- The difficulties in achieving a good lap time in the two qualifying sessions, coupled with tests featuring many safety cars and red flags, complicate the comebacks of the team’s four drivers.
- Miki Blascos (11th) in the second race, achieves the best result of the weekend.
- The young Argentinian, Thiago Palotini, has accumulated experience in single-seaters as a temporary replacement for Fausto Arnaudo.
- “The difficulty in achieving fast lap times makes our weekends very complicated, as it prevents us from fully exploiting our race pace, which is really good, ” emphasizes David Simón, team manager of Monlau Motul Technical School.
- “There are two events left to finish the championship, and we must continue to put all our effort into improving our standings. We believe our riders have the pace and the ability to achieve this ,” concludes Jaime Serrano, CEO of Monlau Motul.
Monlau Motul Technical School concluded a challenging weekend at the Ángel Nieto circuit in Jerez, the venue for the penultimate round of the Spanish Formula 4 Championship. In an event marred by numerous incidents during the race, the team members’ poor grid positions hampered any chance of climbing into the top 10. Miki Blascos came closest to achieving this goal, qualifying 11th in the second points-scoring race.
The fifth round of the 2016 Spanish F4 season got underway at the Ángel Nieto Circuit in Jerez with a significant change in the Monlau Motul Technical School lineup. Fausto Arnaudo withdrew due to his commitments in Brazilian F4, and his seat was taken by Argentinian Thiago Palotini, who was starting only his third weekend of competition in a European Formula 4 category.
The first free practice sessions confirmed the good pace of the Monlau Motul Technical School riders, feelings that, once again, didn’t quite translate into qualifying. Miki Blascos, who had been 4th in the second free practice session, dropped to 16th place (1:43.986) after a session marked by a red flag that prevented him from making a final attempt. A similar situation befell his teammates: Juste Mulder (19th), Rahim Alibhai (25th), and Thiago Palotini (27th).
Starting so far back significantly impacts the races, especially on a track like the Andalusian circuit, where overtaking is difficult. Adding to this was a new factor: the frequent safety car and red flag periods in all three races, which dashed any hopes of a comeback. The team’s four drivers experienced this firsthand on Saturday morning, having very few green-flag laps to recover positions. Juste Mulder finished 15th, ahead of his teammates Miki Blascos (17th) and Thiago Palotini (30th). Rahim Alibhai crashed out at the end of the first lap.
The second race, held in the afternoon, left a better impression, even though the Monlau Motul riders started in very similar positions to the first race. Miki Blascos, who started 15th, climbed to 11th place, just missing the top ten and achieving the team’s best result of the entire weekend. Alibhai (22nd), Mulder (24th), and Palotini (30th) also finished.
The final Sunday session began with a second qualifying round, the results of which barely altered the scenario from the previous day. In another incredibly close Spanish F4 field, Miki Blascos was once again the team’s best driver, although he couldn’t improve on his 1:44.048, which left him 15th, just one-tenth of a second off the top 10 and seven points from pole position.
During the race, the Mallorcan driver had particularly bad luck, as contact with a rival at the Ayrton Senna chicane resulted in a spectacular rollover of his car. Fortunately, the incident had no physical consequences, although it ended his weekend. Juste Mulder also failed to finish, due to another accident four laps later. Rahim Alibhai (22nd) and Thiago Palotini (26th) did manage to cross the finish line.
David Simón, Team Manager of Monlau Motul Technical School, assessed the team’s performance in Jerez: “ The difficulty in achieving a fast one-lap pace makes our weekends very complicated, as it prevents us from fully exploiting our race pace, which is really good. In a category where races are always marked by safety cars and red flags, when you start so far back you hardly have any laps to recover ground. Nevertheless, we are happy with the team’s performance and the many engineering and mechanical lessons we learned on a track that is usually challenging for us .”
Monlau Motul CEO Jaime Serrano added: “ There are two events left in the championship, and we must continue working to improve our qualifying performances. We believe our riders have the pace and will undoubtedly be able to demonstrate this in both Navarra and Barcelona .”
Monlau Motul Technical School will have little rest, as the penultimate round of the Spanish F4 Championship, to be held in Navarra, will take place in just two weeks, on October 10th and 11th.
2026 Spanish F4 Championship standings:
https://f4spain.org/standings/standings-2026/
