Photo: F4 CEZ
Gino Trappa and David Walther shared the wins as the Formula 4 Central European Zone championship made its second visit of 2025 to the Red Bull Ring.
Trappa pipped his Jenzer Motorsport team-mate Max Karhan to pole at the end of qualifying by 0.041 seconds. Walther was third, ahead of Renauer Motorsport’s Formula Regional-experienced William Karlsson on his championship debut.
The session was red flagged twice, and spinner Kiara Henni had to miss race one. Karhan made a slow start to that race, losing out to Walther exiting the opening corner and dropping further to fifth on the uphill run to turn three.
Trappa retained his position at the front of the 17-car field, and built a gap as Walther and Karlsson then battled.
Once free of his Swedish rival, Walther set fastest lap after fastest lap to close onto the tail of Trappa but was denied the chance to fight for victory due to race-ending red flags. In the midfield, Javier Cortes had pitched Jenzer team-mate Javier Herrera onto his side on the pit straight. Fortunately, neither driver was injured.
Trappa won, and a five-second penalty for contact with Karhan demoted Walther to third.
There was a dramatic start to race two. Karlsson beat polesitter Trappa into turn one, as Karhan was again slow away from the second row. Behind them, Renauer Motorsport’s Simon Schranz stalled, and Nikolaj Dyrved and Michalina Sabaj collided as they took avoiding action. With the pit straight blocked, red flags waved.
After a 30-minute delay, the race restarted with two laps behind the safety car. When green flags returned, Karlsson came under pressure from Trappa into turn three. Trappa dived to the inside to pass him but it opened the door for Walther and Mathilda Paatz to get through.
As Walther made a break at the front, there was a thrilling five-car battle for second, with positions constantly swapping between Karlsson, Trappa, Paatz, Hady Mimassi and a recovering Karhan.
The safety car returned with eight minutes remaining due to debris on the track, erasing the gaps that Walther and then Karlsson had built.
Walther managed the restart without drama to win, with Trappa closing onto the tail of third-placed Mimassi at the finish.
Paatz led away from reversed-grid pole in race three, although Trappa was up to third from sixth on the grid by the end of lap one. The safety car was soon out after a lap two incident between Teodor Borenstein and Romuald Bocquet.
When racing resumed, Trappa was on the attack straight away, passing Karhan for second before the duo then had to defend against Mimassi.
Paatz maintained a strong pace up front, so Trappa slowly narrowed her gap. He took the lead on lap 11, and privateer Paatz held onto second. Karhan was third, and Mimassi took fourth from Walther.
Jenzer’s Bart Harrison had led the points after the opening round at the Red Bull Ring, but was absent from round two as he focuses on Italian F4. Trappa now leads the championship by 41 points from Walther.
Results round-up
Race 1 (12 laps)
1 Gino Trappa Jenzer Motorsport 18m55.078s
2 William Karlsson Renauer Motorsport +4.983s
3 David Walther Maffi Racing +5.821s
4 Max Karhan Jenzer Motorsport +6.824s
5 Hady Mimassi Renauer Motorsport +9.310s
6 Mathilda Paatz Mathilda Racing +13.042s
7 Benett Gaspar Zengo Motorsport +13.561s
8 Simon Schranz Renauer Motorsport +18.571s
9 Andreas Lo Bue Maffi Racing +20.223s
10 Nikolaj Dyrved Maffi Racing +20.712s
Pole: Trappa, 1m32.985s
Fastest lap: Walther, 1m33.386s
Race 2 (14 laps)
1 Walther 25m29.855s
2 Karlsson +1.945s
3 Mimassi +3.835s
4 Trappa +4.163s
5 Karhan +6.028s
6 Nicolas Cortes Jenzer Motorsport +7.438s
7 Paatz +9.876s
8 David Gorcica Janik Motorsport +10.333s
9 Frantisek Nemec F4 CEZ Academy +10.638s
10 Romuald Boucquet Janik Motorsport +11.156s
FL: Walther, 1m33.264s
Race 3 (15 laps)
1 Trappa 26m27.369s
2 Paatz +1.648s
3 Karhan +2.082s
4 Mimassi +2.709s
5 Walther +5.421s
6 Cortes +6.499s
7 Karlsson +7.291s
8 Javier Herrera Jenzer Motorsport +8.024s
9 Simon Schranz Renauer Motorsport +8.342s
10 Gaspar +8.799s
FL: Walther, 1m33.751s
Championship standings
1 Trappa 116 2 Walther 75 3 Karhan 67 4 Bart Harrison 65 5 Karlsson 42 6 Mimassi 39 7 Luca Viisoreanu 37 8 Cortes 36 9 Paatz 34 10 Herrera 32