Przyrowski’s pre-race patience rewarded as he wins Spanish F4 farce

Photo: Spanish Winter Championship

Jan Przyrowski leaves round one of the Spanish Formula 4 Winter Championship at Jerez as points leader after winning race three.

Qualifying two kicked off Sunday’s action, and there were 13 drivers who spent time on top. The first representative laptime was a 1m46.575s from MP Motorsport’s Niklas Schaufler, who was swiftly beaten by Rodin Motorsport’s Nathan Tye. Schaufler improved to 1m45.177s on his next lap, which kept him ahead until Campos Racing’s Przyrowski posted a 1m44.388s.

Tecniar Motorsport Sacha Van’t Pad Bosch beat him by 0.129s, and team-mate Andrej Petrovic then went faster by 0.203s.

Petrovic next lapped in the 1m43s, and his benchmark stood until the final laps of qualifying. Przyrowski claimed pole with a 1m43.477s, team-mate Vivek Kanthan got within 0.241s of him and Schaufler was sixth behind Campos’s Thomas Strauven and Matus Ryba.

Just 0.013s split MP’s Rene Lammers in seventh and Drivex School’s Christopher Feghali in 11th, with Tye, Campos’s Noah Monteiro and Van’t Pad Bosch between them.

Aurelia Nobels (ART Grand Prix), Kyuho Lee (Rodin) and Stepan Suslov (Drivex School) did not lap within the maximum laptime, and Lee did not race.

The pre-race procedure lasted 35 minutes. Drivex’s Gino Trappa crashed on the formation lap, and after marshals helped him get going again he stopped on track, wonderint whether to head to the pits. He chose not to, went to his grid spot, then was sent off the grid.

After a second formation lap, the starting lights did not work but three drivers briefly set off and Przyrwoski almost burned out his clutch.

A third formation lap followed, but Schaufler was left on the grid. He got back into position, as Cram Motorsport’s Aiva Anagnostiadis spun and needed help restarting to get back to the grid.

MP’s Ean Eyckmans had a similar issue waiting on the pit straight, and was wheeled into the pits where he and Trappa started.

After a fourth formation lap, the shortened race began. A collision at turn one eliminated ART GP’s Lia Block, Feghali crashed too and the safety car – driven by someone on his second day in the job – was needed. Before racing was neutralised, Tye went from eighth to fifth ahead of Campos’s Matus Ryba, Lammers and Monteiro.

The restart was on lap four, and Schaufler was spun off. TC Racing’s Santino Panetta joined him in the gravel.

Lammers passed Ryba before the safety car returned, and racing next resumed on lap seven. Drivex’s Filippo Fiorentino crashed out on lap eight, but it did not interrupt proceedings.

Przyrowski managed the pace up front, and Strauven passed Petrovic for third on lap 11 after several corners side-by-side. Petrovic cut turn six to get back past, which left room for Lammers to overtake both. Tye also got by Petrovic.

TC’s Alfio Spina had a big lock-up and later a big crash on the last lap, and Monlau Motorsport’s Lorenzo Campos and Francisco Monarca failed to finish after colliding.

Race results (12 laps)