Suleiman Zanfari fastest on day one of Spanish F4’s Barcelona test

Photo: Spanish F4

MP Motorsport topped every session on day one of Spanish Formula 4’s in-season Barcelona test, with Suleiman Zanfari fastest overall.

Gil Molina was the quickest MP driver at first, setting the pace in session one by 0.272 seconds ahead of Campos Racing’s Sebastian Ogaard. MP’s Rik Koen and Global Racing Service’s Vladislav Ryabov were the only others within half a second.

MP’s new champion Dilano van’t Hoff was just 13th, slower than karter and Giancarlo Fisichella student Valerio Rinicella.

Of the 29 drivers entered, only MP’s development driver Miron Pingasov didn’t set a laptime, but did get on track.

Van’t Hoff shot to the top in the second morning session, 1.6s faster than Molina’s previous benchmark. This time Pepe Marti (Campos) chased, albeit 0.562s back, ahead of Filip Jenic (Teo Martin Motorsport) and Ogaard.

Pingasov got within a second of the pace but Drivex School’s Juuso Laukkanen was eight seconds off. The Finn did international junior karting last year, and for 2021 stepped up to X30 Senior karts in Finnish series.

Van’t Hoff was fastest again in the first afternoon session, but on the warmer track couldn’t match his morning pace. Zanfari was a tenth slower than him, while many of the morning pacesetters failed to improve.

Of the 12 whose pace stagnated, all bar Campos’s Alex Partyshev, Drivex’s Lucas Malek and van’t Hoff were able to go faster in the final session. Van’t Hoff didn’t participate, and Max Arkhangelskiy – third in session three – was among those who failed to find more pace.

Zanfari headed Ogaard by a massive 0.651s, meaning they ended the day first and third overall. Formula de Campeones’ Daniel Macia, Marti, MP’s Noah Degnbol and Ryabov were all within a tenth of Ogaard, while Drivex’s Noam Abramczyck caused a late red flag.

Also testing was Danish F4 star Noah Stromsted, linked to Spanish F4 for 2022, Mexican karter Ricardo Escotto and Anshul Gandhi.

Test results