The F4 Spanish Championship greeted two new drivers with Marta Garcia and Antolin Gonzalez for Drivex as it returned to action last weekend (23-26 September) following a summer break.

In Qualifying 1 and Xavier Lloveras was the first driver to hold on the provisional pole, but it did not take long before his teammate Richard Verschoor came to snatch P1 with a 0.9 gap to the Spaniard. On the following lap Lloveras cut the gap to 0.019 until the third MP Motorsport driver, Danny Kroes, went up straight from P3 to P1 with a 1:33.761s. As the clock was ticking down, Xavier Lloveras took back the lead leaving Verschoor 0.008s behind him but the Dutch driver finally nailed Race 1 pole position on the penultimate lap.

As Race 1 started, Verschoor and Lloveras made a perfect getaway as their teammate Danny Kroes unfortunately stalled on the grid. As the cars were finishing the lap, Rookie Antolin Gonzalez spun in turn 12 and retired from the race bringing the Safety Car out. As the race resumed few laps later, Verschoor managed to take a perfect restart, pulling out six tenths over the chasing pack.

Danny Kroes who could catch up during Safety car was in P5 right behind Tuomas Tujula, and the sixteen years old Dutchman overtook the Finn at the end of the main straight. But the as Tujula fought back both drivers collided and were forced to retire from the dramatic battle.

The race therefore ended with Verschoor taking his eigth victory in a row in the F4 Spanish Championship and increasing the gap in the championship. LLoveras and a stellar Nikita Volegov completed the podium.

Verschoor said, “My start was very good, even though it was very close with Xavier. We knew from the beginning of the day that we were experiencing some braking issues so that made it quite hard for me to have good pace. My restart after the SC was really good and from then it was about trying to make as few mistakes as possible and push until the chequered flag.”

Sunday started under cloudy skies as the last day of competition would be featuring the second qualifying session and two more exciting races.

At 08:30 the drivers left for the fifteen minutes of qualifying and Alexander Vartanyan was the first one to top the standings after four laps for Drovex, until Xavier Lloveras started lighting up purple sectors and grabbed the provisional pole position with five minutes remaining on the clock. MP Motorsport driver Richard Verschoor started to push harder and got up to P2, just tenths from Lloveras, while Tujula improved up to P3.

As the drivers passed the chequered flag, Richard Verschoor signed another pole position in 1.33,006, followed by his teammate Xavier Lloveras only 0.010 behind and Tuomas Tujula came P3.

The 18’+1lap second race started with Nikita Volegov and Danny Kroes stalling on the grid, while Antolin Gonzalez, the new addition to Drivex team, jumped from seventh to fourth. Shortly after, however, the rookie driver collided with Tujula bringing him in the back of the field with 39-second gap to Verschoor in the lead of the race.

Tujula suffered damage from the impact and the Finn finished his race in the gravel.

MP Motorsport therefore had another 1-2 on the podium, Verschoor took the chequered flag followed by Lloveras and Alexander Vartanyan.

The last race of the weekend had Verschoor starting on pole again and all the cars made a good start, getting into turn one smoothly. Lloveras took the early initiative, but Richard’s better line allowed him to take the lead again over the Spaniard, who constantly pushed to achieve his first victory of the season.

Nikita Volegov overtook Tuomas Tujula early on and held on for another podium finish in Valencia. Tujula soon found himself under attack again, this time from Vartanyan, who eventually found a way through. Danny Kroes was coming back through the field, overtook Marta Garcia and ran in P6 as Tujula broke his front wing and had to retire once again.

Verschoor took another lights to flag victory in Valencia, his third hat-trick of the season in the F4 Spanish Championship certified by FIA and closing onto the Championship title with three rounds still to go.

The all-conquering Verschoor said, “The race was quite decent, start was alright but Xavi was a bit quicker so we were wheel-to-wheel before turn one. But after the corner I got the lead again and then managed to keep it. We are looking quite good championship-wise now and I am looking forward so much to the Barcelona round!”

Xavier Lloveras added, “Free Practice didn’t got to plan due to tyre problems and I could do only 15 laps. In R1 I tried to put some pressure on Richard as I felt that I could fight back, but it only resulted in destroying my tires for Race 2. And in Race 3 I had a good start and pace, but Richard just had a flawless race and I had to settle with P2 again. It was a great job from the whole team to provide me a good car. I am really confident for next week’s home race in Barcelona where I’ll do my best to win!”

Double podium scorer Nikita Volegov said, “I’ve scored my two first podiums in single-seaters in Valencia, but I cannot say that I am happy. The pace was not good enough to fight for the win and this is where we need to improve. Drivex did a great job and I am sure we can achieve more in Barcelona next week.”

F4 rookie Marta Garcia added, “It was a difficult event as it was my first race weekend in the F4 certified by FIA category, but I am really happy with the performance. I want to thank Drivex and the FIA Women in Motorsport for their support. I am sure we will be back stronger in Barcelona.”

Next weekend (1-2 October), the Championship will arrive at the legendary track of Barcelona, for the fifth round of the season.