- Despite qualifying just seven-tenths off pole position, Tim Gerhards and Lenny Ried were forced to start at the back of the pack, which made their race progress difficult.
- Ried and Gerhards end the penultimate round of the season with 15th and 19th place in the second race, respectively, as their best results of the weekend.Miguel Ángel Romero joined the team for the event at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, where he achieved two fourth positions.
- We know we are close in the race, but we are still penalised in qualifying. In any case, we are leaving with a positive baggage, as both drivers have improved a lot as the weekend progressed,” concludes David Simón, Team Manager of the team.
- “We now have the task of putting a satisfactory end to the season at our home race,” says Jaime Serrano, CEO of Monlau Motul.
Monlau Motul Technical School closed the penultimate round of Spanish Formula 4, held at the Ángel Nieto circuit in Jerez, with the difficulty of facing a competition that was extremely close. The combination of a large and extremely compressed peloton, where more than 25 positions move in a lower orbit than a second in qualifying, together with the difficulty of overtaking on the track left the team’s two regular drivers further behind than desired in this round. Lenny Ried and Tim Gerhards said goodbye with a 15th and a 19th, respectively, as their best record of the weekend.
That Spanish F4 is one of the most equal single-seater championships in the world is a reliable reality that is confirmed meeting after meeting . Jerez once again proved it from the first free practice sessions, which put on the table that the jump from one position to another would be measured in hundredths, if not thousandths.
After getting the hang of the always difficult and fast Andalusian track, the two team members tried to navigate the traffic to find clean laps in qualifying. And they succeeded, setting two more than correct times: 1:43.937 for Lenny Ried and 1:44.099 for Tim Gerhards, both just seven tenths off the best time… However, there are few competitions in which being so close to pole position you have to start from 22nd and 23rd position respectively. In fact, in the second best lap of the session, which was very close in both cases to the fastest (1:43.952 for Lenny and 1:44.141 for Tim, again seven and nine tenths off the reference, respectively), the picture did not improve excessively, forcing them to start the short race from 18th and 21st position on the grid.
These results forced them to face the weekend again, a very difficult mission in Jerez. In the first race, held on Saturday afternoon over 30 minutes plus one lap, both of them applied themselves to the main group, but luck was on their side. The German managed to gain four places and crossed the finish line in 18th place. Less luck for Gerhards, who was involved in an incident two laps before the flag and had to retire.
Sunday morning confirmed the trend of the event, and although drivers and engineers worked until very late the night before in search of that differential setting or that minimal modification in the driving that would allow them to shave a few tenths off the results of Saturday, Q2 did not end up bearing the desired results. The improvement was evident, as proven by the fact that Lenny Ried clocked a 1:43.722 which was the best time of the weekend for Monlau Motul. This time was again seven-tenths off pole and placed the German in 15th place. Tim Gerhards, for his part, recorded a best time of 1:44.139 (28th).
The second race saw the Monlau Motul Technical School riders again recover positions from their starting position. In fact, both were at the back of the pack battling for the points, but at the end of the 25 minutes plus one lap scheduled, they had to settle for 15th place for Lenny Ried and 19th for Tim Gerhards, the best results of the weekend. That same afternoon, in the third and final scoring race, the outcome left an 18th and a 24th place final, again with Lenny ahead of Tim.
David Simón , team manager of Monlau Motul Technical School, analysed the encounter with these words: “This Spanish F4 is so close that it forces you to fine-tune to the extreme, and if you don’t qualify well you are lost. Our race pace is good, but fighting in the pack doesn’t allow us to demonstrate it, and in the process it takes us away from the mission of scoring points. In any case, we have a positive baggage, as have Lenny and Tim, who have improved a lot as the weekend has progressed. It is time to turn the page and move on.”
Jaime Serrano , CEO of Monlau Motul, was already thinking about the Barcelona event: “The last two meetings have been tough for our drivers and staff, but it is in these situations where the most lessons are learned. Regardless of the results, the team continues to grow and progress, and we have the challenge of putting a satisfactory end to the season at our home race.”
The Spanish F4 will say goodbye to the 2024 campaign on November 9 and 10 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
