Photo: RFEDA
Juan Cota claimed another two wins on Sunday to complete a surprise Spanish Formula 4 hat-trick at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo Circuit.
Drivex racer Cota, who was 13th in the standings in his sophomore season before taking his maiden victory in Saturday’s first race of the weekend, began the day by claiming pole position for race three ahead of the championship’s top two, Keanu Al Azhari and Mattia Colnaghi.
It was Colnaghi who started race two from pole, but Cota made a better getaway from alongside him on the front row to lead the pack towards the first corner. Behind, third-place starter Alex Ninovic didn’t initially get away from third on the grid, just like Colnaghi in race one, allowing Al Azhari to gain the place.
Colnaghi set the fastest lap early on as he kept the pressure on, but Cota responded well before his team-mate Francisco Macedo triggered a late safety car when he found the gravel. Cota had to go defensive against Colnaghi down the pit straight at the restart, but held on to win by 0.8 seconds.
Al Azhari was followed across the line by MP Motorsport team-mates Maciej Gladysz and Griffin Peebles. Gabriel Gomez followed taking his first points with Thibaut Courtois’ TC Racing team with ninth place in race one by finishing sixth, in front of Red Bull juniors Ernesto Rivera and Enzo Tarnvanichkul.
Cota made another good start to race three from pole, leading fellow front-row starter Al Azhari into the first turn.
Thereafter, in a race than ran green all the way to the chequered flag, Cota was able to just pull away from his competition, this time finishing more than 10 seconds clear.
Title rivals Al Azhari and Colnaghi completed the podium ahead of Peebles and Thomas Strauven. Gladysz finished 10th after qualifying down in 13th, losing ground in the standings with two rounds to go.
Results round-up
Race 2 (16 laps)
1 Juan Cota Drivex School 26m40.238s
2 Mattia Colnaghi MP Motorsport +0.816s
3 Keanu Al Azhari MP Motorsport +1.575s
4 Maciej Gladyz MP Motorsport +2.149s
5 Griffin Peebles MP Motorsport +2.969s
6 Gabriel Gomez TC Racing +3.692s
7 Ernesto Rivera Campos Racing +4.069s
8 Enzo Tarnvanichkul Campos Racing +4.397s
9 Andres Cardenas Campos Racing +4.885s
10 Thomas Strauven Rodin Motorsport +5.694s
Pole: Colnaghi, 1m32.998s
Fastest lap: Colnaghi, 1m33.502s
Race 3 (21 laps)
1 Cota 32m57.335s
2 Al Azhari +10.391s
3 Colnaghi +11.333s
4 Peebles +12.492s
5 Strauven +13.579s
6 James Egozi Campos Racing +15.089s
7 Francisco Macedo Drivex School +15.580s
8 Alex Ninovic Rodin Motorsport +16.383s
9 Lucas Fluxa MP Motorsport +17.283s
10 Gladydz +18.080s
P: Cota, 1m32.618s
FL: Cota, 1m33.602s
Championship standings
1 Al Azhari 193 2 Colnaghi 161 3 Gladysz 139 4 Fluxa 106 5 Rivera 104 6 Strauven 102 7 Cota 98 8 Egozi 91 9 Peebles 90 10 Jan Przyrowski 63