Photo: Spanish F4
Spanish Formula 4 may still have a four-way title fight with two rounds remaining, but Thomas Strauven is very close to the title.
In the Sunday races at Jerez on September 21, Campos Racing’s Jan Przyrowski started on pole both times but had a terrible day and his title hopes reduced.
Drivers’ second-best laptimes from the first qualifying session set race two’s grid, and a 1m43.979s earned Przyrowski race two pole by 0.402 seconds over MP Motorsport’s Rene Lammers, with team-mate Juan Cota the only other driver within 0.5s of his pace. The pole gap was larger than what covered second to 10th place.
As in race one, Przyrowski stalled and immediately dropped outside of the top 10. Lammers inherited the lead, ahead of Cota, Rodin Motorsport’s Nathan Tye and MP’s Ean Eyckmans.
Red Bull juniors Christopher Feghali and Niklas Schaufler fought over fifth, and Campos’s Strauven ended lap one in eighth.
Przyrowski started squabbling with Drivex School’s Gino Trappa for 10th behind, then they and MP’s Hudson Schwartz got past Strauven. He was now outside of the points positions, but the race would go his way.
Trappa was overtaken on lap five, and Shwartz passed Francot on lap seven as suspected electrical issues meant Strauven’s closest title rival Eyckmans slowed then headed to the pits to retire. Przyrowski was his next closest rival in the standings and he attacked Francot ahead.
Francot spun into the last corner on lap 11 under pressure, and Kanthan dived past Strauven into turn six on lap 12. But he still extended his points lead as he was promoted to ninth when Przyrowski got a time penalty. He almost gained another spot as Feghali began slowing before the race’s last corner and dropped from fourth to sixth, then stopped on track after the finish.
At the front, Lammers and Cota were well clear of the rest of the field.
In qualifying two, Przyrowski claimed race three pole by 0.087s over Strauven. Cota, Campos’s Noah Monteiro, Lammers and Eyckmans were all within 0.2s of pole.
This time Przyrowski did not stall, but was slow off the line and lost out to Strauven. He fended off Cota’s attacks, and the safety car was summoned after Schaufler and Tecnicar Motorsport’s Andrej Petrovic were eliminated in a clash also involving Feghali.
Racing resumed on lap five, and Strauven returned the field to racing pace early so he could make a gap. Lammers passed Cota, but could not keep up with the top two.
Strauven defended turn six on lap nine, Przyrowski eyed a move there on lap 15, then on the final lap Strauven defended the inside. Przyrowski tried passing around the outside but was squeezed off at the exit, leaving no further chances to stop Strauven from winning.
A five-second penalty then demoted Przyrowski to sixth, so Strauven grew his championship lead to 110 points over new closest rival Lammers.
Monteiro and Eyckmans finished ahead of Przyrowski, while Tye was gapped in seventh.
Results round-up
Race 2 (16 laps)
1 Rene Lammers MP Motorsport 27m59.674s
2 Juan Cota MP Motorsport +1.374s
3 Nathan Tye Rodin Motorsport +4.852s
4 Niklas Schaufler MP Motorsport +10.512s
5 Hudson Schwartz MP Motorsport +11.237s
6 Christopher Feghali Drivex School +13.248s
7 Gino Trappa Drivex School +15.027s
8 Vivek Kanthan Campos Racing +16.970s
9 Thomas Strauven Campos Racing +17.456s
10 Noah Monteiro Campos Racing +17.747s
Pole: Jan Przyrowski, 1m43.979s
Fastest lap: Cota, 1m44.350s
Race 3 (17 laps)
1 Strauven 32m34.068s
2 Lammers +2.188s
3 Cota +3.840s
4 Noah Monteiro Campos Racing +4.456s
5 Ean Eyckmans MP Motorsport +5.033s
6 Jan Przyrowski Campos Racing +6.080s
7 Tye +6.617s
8 Kanthan +9.990s
9 Trappa +11.053s
10 Kaiden Higgins Drivex School +12.798s
P: Przyrowski, 1m43.198s
FL: Przyrowski, 1m44.627s
Championship standings
1 Strauven 278 2 Lammers 168 3 Eyckmans 162 4 Przyrowski 146 5 Cota 111 6 Tye 96 7 Francot 82 8 Monteiro 81 9 Schaufler 57 10 Kanthan 53