After a tense qualifying session on Saturday, it was the Red Bull Junior driver Richard Verschoor who snatched both pole positions for the weekend’s racing at Barcelona for the F4 Spanish Championship’s fifth event (1-2 October). Team-mate Xavier Lloveras was not far behind, while Russian Nikita Volegov and Venezualan driver Sebastian Fernandez also put in strong qualifying performances.

With the cars just half way round the Formation Lap the first major drama of the weekend happened, with Lloveras pushing the wrong button on his steering wheel and activating the extinguisher of his Tatuus-F4. The unfortunate local hero had to retire from the race, denying him the opportunity to impress in front of his home crowd.

As the lights went off Tuomas Tujula made an impressive start, jumping from fourth to second and leaving Volegov to fight against Fernandez. Behind them Antolin was up to fifth with Marta Garcia behind him and matching his pace to prepare her move.

Young Finn Konsta Lappalainen stalled on the grid for his first start ever in an FIA F4 Championship and had to run with a thirty second gap to the pack, but didn’t give up, improving his times as the race went on.

Garcia got closer to Antolin, getting right behind his gearbox to finally take her chance at the end of the main straight and pass her teammate with a swift move for fifth.

Further up the road Sebastian Fernandez was fighting with Nikita Volevog, and eventually the young driver found an opportunity and overtook the Drivex driver for the final podium position.

Richard Verschoor took the chequered flag, signing his twelfth win of the season for MP Motorsport, with Tuomas Tujula grabbing second for Double R and Sebastian Fernandez P3 for the Dutch team.

Sunday held yet more surprises for drivers in the F4 Spanish Championship, and Verschoor was the next one to experience it.

The Red Bull Junior driver stalled his F4 machine on the grid before the formation lap, leaving his teammate Xavier Lloveras the fantastic occasion to start first. As the lights went out, the young Dutchman was already in sixth, side-by-side with Double R driver Tujula. At the end of Lap 1, Verschoor was already up to P4.

In front, Xavier Lloveras was pushing as fast as he could to get away from the threat of Sebastian Fernandez running in second place. Verschoor passed Nikita Volegov for third after the second lap and then had to catch back the Venezualan driver who already had a comfortable 2.5-second gap.

With less than 10min+1lap to go in the final race of the weekend, Verschoor passed Fernandez for second place, while Nikita Volegov lost his position to Tujula who crossed the finish line fourth.

As the chequered flag flew, it was a maiden win in single-seaters for Xavier Lloveras, in front of Richard Verschoor and Sebastian Fernandez, making it an MP Motorsport podium lock-out to end the weekend.

Verschoor needs to extend his lead by just two points to secure the first ever Spanish F4 Championship.

The next event will take place in Jarama, few kilometers from Madrid on 13-15 October.

Verschoor said, “The weekend was very positive for me and for MP Motorsport. The pace was good from the beginning till the end. In qualifying we got two good laps that gave us pole for both races. I had a good start in Race 1, then showed some speed to finish with a comfortable gap. In race two we started last after stalling at the Formation start. At the end of the day it allowed me to practice some overtaking and to fight with other drivers as most of the season I have been driving alone in front and for the future I know that I will need that experience. I want to say a huge thank you to everyone involved.”

New winner in the F4 Spanish Championship, Xavier Lloveras, added, “We were on the grid for Race 1 today and when I tried to turn on the engine, something went wrong and the fire extinguisher activated. This meant that I had to retire from the race and was really disappointed. At the start of race 2, Richard made a mistake, maybe his first of the season, and I could win easily the race in front of my family and friends which was a great feeling! Thank you to my team for their work this weekend!”

Sebastian Fernandez, who finished both of the weekends at Barcelona in third, said, “I am satisfied with my weekend as I could challenge Xavier and Richard’s pace even without any experience of the track. A double podium this weekend is very rewarding!”