Photo: Spanish Winter Championship
Drivex School’s Nathan Tye leads the Spanish Formula 4 Winter Championship, also known as E4, after round one at Algarve.
The top 12 from qualifying one were reversed to form the front of race two’s grid on Saturday, putting Luna Fluxa (Campos Racing) on pole ahead of Simon Bulbarella (Drivex) and Daniel Kelleher (Campos). Race one winner Tye started 11th, and Andrej Petrovic (Tecnicar Motorsport) lined up fifth.
An amazing launch lifted Rocco Coronel from eighth to third by the opening corner, and MP Motorsport team-mate Reno Francot took a few corners to rise from 10th to sixth. Petrovic tried taking the lead from Fluxa around the turn five hairpin but was sent off and then attacked through turn 10 as well before the safety car neutralised the action. Pablo Riccobono (Global Racing Service) had been wheeled off the pit straight, and Aleix Pinera (Tecnicar) had stopped further around the lap.
Kelleher sat third after starting slowly but then passing Coronel, and there was crash drama on lap two that put Felipe Reijs (MP) and Beau Lowetter (TC Racing) out.
Racing resumed on lap six, and Petrovic got alongside Fluxa twice before making an overtake stick. He then maintained a gap that did not allow her to fight back, and won by 0.865 seconds. Coronel went down Kelleher’s inside into turn one on lap seven, and Francot then attacked Kelleher hard through lap nine until he found a way past.
Kasper Schormans (MP) and Tye finished sixth and seventh, and Noah Monteiro (Campos) charged from 31st to 10th.
Sunday morning began with qualifying two, and Tye edged Monteiro to pole by 0.041s. Vivek Kanthan (Campos) was 0.183s off in third, and 0.071s split Francot, Petrovic and Nacho Tunon (Tecnicar) in the next places. Ty Fisher (Campos), Coronel, Schormans and Kelleher were also within 0.5s of pole, and one second covered the top 19.
Tye was not pressured at first in race three, as Kanthan resisted Francot’s attacks for third place. Monteiro was filling Tye’s mirrors from lap four onwards, then the safety car appeared on lap eight as Schormans had stopped on track. On the lap 11 restart, Tye left it as late as possible to return to racing speeds but did not spend long at pace as Philippe Armand Karras (G4 Racing), Kelleher and Fisher collided at turn five and Jacob Micallef (Campos) retired after spinning.
Two laps remained when racing resumed, and Tye held off Monteiro for a points lead-extending second win.
Francot had attacked Kanthan again at turn five on lap five but gone off, twice on the lap 15 restart, then on the final lap squeezed down Kanthan’s inside at turn five and forced him deep. That left room on the inside for Coronel to slip past for third, and contact with Francot heading to turn six then dropped Kanthan behind Petrovic and Tunon.
Results round-up
Race 2 (11 laps)
1 Andrej Petrovic Tecnicar Motorsport 23m13.549s
2 Luna Fluxa Campos Racing +0.865s
3 Rocco Coronel MP Motorsport +1.771s
4 Reno Francot MP Motorsport +3.590s
5 Daniel Kelleher Campos Racing +4.235s
6 Kasper Schormans MP Motorsport +6.286s
7 Nathan Tye Drivex School +6.970s
8 Nacho Tunon Tecnicar Motorsport +7.613s
9 Vivek Kanthan Campos Racing +7.884s
10 Noah Monteiro Campos Racing +9.172s
Fastest lap: Francot, 1m45.957s
Race 3 (16 laps)
1 Tye 33m25.892s
2 Monteiro +0.361s
3 Coronel +1.860s
4 Francot +2.263s
5 Petrovic +2.650s
6 Tunon +3.127s
7 Kanthan +3.775s
8 Fluxa +4.534s
9 Jean Paul Karras G4 Racing +5.218s
10 Simon Bulbarella Drivex School +7.434s
Pole: Tye, 1m44.796s
FL: Kanthan, 1m45.142s
Championship standings
1 Tye 56 2 Monteiro 31 3 Kanthan 30 4 Petrovic 28 5 Tunon 26 6 Coronel 23 7 Francot 22 8 Schormans 15 9 Fluxa 13 10 Kelleher 12