Photo: F4 Spain
Valerio Rinicella and Theophile Nael took a pole apiece from the first Spanish Formula 4 qualifying session at Navarra.
Global Racing Service’s Carl Bennett was fastest at first in the 20-minute Saturday session, setting a 1m43.873s.
Enzo Deligny lowered the pace to 1m42.412s after five minutes, with Nael just 0.007 seconds slower in second place and Christian Ho 0.594s back in third.
Only 20 of the 32 drivers had set a lap by that point, and a minute later there wre only 19 actually fast enough to qualify for the race as Campos Racing’s Noah Stromsted set a 1m40.663s to go the top ahead of team-mate Deligny. Bennett was shuffled down to 18th, with no improvement on his earlier effort.
Sainteloc Racing’s Nael put himself at the top of the timesheet nine minutes in, a 1m40.468s putting him 0.047s ahead of an improved pace from Stromsted.
MP Motorsport’s Valerio Rinicella was next to set the pace, posting a 1m40.351s with nine-and-a-half minutes to go. Nael set a personal best to sit 0.014s behind, while Stromsted had his next lap deleted due to track limits abuse.
Deligny was next to suffer that fate but then improved in fourth place as Nael returned to the top with a 1m40.224s. Stromsted was 0.015s slower than him, and Rinicella was shuffled down to third.
Rinicella and Deligny swapped places with five minutes to go, Deligny getting within 0.1s of Nael’s pace, and another improvement from Deligny got him within 0.08s of the top while Stromsted held on to second place despite having his fastest lap deleted.
The final lap from Rinicella before pitting earned him race one, as he went 0.03s faster than Nael, and nobody who stayed out to meet the chequered flag were able to improve their pace.
Nael earned pole for race two based on each driver’s second-best laptimes, leading Deligny by 0.048s and Rinicella by 0.075s.
Points leader Pedro Clerot could only go 10th fastest in qualifying, and put himself ninth on the grid for race two.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Valerio Rinicella MP Motorsport 1m40.194s
2 Theophile Nael Sainteloc Racing +0.030s
3 Noah Stromsted Campos Racing +0.081s
4 Enzo Deligny Campos Racing +0.110s
5 Andres Cardenas Campos Racing +0.261s
6 Keanu Al Azhari MP Motorspot +0.275s
7 Christian Ho Campos Racing +0.285s
8 Jeronimo Berrio MP Motorsport +0.347s
9 Ricardo Gracia Monlau Motorsport +0.405s
10 Pedro Clerot MP Motorsport +0.440s
Race 2 grid
1 Nael 1m40.276s
2 Deligny +0.048s
3 Rinicella +0.075s
4 Ho +0.204s
5 Al Azhari +0.216s
6 Stomsted +0.239s
7 Cardenas +0.295s
8 Gracia +0.367s
9 Clerot +0.435s
10 Jesse Carrasquedo Jr Campos Racing +0.445s