Photo: F4 CEZ
Jenzer Motorsport’s Gino Trappa became Formula 4 Central European Zone champion in the season finale at Brno.
Track action began on Friday afternoon, with free practice and qualifying. In practice, Nicolas Cortes set a 1m58.204s to pip Mathilda Paatz by 0.154 seconds. Jenzer’s title contenders Gino Trappa and Max Karhan were 0.256s and 0.302s behind in third and fourth.
Javier Herrera was fifth in practice, and rose to the top in qualifying. He claimed pole by a very narrow margin, setting a 1m58.041s to deny Cortes top spot by 0.024s and Karhan by 0.06s. Trappa was fourth, 0.116s back, and Paatz was half a second off the pace in fifth.
Race one began with four-wide action, and Karhan got into second while Kirill Kutskov (who was ineligible for points) had risen from eighth to fourth after turn one. Herrera managed a small gap over Karhan to win, and on the penultimate lap Kutskov overtook Cortes for third. Paatz was fifth and Trappa was an isolated sixth.
Andreas Lo Bue was seventh until Benett Gaspar overtook him on the penultimate lap. Lo Bue tried getting back at the next corner but locked up and spun Gaspar around, earning himself a 10s penalty that put him eighth while Gaspar finished 15th out of 20.
Those positions set race two’s grid on Sunday, and Herrera led home Karhan again in a dominant performance. Cortes lost fourth on lap one via a big crash with Hady Mimassi at turn three, putting Paatz in the position. She continually pressured Kutskov, and on lap 11 the cars behind joined in.
Teodor Borenstein had gone from 12th to seventh on lap one, and passed Trappa for fifth on lap two as David Gorcica slipped back.
A five-car train formed on lap 12, and on the last lap Borenstein passed Paatz on the outside of turn five. Trappa got her at turn five, and Gaspar did too later in the lap. Cortes fell to 14th on lap one, recovering two places on lap seven, another two on lap nine and Nicole Havrda on the last lap.
Cortes started on reversed-grid pole for race three, and was immediately passed by Kutskov and Karhan, who was 17 points behind Trappa and needed to win. Lo Bue had an off mid-lap and dropped to 14th.
Karhan tried Kutskov’s inside at turns one and three on lap three, then red flags waved on lap five due to Michalina Sabaj spinning Kiara Henni, with Igor Polak and Frantisek Nemec (who could continue) going off in avoidance.
The restart was 15 minutes later, with one lap behind the safety car. Once the field was released, Kutskov continued to hold off Karhan. Trappa finished fifth, becoming champion by nine points, and Gorcica won his duel with Gaspar for eighth.
Had he been eligible for points, Kutskov’s results from the two rounds he contested would have put him sixth in the standings.
Results round-up
Race 1 (13 laps)
1 Javier Herrera Jenzer Motorsport 26m06.811s
2 Max Karhan Jenzer Motorsport +1.041s
3 Kirill Kutskov Maffi Racing +1.566s
4 Nicolas Cortes Jenzer Motorsport +4.073s
5 Mathilda Paatz Mathilda Racing +4.440s
6 Gino Trappa Jenzer Motorsport +6.092s
7 Hady Mimassi Renauer Motorsport +10.769s
8 Andreas Lo Bue Maffi Racing +21.876s
9 Simon Schranz Renauer Motorsport +22.033s
10 David Gorcica Janik Motorsport +22.750s
Pole: Herrera, 1m58.041s
Fastest lap: Cortes, 1m59.198s
Race 2 (13 laps)
1 Herrera 26m01.040s
2 Karhan +3.736s
3 Kutskov +18.195s
4 Teodor Borenstein Maffi Racing +18.480s
5 Trappa +18.659s
6 Benett Gaspar Zengo Motorsport +19.819s
7 Paatz +20.107s
8 Gorcica +25.319s
9 Cortes +27.778s
10 Nicole Havrda JMT Racing +28.533s
FL: Herrera, 1m58.739s
Race 3 (12 laps)
1 Kutskov 41m55.459s
2 Karhan +0.936s
3 Cortes +1.282s
4 Herrera +2.029s
5 Trappa +2.386s
6 Paatz +2.726s
7 Mimassi +6.383s
8 Gorcica +8.746s
9 Gaspar +8.953s
10 Schranz +9.858s
FL: Trappa, 1m59.283s
Championship standings
1 Trappa 294 2 Karhan 285 3 Herrera 189 4 Cortes 128 5 Mimassi 126 6 David Walther 113 7 Paatz 94 8 Schranz 69 9 Gaspar 57 10 Lo Bue 53