Mattia Colnaghi claims dominant first Spanish F4 win at Paul Ricard

Photo: F4 Spain

MP Motorsport’s Mattia Colnaghi took his first single-seater victory in the opening Spanish Formula 4 race at Paul Ricard.

It was super close at the top in the first practice session, with Rodin Motorsport’s Thomas Strauven setting a 2m05.751s to pip MP’s Maciej Gladyz and Keanu Al Azhari by 0.02 seconds. Colnaghi was 0.067s behind in fourth, and Campos Racing’s Ernesto Rivera was 0.216s slower than Strauven in fifth. The top 20 were spread by 0.963s.

Drivex School was supposed to have Pacome Weisenburger, who contested this year’s French F4 season opener, in its line-up but the 15-year-old was absent.

FP2 was slightly slower, topped by Gladysz with a 2m05.849s lap. He was fastest by 0.065s over Strauven and 0.106s over Colnaghi. Sainteloc Racing’s Matteo Quintarelli was fourth.

Rivera was quickest early in the first qualifying session, then Global Racing Service’s Douwe Dedecker set a 2m07.294s benchmark. Gladyz smashed that with a 2m06.495s, before Strauven set a 2m06.361s with 11 minutes to go.

A minute later Gladysz reclaimed top spot with a 2m05.836s and team-mate Lucas Fluxa jumped to second, only to promptly drop to sixth as Colnaghi lowered the pace to 2m05.625s, his team-mate Griffin Peebles went second fastest and Campos duo Rivera and Jan Przyrowski improved to fourth and fifth.

Gladysz got within 0.093s of Colnaghi with eight-and-a-half minutes left of Q1, and both improved with four minutes to go. Colnaghi set a 2m05.449s, and Gladysz was 0.013s slower than him.

Al Azhari entered the top five, and on his next lap took provisional pole by 0.021s. Another improvement from third-placed Gladysz brought him to within 0.007s of Colnaghi.

Colnaghi returned to the top five seconds before the chequered flag waved to snatch pole by 0.009s. Drivex’s Juan Cota was one of the first to meet the chequered flag after and he went fourth fastest.

Fluxa’s title hopes were dealt a blow when he stalled at the start of race one and retired with car damage, causing an early safety car period. Colanaghi made good use of pole to lead away from the inside of the front row, while Al Azhari lost second to Cota into turn one.

Colnaghi quickly pulled clear at the restart and dominated the remainder of the 30-minute contest to win by 6.5s. Al Azhari was demoted to fourth by Campos’s James Egozi and then was forced to pit approaching the halfway stage after running wide and losing his front wing on a kerb.

The battle for second intensified in the race’s second half, with Egozi trying a move up the inside of Cota only to then lose out to team-mate Rivera. In the closing stages Rivera dived up the inside of Cota at the final corner, but the latter held on after a drag race to turn one.

Cota maintained second until the finish ahead of Egozi and Gladysz, while Rivera outbraked himself into the chicane and slipped back to fifth.

Tye was a further second adrift in sixth, while Peebles lost four places at the start before recovering one spot to seventh. Strauven made up ground on Al Alzhari and Fluxa in the championship by finishing eighth ahead of Quintarelli and Monlau Motorsport’s Tim Gerhards.

Race results (14 laps)