Race Report

FORMULA 4
FIA F4 CEZ CHAMPIONSHIP, Rounds 4/5/6

Circuit: RedBull Ring (A), Length 4,326 km, 17^th – 19^th May 2024
www.projekt-spielberg.com

JENZER MOTORSPORT 2024:
Oscar Wurz (AT), Andrija Kostic (RS), Max Karhan (CZ), Ethan Ischer (CH), Matus Ryba (SVK)

Podium for Oscar Wurz at the Red Bull Ring

The second of six race events for the FIA F4 CEZ (Central European Zone) Championship took place on the popular F1 circuit of the Red Bull Ring (A).
Oscar Wurz, Andrija Kostic and Max Karhan were joined at this second event by Ethan Ischer, Enea Frey and Matus Ryba, who started as guest drivers. A total of 24 drivers registered for the race.

Qualifying

Saturday, 18/05/24, 10.10 – 10.50, Weather: Cloudy, 14°C

In this championship there are three practice sessions available on Friday, followed by the official part with one qualifying session of 20 minutes, followed by three races of 25 minutes each.
The grid for the first race will be drawn up in the order of the fastest qualifying time achieved by each driver in the qualifying. The grid for the second race will be drawn up in the order of the race 1 result. The grid for the third race will be drawn up in the order of the reverse order of the 4 – 8 positons in race one (tbc according to amount of starters).

After it rained during the night and was foggy in the morning, the track was now dry for qualifying and the sun was shining. Our drivers had a good session. Ethan achieved an excellent 3^rd place on the grid, 0.187 seconds behind the pole time. Enea managed 7^th place on the grid and thus led our other drivers, who were practically all in the places following thereafter.

FIA F4 CEZ Championship

Race One (25 minutes)

Saturday, 18/05/24, 14.25, Weather: Sunny, 19°C

The first race of the weekend began immediately with tough battles for positions throughout the field. Ethan, who started from 3rd place, came into contact with another vehicle and had to go to the pits with a broken tyre. Andrija was also involved in a contact and damaged his front wing. This part was also replaced in the box. Max was less fortunate because he ended up in the barrier after contact and a spin, and the safety car had to be deployed until his vehicle was cleared away. Enea moved up to 4^th place, Oscar was 6^th and Matus 8^th. Ethan and Andrija resumed the race from behind and immediately started gaining positions. Enea fought with Petrovoic for third place. As the two overtook Mrad, Popov managed to squeeze in between them. Enea regained 3^rd place, but later Popov managed to get ahead of him again. In the end, Enea reached the finish in an excellent, if unwanted, 4^th place. Oscar had passed Viisoreanu and was right behind Enea in 5^th place. Matus stayed out of any trouble and after a consistent drive finished 8^th. However, he did not respect the track limits several times and was ultimately given a 2-second time penalty. Ethan crossed the finish line directly behind Matus. Ethan moved up to 8^th and Matus dropped to 10^th with his penalty. Andrija had made it up to 14^th place in the end.

FIA F4 CEZ Championship

Race Two (25 minutes)

Sunday, 19/05/24, 10.40, Weather: Sunny, 16°C

A blue sky greeted us on Sunday morning and the big field set off to the second race. Great battles for positions started immediately and Mrad, who had a very good start, moved into third place ahead of Enea and Oscar. Oscar attacked Enea, but Enea defended well. As the two fought, Ethan caught up and a little later found a way past both of them together. Ethan pursued Mrad, but there was no longer enough time to attack. In the midfield, Andrija had worked his way up to 10^th place, Matus was in 12^th position and Max, who had started from behind, had already gained several places and was 17^th. After a short safety car phase in which Berreby's car had to be towed away, things really got going when the race restarted. An attack from Andrija didn't work and he fell back several places. This meant that Matus was now in 11^th place, and Andrija was in 14^th. Max also fell back again and was now 19^th. There was a very courageous fight for positions in the midfield, the racecars arrived three and four abreast. On the last lap there was a collision involving four vehicles. However, the race was completed as planned. Ethan reached the finish in a very good 4^th place, Enea came home directly behind him in 5^th. Oscar, who experienced tough battles and went off the track a few times, saw the checkered flag in 8^th place. Andrija was 12^th and Max 13^th, right in front of Matus, who crossed the finish line in 14^th.

FIA F4 CEZ Championship

Race Three (25 minutes)

Sunday, 19/05/24, 14.35, Weather: Cloudy, 19°C

Viisoreanu got away well from pole and Oscar held on to 2^nd place in the early laps. Then Mrad applied pressure and managed to get past Oscar and then catch Viisoreanu too. As the race progressed, Oscar managed to stick with it and, shortly before the end, made a nice maneuver to pass Viisoreanu and take an excellent second place. Enea was involved in fierce fighting after the start and fell behind a bit. In the next few laps, Enea managed to work her way back forward. He was now in 6^th place behind Petrovic and fought doggedly until he managed to take 5^th place. Andrija had a very good ride and managed to move from 14^th place to 9^th place. Now he was directly behind Matus. Matus repeatedly failed to respect the track limits and received a 2 second time penalty at the end of the race. Andrija moved up to 8^th place and Matus was classified 10^th. Max had also worked his way up lap by lap and place by place. He reached the finish in 12^th place. Ethan was doing well, but unfortunately had to give up soon due to a technical problem.
After the race Viisoreanu was handed a time penalty and fell back to 5^th place. Enea moved one place forward and was now 4^th in the results list.
With Oscar's excellent 2^nd place and podium, the team managed to bring the event to a really good conclusion.

© Jenzer Motorsport

Championship standings

FIA F4 CEZ Championship 2024 after 6 out of 18 races:
1^st Oscar Wurz (AT), 102 points; 2^nd Kirill Kutskov (AND), 58 points; 3^rd Davide Larini (I), 48 points; 4^th Maximinlian Popov (RUS), 46 points; 5^th Kamal Mrad (AUS), 46 points; 6^th Andrej Petrovic (SR), 43 points; 9^th Enea Frey (CH), 34 points; 12^th Max Karhan (CZ), 25 points; 13^th Andrija Kostic (SR), 22 points; 17^th Matus Ryba (SVK), 3 points

2024 FIA F4 CEZ CHAMPIONSHIP – AGENDA

Read more:

• www.f4-cez.com
• formulascout.com