Photo: F4 CEZ
Kirill Kutskov held off Oscar Wurz and Max Karhan to win a thrilling Formula 4 Central European Zone race one at the Salzburgring to keep the title fight going.
The top three ran nose-to-tail virtually throughout, with Wurz repeatedly drawing alongside down the back straight and through the fast Fahrerlagerkurve right-hander but Kutskov holding the inside line each time.
However, the quality of the racing at the front was not matched by the quantity of cars in the race as only seven took part.
Kutskov had pipped Wurz to pole by just 0.095 seconds, as he sought to claw back a 49-point deficit coming into the season-ending weekend.
He got a strong launch from the rolling start, but Wurz was immediately on his tail and by the end of lap one was in front.
After dropping back slightly on lap three, Kutskov was back on the leader’s gearbox the next time around, pulling out of Wurz’s slipstream down the back straight on lap five to retake the lead.
The fighting allowed Karhan to join the battle and soon less than a second separating the three. Karhan admitted after the race that he had been happy to keep out of their battle, waiting to see whether they would make contact “as they have before”.
Wurz had the edge on top speed, and Kutskov told Formula Scout after the race that “they had less aerodynamics than we did, so they were very fast on the straight”.
With Kutskov forcing Wurz to go around the outside, he was unable to find a way through and the leader held on to win by 0.282s.
Karhan finished a further 0.321s behind, with Simon Schranz taking a lonely fourth for Renauer Motorsport on his second weekend in the championship.
The Salzburgring was staging its first event for contemporary single-seaters for 18 years, and the fast and bumpy track in the shadow of the Alps made life tricky for some of the field.
Jenzer’s Teodor Borenstein made a welcome return to the cockpit after his huge accident at Most in August, taking to the track for practice and qualifying but never intending to race as he continues his recuperation ahead of a planned full 2025 campaign.
After an incident in practice left Kornelia Olkucka with a minor crack in the tub, Maffi Racing decided not to take any risks and withdrew her entry.
Race results (18 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kirill Kutskov | Maffi Racing | 26m10.362s |
| 2 | Oscar Wurz | Jenzer Motorsport | +0.282s |
| 3 | Max Karhan | Jenzer Motorsport | +0.603s |
| 4 | Simon Schranz | Renauer Motorsport | +10.899s |
| 5 | Nathaniel Berreby | Maffi Racing | +27.918s |
| 6 | Michalina Sabaj | AS Motorsport | +28.042s |
| 7 | Frantisek Nemec | F4 CEZ Academy | +37.994s |
| Fastest lap: Wurz, 1m22.545s
Championship standings |
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