The fourth and final round of the Formula Winter Series held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has crowned Griffin Peebles as the new champion.
The Australian driver, who arrived in Montmeló with just a 5-point lead over his main rival, Andrés Cárdenas, had a great weekend with two wins that helped him secure the title with a total of four poles, five fastest laps, four wins, and seven podium finishes.
Saturday's schedule was affected by heavy rain in the Catalan circuit area, forcing the cancellation of Qualy 1 and subsequently the first race of the weekend, meaning the titles would be decided on Sunday.
En la jornada final, con una climatología favorable, la Qualy 2 dejó a Griffin Peebles en Pole para la segunda carrera del fin de semana y a Nathan Tye (Campos Racing) para la tercera y última. El australiano no dio opción en la carrera matinal, la cual estuvo muy marcada por las salidas de pista y los Safety Car.
Tras una salida excelente defendiendo su posición, Peebles mantuvo el tipo en cada resalida sin ofrecer a Cárdenas, segundo, la posibilidad de pensar en la victoria. Por detrás Gianmarco Pradel perdía el control de su monoplaza en la pelea por la tercera plaza, que heredó Ernesto Rivera para subir a su primer podio general en F4 además de ser también el mejor rookie de la carrera.
PEEBLES IS THE NEW KING
Peebles llegaba a la última carrera del certamen con 15 puntos de ventaja sobre Cárdenas y 25 en juego saliendo, además, por delante del peruano.
El piloto de MP Motorsport no desaprovechó la oportunidad y, con otra gran salida, se hizo con la primera posición a final de recta mientras Cárdenas avanzaba poco a poco hasta ponerse tercero tras su compañero de equipo y Poleman, Nathan Tye.
With 13 minutes remaining in the race and after the Safety Car period due to car number 52 going off-track, Cárdenas caught a good slipstream and overtook Tye for second place at the end of the straight. A few seconds later, on the same lap, Matheus Ferreira had an accident, bringing out the Safety Car again.
The race resumed with 5 minutes left, but another incident at the first corner slowed down the race again, which would only restart for the final lap, where Peebles easily defended his perfect record of wins in Barcelona, thus sealing his championship in the best possible way.
Cárdenas finished second, confirming himself as the runner-up, with Maciej Gladysz third overall and the best rookie, while MP Motorsport was the 2024 team champion.
