Photo: Spanish Winter Championship
Campos Racing’s Thomas Strauven won both Spanish Formula 4 Winter Championship races at Algarve on Saturday.
Strauven started the day off by taking pole in a session split by a lengthy red flag period. He was fastest by 0.132 seconds over team-mate Jan Przyrowski. MP Motorsport’s Hudson Schwartz lined up 32nd for race one due to a 20-place grid penalty carried from the previous round.
On the opening lap of race one, Drivex School’s Stepan Suslov and MP’s Yani Stevenheydens were eliminated in incidents at turn five and the safety car was summoned, ending MP driver Ean Eyckmans’ attempt to pass Przyrowski.
Racing resumed on lap six, and Rodin Motorsport’s Nathan Tye pulled off a great move around the outside of turn five on Eyckmans. But soon Eyckmans was in second as Przyrowski was hit out by Tye. Drivex’s Christopher Feghali inherited third, and Strauven broke three seconds clear.
His lead was neutralised on lap seven as MP’s Niklas Schaufler rejoined the track dangerously after an off and it led to TC Racing’s Santiago Baztarrica being wiped out.
Strauven pulled away on the lap 11 restart, but the safety car returned a lap later and led the field to the chequered flag as Campos’s Vivek Kanthan and Sainteloc Racing’s Jean Paul Karras collided at turn five.
Campos’s Noah Monteiro and MP’s Rene Lammers finished fourth and fifth.
Miguel Costa (Campos) and Sacha Van’t Pad Bosch (Tecnicar Motorsport) shared the front row of the reversed-grid race two, and five-place penalties left Kanthan and Tye in 10th and 12th.
Van’t Pad Bosch took the lead on the run to turn one at the start but was unconfident at the corner and Costa got back alongside on the outside. They went off at turns two and five, then on the run to turn seven they collided and Van’t Pad Bosch was sent spinning into the gravel.
The safety car was called out, with Drivex’s Filippo Fiorentino leading Costa, Strauven, Monteiro and Feghali. Przyrowski meanwhile had a half-spin that dropped him to 30th.
Fiorentino defended the inside on the lap four restart, and it was five-car fight for second at the end of the lap. That became a lead battle as Fiorentino spun out at turn two on lap five. Przyrowski was now 24th, and then 17th on the next lap as the safety car returned due to Rodin’s Kyuho Lee crashing out.
Costa now led Strauven, Stevenheydens, Feghali and Monteiro. Strauven made a diving move at turn five on the lap nine restart and then they went three-wide with Stevenheydens. He took second, and Feghali tried passing Strauven.
At turn one on lap 10, Strauven lunged down the inside and into the lead, and Stevenheydens passed off-track at turn six for second. Feghali then cleared Costa too, as Przyrowski got into 12th. He gained two more spots on the last lap but lost the points lead to Strauven who sprinted away for victory.
Results round-up
Race 1 (15 laps)
1 Thomas Strauven Campos Racing 33m48.655s
2 Ean Eyckmans MP Motorsport +0.313s
3 Christopher Feghali Drivex School +0.537s
4 Noah Monteiro Campos Racing +1.304s
5 Rene Lammers MP Motorsport +1.894s
6 Filippo Fiorentino Drivex School +2.241s
7 Reno Francot MP Motorsport +2.592s
8 Alfio Spina TC Racing +3.835s
9 Miguel Costa Campos Racing +4.160s
10 Gino Trappa Drivex School +5.070s
Pole: Strauven, 1m47.673s
Fastest lap: Strauven, 1m46.331s
Race 2 (11 laps)
1 Strauven 22m58.939s
2 Yani Stevenheydens MP Motorsport +2.168s
3 Feghali +2.365s
4 Costa +3.417s
5 Vivek Kanthan Campos Racing +3.708s
6 Monteiro +4.617s
7 Francot +5.171s
8 Spina +5.255s
9 Lammers +6.207s
10 Jan Przyrowski Campos Racing +6.236s
FL: Strauven, 1m46.022s
Championship standings
1 Strauven 78 2 Przyrowski 63 3 Lammers 51 4 Kanthan 45 5 Feghali 42 6 Nathan Tye 34 7 Eyckmans 26 8 Monteiro 24 9 Costa 22 10 Stevenheydens 21