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The 2026 F4 Central European Zone Championship reached its halfway point as the series headed to Slovakia Ring for the third of six rounds, with the battle for the F4 CEZ title continuing to intensify.
Four races, three winners — that neatly sums up the action-packed weekend at Slovakia Ring on June 6–7. From a 37-car field, Teo Borenstein, Simon Rechenmacher and David Walther emerged as race winners.
The trio had already shown they pace during qualifying. As in previous rounds, qualifying was split into two groups of 19 and 18 drivers respectively. Simon Rechenmacher from Cram Motorsport topped the first qualifying heat, but his benchmark was eclipsed in the second session by both David Walther and the outright fastest driver, Teo Borenstein, who posted a 2:02.995 lap.
The field was then divided into three groups, with drivers from two groups competing against each other in each of the following three races. Saturday’s opening contest was controlled by Jenzer Motorsport’s Teo Borenstein, although Rechenmacher proved a formidable challenger throughout. The pair produced one of the closest finishes in F4 CEZ, with Borenstein crossing the line just 0.105 seconds ahead of his German rival.
However, the result did not stand for long. The stewards investigated contact between Rechenmacher and Mathilda Paatz during one of the race restarts and deemed the German driver responsible. The penalty dropped him to fourth place behind the Jenzer Motorsport trio of Borenstein, Elia Weiss and Markas Silkunas.
A standout performance came from Harp Racing debutant Piotr Orcholski. Having celebrated his 15th birthday only on Thursday, the young Pole climbed into an F4 car for the first time, completed practice and qualifying, started his maiden race from 18th on the grid and fought his way through to an impressive fifth place among the 22 classified finishers.
Rechenmacher quickly put the disappointment of his penalty behind him later that day. Although he dropped from pole position to third at the start of Saturday’s second race, behind David Walther and Mathilda Paatz, he once again played a central role in a dramatic finale. The Cram Motorsport driver snatched the lead from Walther on the final lap after a wheel-to-wheel battle, securing his first F4 CEZ victory ahead of Walther and third-placed Max Karhan.
Another remarkable recovery drive came from Zengo Motorsport’s Benett Gaspar. The Hungarian was caught up in an incident and fell to the back of the field. Following a caution period, he charged from 21st to 13th place, battling hard all the way to add three valuable championship points to his tally.
That brought Saturday’s programme to a close, but Sunday delivered more of the same drama.
The opening race of the day fell to Borenstein. Starting from pole position, he led every lap, claimed the fastest lap and never relinquished control of the race, although he spent much of it fending off relentless pressure from Walther. When the safety car was deployed with five minutes remaining, Borenstein’s victory was effectively assured. Borenstein, Walther and Mathilda Racing’s American driver Dean Pedersen completed the podium in the third 25-minute sprint race.
The final race featured the top 29 drivers from the previous three contests. Borenstein once again lined up on pole, alongside Walther, with Rechenmacher and Weiss directly behind.
Walther wasted no time and swept into the lead during the opening lap, immediately beginning to build a gap at the front. His advantage was wiped out by a safety-car intervention, but the neutralisation ultimately worked in his favour. At the restart, second-placed Rechenmacher was struck by technical problems. The drivers behind, led by Borenstein, hesitated to pass the slowing car, aware that overtaking before the control line was prohibited under the regulations. The situation handed Walther a three-second cushion, which he maintained all the way to the chequered flag, securing both his and Maffi Racing’s first victory of the weekend.
Walther became the third different winner at Slovakia Ring, and the result was particularly significant in the championship standings. The Danish driver strengthened his position at the top of the table, although German Elia Weiss and fellow Czechs Teo Borenstein and Max Karhan remain firmly in contention.
The fourth round of the F4 CEZ Championship will take place at Autodrom Most on August 1–2.
Teo Borenstein (Jenzer Motorsport)
“It was a fantastic weekend for me, especially after the two rounds in Austria. We had the pace there, but luck wasn’t on our side and I made too many mistakes behind the wheel. Before that, I was focusing too much on individual race results and not enough on the championship as a whole. Slovakia Ring was a completely different story. We nailed the car setup, I was highly motivated, and everything came together perfectly. It’s just a shame I couldn’t win the final race as well, but it was still a great race and I really enjoyed battling with David.”
David Walther (Maffi Racing)
“The win certainly wasn’t easy, but this is our pace and this is where we belong. We put in a huge amount of work over the winter to get to where we are today. I’ve experienced a lot of restarts throughout my career and I’d say I’m quite experienced when it comes to them. Of course, things can always go wrong, but I’m really proud of the restart I delivered today. This was my first race weekend at Slovakia Ring, so I enjoyed every overtake and every new experience the circuit had to offer. It has fast, medium-speed and slow sections, there’s a bit of everything. You can also make great use of the slipstream here. I’d say it’s a track that offers pretty much everything a driver could ask for.”
F4 CEZ – Group A+B starting grid Race 1
F4 CEZ – Group B+C starting grid Race 2
F4 CEZ – Group A+C starting grid Race 3
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