalez finished 3.630 seconds back in second, putting him third in the standings, with Cordeel completing the podium and also doing enough to move into the top five in the standings.

Azman finished fourth, and is now four points off the championship lead after Pujeu retired.

Results round-up
Race 1 (17 laps)
1 Javier Gonzalez Drivex School 26m51.998s
2 Amaury Cordeel MP Motorsport +5.660s
3 Nazim Azman Drivex School +6.702s
4 Patrick Schott MP Motorsport +10.969s
5 Laszlo Toth MP Motorsport +18.909s
6 Guillem Pujeu FA Racing Team +26.706s
7 Benjamin Goethe Drivex School +33.665s
8 Rafael Villanueva Drivex School +33.958s
9 Rui Andrade Drivex School +37.899s
10 Filip Kaminiarz Drivex School +45.907s
Pole: Petr Ptacek, 1m33.008s
Fastest lap: Cordeel, 1m33.965s

Race 2 (13 laps)
1 Gonzalez 20m29.250s
2 Ptacek Praga F4 +0.479s
3 Azman +1.495s
4 Pujeu +7.274s
5 Villaneuva +16.974s
6 Toth +23.910s
7 Kaminiarz +26.948s
8 Andrade +30.004s
9 Schott +1m05.852s
10 Goethe +1m06.881s
FL: Cordeel, 1m33.681s

Race 3 (17 laps)
1 Ptacek 26m44.257s
2 Gonzalez +3.630s
3 Cordeel +3.912s
4 Azman +4.448s
5 Villanueva +15.492s
6 Schott +16.254s
7 Toth +21.288s
8 Goethe +31.225s
9 Andrade +38.039s
Ret Pujeu
P: Ptacek, 1m32.557s
FL: Ptacek, 1m33.530s

Championship Standings
1?Pujeu 81? ?2 Azman 77? ?3 Gonzalez 58? ?4 Ptacek 57? ?5 Cordeel 54? ?6 Isaac Blomqvist 48? ?7 Schott 46? ?8 Villanueva 44? ?9 Toth 20? ?10 Goethe 11