An unusual Formula 4 weekend

Usually, Formula 4 has 2 qualifying sessions to set the grid for 3 races during a weekend, but in Motorland the program had to change quite a bit after the rain interfered. Saturday was a busy schedule with two free practices, a qualifying session, and a race. All went fine until the race had to start. Too much rain was falling down, resulting in the first race being rescheduled to Sunday morning. The starting grid of Race 1 was based on qualifying, Race 2 was based on the second-best lap in qualifying, and in Race 3 they lined up according to the best lap times of Race 2.

We’ve listed how all drivers lined up for each race:

Race 1

P1 Dilano van ‘t Hoff
P7 Noah Degnbol
P10 Gil Molina
P11 Rik Koen
P12 Manuel Espirito Santo
P14 Georg Kelstrup
P17 Suleiman Zanfari
P21 Emely de Heus

Race 2

P6 Noah Degnbol
P8 Dilano van ‘t Hoff
P9 Gil Molina
P10 Manuel Espirito Santo
P15 Rik Koen
P16 Georg Kelstrup
P17 Suleiman Zanfari
P23 Emely de Heus

Race 3

P3 Dilano van ‘t Hoff
P9 Noah Degnbol
P11 Gil Molina
P13 Manuel Espirito Santo
P18 Suleiman Zanfari
P21 Emely de Heus
P22 Rik Koen
P23 Georg Kelstrup

Race 1

The rain was gone and there wasn’t a single cloud to be found in the blue sky. It looked like a clean start for all drivers, with Dilano taking the lead and immediately creating a gap. Noah also had a good start and was driving on P5. With 20 more minutes to go, Dilano had created a gap of at least 2 seconds.

As there were 15 minutes left on the clock, Noah started to tumble down on the timing sheet having issues and needing to go back to the pitlane. Georg, who started on P14 drove into the points and was driving on P7, fighting for P6. In the final lap, Dilano saw the chequered flag with a gap of 6.5 seconds, and scoring the fastest lap! Georg finished on P8 and Rik had a good race by finishing on P6.

Race 1 classification:

P1 Dilano van ‘t Hoff
P6 Rik Koen
P8 Georg Kelstrup
P11 Suleiman Zanfari
P12 Manuel Espirito Santo
P13 Gil Molina
P17 Emely de Heus
DNF Noah Degnbol

Race 2

In Portimao, Dilano had 3 poles, but with the different system this weekend, he now had to start from P8. Within 5 minutes, he was driving on P5, with Noah and Manuel on P7 and 8, Gil was driving on P10. Dilano overtook 2 cars in one move, with three cars wide driving through 2 corners. Emely made up quite some places during the start, driving on P17, making up 6 positions! With 3 more minutes, Dilano passed Ogaard for the second position. Fighting with 3 others cars and defending his second position, there was a gap of almost 5 seconds to Marti who was driving on P1. Emely had her best result of the season so far, finishing on P15!

Race 2 classification:

P2 Dilano van ‘t Hoff
P7 Noah Degnbol
P9 Gil Molina
P11 Manuel Espirito Santo
P14 Suleiman Zanfari
P21 Emely de Heus
DNF Georg Kelstrup
DNF Rik Koen

Race 3

The last race of the weekend started with an early safety car, as Noah and Jenic touched, where as Noah could continue but Jenic spun and couldn’t continue. Manuel used the safety car to get new tyres, as he got a damaged tyre happening in the first laps of the race. Dilano was driving on P3, with Rik right behind him on P4. With 20 more minutes, the safety car went back in, and Rik immeadiately started to fight with Dilano, and overtaking him as a result. Unfortunately, Dilano lost two other places during the restart and found himself on P6.

Unfortunately, Manuel had to come back to the pits with 15 minutes left, as he had more damaged then thought in the first case. Rik lost 2 places, driving on P5, with the top 10 being really close to each other. In the last 5 minutes, Dilano overtook both Rik and also made it to the fourth place.

Race 3 classification:

P4 Dilano van ’t Hoff
P6 Rik Koen
P7 Georg Kelstrup
P9 Noah Degnbol
P15 Suleiman Zanfari
P17 Emely de Heus
P22 Gil Molina
P23 Manuel Espirito Santo

The current driver standings:

P1 Dilano van ‘t Hoff – 227 points
P6 Noah Degnbol – 60 points
P7 Georg Kelstrup – 56 points
P8 Rik Koen – 54 points
P14 Manuel Espirito Santo – 21 points
P17 Gil Molina – 10 points
P18 Suleiman Zanfari – 4 points
P25 Emely de Heus – 0 points