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The second race of the F4 Central European Zone at Salzburgring delivered exciting action throughout the field, including at the front, where Max Karhan led from the start and successfully defended his position after a late safety car and a final-lap shootout.
The starting grid was based on the results of Race 1, putting Karhan on pole alongside Gino Trappa, with their Jenzer Motorsport teammates Nicolas Cortes and Javier Herrera lining up on the second row. The third row was shared by Andreas Lo Bue from Maffi Racing and local driver Simon Schranz from Renauer Motorsport.
Karhan held the lead into Turn 1, with Trappa launching an early challenge at the end of the opening lap. Karhan however fended him off and retained the top spot. Behind them were Herrera, Cortes, Schranz and Mathilda Paatz. A standout start came from František Němec, who jumped from 11th to seventh. Even more impressive was David Gorčica, who climbed from 16th to just behind Němec, with David Walther from Maffi Racing right behind Czech duo.
Schranz set his sights on fourth place, engaging in a long and intense battle with Cortes, while Paatz closely followed. Schranz repeatedly tried to pass Cortes on the outside of Turn 10, but without success. The fight continued for several laps, as both Schranz and Paatz looked for a gap. Cortes struggled with front-right lockups in Turn 10.
Meanwhile, Walther passed both Gorčica from Janík Motorsport and Němec from F4 CEZ Academy prwd by JMT Engineering team, to move into seventh and then overtook Paatz as he continued his charge forward.
At the front, Karhan built a gap of over one second to Trappa, with another second back to Herrera. But in the second half of the race, Trappa found his rhythm and closed the gap to under half a second, putting pressure on his teammate in the final stages.
The battle for fourth remained just as fierce. On lap 13, Schranz finally completed a pass on Cortes, but as Cortes attempted to fight back in Turn 10, he went off track and crashed into the barriers, bringing out the safety car.
Thanks to fast work by the marshals, the race was restarted with just over a minute remaining. Karhan retained the lead, but chaos unfolded behind: Herrera made contact with Schranz in the first chicane and spun, with Nikolaj Dyrved also going off at the same spot.
Karhan kept his cool and held on to claim his second win of the Salzburgring weekend, with Trappa once again finishing second. Local hero Simon Schranz delivered a standout performance to finish third on home soil.
David Walther crossed the line in fourth, followed by Mathilda Paatz in fifth. František Němec secured his best result of the season with sixth place, ahead of Hady Mimassi in seventh, who afterwards received 10 seconds penalty for incident on the track and dropped to 13th place. David Gorčica moved up to seventh, Andreas Lo Bue was eight, Benett Gáspár ninth and Michalina Sabaj rounded out the top ten.
