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The opening race of the Racing Journal Speed Fest weekend at Autodrom Most was full of action for the F4 Central European Zone Championship drivers. But even two safety car periods and a red flag couldn’t stop championship leader Gino Trappa from Jenzer Motorsport from taking his fourth win of the season.

Gino Trappa started from the front row alongside his teammate Nicolas Cortes. Lining up on the second row were Max Karhan and Javier Herrera, while the third row belonged to David Walther and Mathilda Paatz.

Trappa held his lead into the first right-left chicane, where he defended well against Cortes. The most critical section of the track passed without incident, and the field moved into the fast sweeping corners. There, Herrera went wide and lost the position he had gained from Karhan in the first chicane, dropping further to fifth behind Hady Mimassi.

Unfortunately, just after the slow hairpin, there was contact between David Walther and Mathilda Paatz, leaving both cars heavily damaged. Walther’s teammate, Teo Borenstein, was unable to avoid the incident and also ended up in the guardrails.

The safety car was deployed, but shortly afterward the race was red-flagged. After a delay, the race resumed with 15 minutes remaining. Herrera immediately launched an attack on Mimassi and took fourth place, moving in behind Karhan, Cortes, and race leader Trappa.

Simon Schranz was running in sixth place, followed by František Němec, who had gained several positions after the initial start. He was under pressure from Benett Gáspár in eighth.

After six laps, the safety car was deployed again when Kiara Henni spun off and became stranded in a gravel trap.

With two minutes to go, the race was restarted once more. Gáspár overtook Němec for seventh, but the top positions remained unchanged.

Trappa won the opening race at Autodrom Most, leading a Jenzer Motorsport 1-2-3-4 finish, with Cortes second, Karhan third and Herrera fourth. Mimassi finished fifth, with his Renauer Motorsport teammate Simon Schranz in sixth. Seventh place went to Benett Gáspár from Zengő Motorsport. František Němec of the F4 CEZ Academy powered by JMT Racing was eighth, David Gorčica from Janík Motorsport finished ninth and Andreas Lo Bue of Maffi Racing rounded out the top ten.

F4 CEZ – race 1

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