Race Report

FIA FORMULA 4
SPANISH CHAMPIONSHIP

Circuit: Barcelona (E), Length 4.655 km, 9^th/10^th November 2019
www.circuitcat.com

JENZER MOTORSPORT 2019:
Emidio Pesce (I), Filip Ugran (ROU) and Paul-Adrien Pallot (F)

3 Podiums for Ugran in Barcelona

The last of seven races of the Spanish FIA F4 Championship took place on the famous GP circuit of Catalunya, near Barcelona (E).
We seized the opportunity to compete with new drivers racing for the first time with us. Emidio Pesce (who has raced all year with us) and Filip Ugran (new) from the Italian Championship, as well as Paul-Adrien Pallot (new) from the French Championship drove for us. 20 vehicles were signed up and an exciting final race weekend was expected.

Qualifying 1

Saturday, 09/11/19, 14.40 – 14.55, Weather: Sunny, 14°C

There are two qualifying sessions, each 15 minutes long, with the first session taking place on Saturday morning. The times from this session are used to set the starting grid for the first race, and the second race grid is set based on the second fastest time of each driver in Q1. On Sunday morning the second session was held to set the starting grid for the third race.

FIA Formula 4 Spanish Championship

Race One (18 minutes + 1 lap)

Saturday, 09/11/19, 16.35, Weather: Cloudy, 14°C

Filip started well and was alongside Colapinto, but Colapinto closed the door on him and they both ended up having a brief off track moment. Colapinto took the lead and Filip lost some momentum on dirty tyres, which allowed Van Berlo to overtake him. Filip was running in 3^rd place and was coming under pressure from Gnos, but Filip improved his speed and managed to close in on van Berlo. A terrific overtaking manoeuvre enabled him to reclaim 2^nd place. After that Filip didn’t put a foot wrong and was proud to claim 2^nd place on the podium. Emidio also got a good start and worked his way steadily forward to cross the finish line in a great 12^th place. Paul-Adrien had a slightly more difficult task than his two teammates (they only had to get used to a different tyre marque), as the French Championship uses a different chassis, different engines and completely different tyres. Paul-Adrien got off to a good start, but later ran very wide and ended up spinning. Although he was able to rejoin and finish the race, he lost many places and took the chequered flag in 19^th place.
The winner of this race, Franco Colapinto, ended this race as the 2019 Spanish Champion.

Qualifying 2

Sunday, 10/11/19, 09.00 – 09.30, Weather: Overcast, 8°C

It rained during the night and because the temperature was very low in the morning, the track barely dried out. Everyone chose to start on wet weather tyres, which made it difficult for them to figure out where the limits were in the short time available. There were a lot of spins and the track was pretty dirty. Our drivers did their best, with Filip achieving 6^th place, Emidio was 12^th and Paul-Adrien in 15^th.

FIA F4 Spanish Championship

Race Two (18 minutes + 1 lap)

Sunday, 10/11/19, 12.45, Weather: Sunny, 15°C

The sun came out and the track dried out completely. There wasn’t much time to move up the order in this Super Sprint race, so Filip didn’t hesitate. He was soon up in 4th place and continued to catch the leaders. Van der Helm was battling it out with Gnos, and Filip targeted the two of them. In a brave move, he squeezed past both of them at once at the end of the straight. Filip then closed in on the leader Colapinto, but with very worn tyres he couldn’t launch an attack. Filip was once again an excellent 2^nd on the podium. Emidio had a very good race, working his way up from 18^th on the grid to 10^th place. When he went for 9^th place on the very last lap, there was contact with the other car which sent Emidio spinning off track and into the gravel, putting an end to his race. He was classified as 17^th, which was a real shame! Paul-Adrien was well under way and had made it up to 11^th place when a move failed and he dropped back to 15^th. He then managed to make up all of those places again in a very good run and reached the finish line in an excellent 10^th place.

FIA F4 Spanish Championship

Race Three (25 minutes + 1 lap)

Sunday, 10/11/2019, 16.30, Weather: Sunny, 14°C

The start of the last F4 race of the season happened after a 2-hour Touring Car race that left the track dirty, which caused several incidents. Filip ran wide, handing the opportunity to others to pass him, and he fell back to 7th place. Emidio made contact with a rival but made it back to the pitlane to have his front wing changed. Unfortunately, that cost him the chance of a top ten finish. Paul-Adrien was even more unfortunate, as he was hit by another car which caused him to spin off into the gravel trap, ending his race prematurely, and meaning the Safety Car had to be deployed while his car was rescued. At least it helped Emidio to catch up with the field. After the restart Filip started his chase for positions, and he used the remaining time to claim a great 3^rd place with several courageous overtaking moves, meaning he was on the podium for the third time in a row. This was a super performance considering that he didn’t know the circuit, and the track conditions were very challenging and difficult, on tyres that were different to what he’s used to. Emidio managed to move up to 16^th place, getting his car safely over the finish line at the end.

After this weekend, six weeks remain until Christmas. We will spend this time testing so we can start the next season as well prepared as possible.

2019 FIA F4 SPANISH CHAMPIONSHIP – AGENDA

More Info:

• www.italiaracing.net