- The Barcelona team begins the campaign this weekend at the Jarama circuit with a lineup made up of three debutants: Lenny Ried, Tim Gerhards and Rehan Hakim.
- “We begin a challenging season in which we will place emphasis, once again, on our formative vocation. We want to help our drivers grow and gain competitiveness as the races progress,” emphasizes David Simón, Team Manager of the team.
- “Without a doubt, the DNA of Monlau Motul is to compete and train the three actors in motorsport: drivers, mechanics and engineers, with our consolidated 360-degree training method thanks to a very professional staff,” says Jaime Serrano, CEO of Monlau Motul.
Monlau Motul Technical School begins its third full season in Spanish Formula 4 this weekend at the Jarama circuit in Madrid. The Barcelona team, which renews its alliance with the Van Amersfoort team from the Netherlands, will have a squad made up of three debutants: the German Lenny Ried and the Dutch Tim Gerhards, both with previous experience alongside Monlau Motul in the Winter Series of F4, and the Indian Rehan Hakim.
It is often said that the jump from karting to single-seaters is one of the most important and complex steps in the training of any professional driver. For the first time in its history as an F4 team, Monlau Motul Technical School will act more than ever as a school and will field a team of protagonists located at this precise moment in their careers, which makes the challenge more attractive and exciting.
The most experienced of the three will be the German Lenny Ried, who has previous experience participating in the Spanish F4 Winter Series. This German, only 16 years old, has notable previous successes in the ADAC karting championship. Also at 16 years old is the Dutchman Tim Gerhards, author of an outstanding progression in the F-Winter in his only two appearances, with a multitude of comebacks at the gates of the points zone. Gerhards also has notable international results in karting, a stage that closed last 2023 in the European KZ2 with a final 17th place. The Indian Rehan Hakim completes the lineup, who has recently combined sim racing with some test sessions with single-seaters, but who is still awaiting his debut in competition.
David Simón , team manager of the team, measures the challenge that Monlau Motul faces in 2024: “We have a squad made up 100% of debutants, which makes us predict a tough year but full of enthusiasm and in which we will have to apply ourselves 100%. percent to support the growth of our pilots. In the end, it is about continuing our work and training vocation, which seeks to ensure that both those who sit behind the wheel and those who provide them with technical support grow and become, every day, more competitive.”
The first meeting of the 2024 season will arrive this weekend at the Jarama circuit, in Madrid, a historic track that returns after four years of absence. Its 3,850 meters of rope are full of secrets and will serve as a perfect demonstration button for the team, since Monlau Motul Technical School lacks previous experience with the F4 on this track in a single-seater competition weekend. The information from the tests and the collective and free rehearsal sessions this weekend will therefore prove to be fundamental for the team’s progression.
Another of the big obstacles of the event will be traffic management, both in the race and, especially, in the two qualifying sessions. Finding clean laps and overtaking points in the three scoring events will be crucial, as Jaime Serrano , CEO of Monlau Motul, points out: “Jarama is an old-school track, so our drivers will have to apply themselves fully from the track walk. . It makes us happy to start there, because the challenge increases. We start the season full of enthusiasm, after many months of very hard work. Without a doubt, the DNA of Monlau Motul is to compete and train the three actors in motorsport: drivers, mechanics and engineers, with our consolidated 360-degree training method thanks to a very professional staff. The preseason has been long, but we are ready and motivated to start the new season.”
The weekend program will begin on Friday with the usual collective tests prior to the event. Saturday will see most of the activity, with two free sessions, the first qualifying session and the opening race of the season. On Sunday, a new official session followed by the two scoring tests that will put the finishing touch.
Calendar of the 2024 Spanish F4 Championship:
May 10-12 – Jarama Circuit (Madrid)
June 7-9 – Autódromo Internacional do Algarve (Portugal)
July 5-7 – Circuit de Paul Ricard (France)
July 26-28 – Motorland Aragón (Alcañiz)
September 13-15 – Circuit Ricardo Tormo (Valencia)
October 4-6 – Jerez-Ángel Nieto Circuit (Jerez de la Frontera)
November 8-10 – Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya (Montmeló)
