Fifteen Drivers Test F4s in Motorland

Pre-season testing started today in sunny Motorland, Spain for both the SMP F4 NEZ Championship and the Spanish F4 Championship. With temperatures closer to spring than winter, it was a fantastic day for the young guns to begin learning the ropes of the Tatuus-Abarth car.

Fifteen drivers from Russia, Spain, Finland, Indian and Netherlands are present this weekend to prepare for the upcoming season.

Russian Alexander Vartanyan set the best time of the day, lapping the Spanish track in 1:52.095, confirming his status as a strong challenger for both championships. Vartanyan was closely followed by Dutch KNAF Talent First driver Richard Verschoor, who was impressive in only his second time in the car setting a time of 1:52.248. Simo Laaksonen and Nikita Sitnikov, both returning for a second year, proved to have the necessary experience to be on top of the time sheets this season with some very strong driving.

The Finnish twins Roope and Rasmus Markkanen made a very strong start, just a few tenths off the lead in their second test ever in single-seaters. Next up was Kush Maini, the talented Indian driver ending up only two tenths off the lead in the morning. Jarmo Opmeer the other KNAF Talent First driver present this weekend was only a few tenths shy of the top contenders, proving that this year rookies are to be taken seriously.

SMP Racing drivers Artem Petrov, Gleb Zotov, Nikita Volegov, Vladimir Tziortzis were learning the car and the circuit and improved throughout the day together with Finn Henri Kauppi.

Tuomas Tujula who competed in the Winter Junior Challenge back in December kicked off his season in style, setting fast laps even on used tires. And finally, the Spanish rising star driver Xavier Lloveras had to adapt to a new car, team and environment and showed strong skills for his first time in an F4 car.

Marko Koiranen commented: “We are positively surprised with this first day. This season’s drivers are strong, and in particular the rookies. It looks like they will give a hard time to the established drivers this year and this is good. We also have a good international grid with Russians, Finns, Indians, Spaniards and Dutch drivers, and they all know each other from karting so there is a very good atmosphere here”.

Tomorrow the day starts at 09:30 with another 300 kilometers of testing available, very good preparation after too long a winter for se eager kids.