Thomas Strauven crowned Spanish F4 Winter champion in final race

Photo: Campos Racing

Campos Racing’s Thomas Strauven became Spanish Formula 4 Winter champion in the final race at Navarra, won by Tecnicar Motorsport’s Andrej Petrovic.

Qualifying for the title decider took place on a damp track in the morning, with drivers heading out on wet compound tyres. The driver who mastered the conditions was MP Motorsport’s Ean Eyckmans, who went over a second faster than anyone else.

Petrovic was best of the rest, beating MP’s Rene Lammers to second place by a tiny 0.016 seconds, and Drivex School’s Christopher Feghali was the only other driver within two seconds of pole. Strauven was a massive 4.982s off the pace down in 13th, and only 24 of the 32 drivers were within the maximum qualifying time.

After results revisions and grid penalties, Strauven found himself 10th on the grid, three places ahead of title rival Jan Przyrowski.

The track was dry, but Eyckmans struggled to get off the line and Lammers led into turn one. Petrovic also got past, and Strauven got up to eighth. The title was decided mid-lap as Przyrowski was eliminated in a crash with Campos team-mate Vivek Kanthan. Tecnicar’s Nacho Tunon, Rodin Motorsport’s Kyuho Lee and Sainteloc Racing’s Philippe Armand Karras also retired.

Strauven made further progress before the safety car was summoned, and following the restart he fought Eyckmans for fourth as Rodin’s Nathan Tye established himself in third.

Lammers led the rest of the race, but got a five-second penalty for jumping the start that handed victory to Petrovic. Tye and Strauven were promoted to second and third.

MP’s Yani Stevenheydens finished fifth on the road but got a 15s penalty for track limits abuse and dropped out of the points, with Eyckmans instead completing the top five.

Race results (16 laps)