Kirill Smal completed the Spanish Formula 4 season with two pedestals

The final stage of the Spanish Formula 4 of the 2022 season took place at the Catalunya-Montmelo circuit – four Russians competed in this championship throughout the season, and six pilots from Russia went to the start on the final weekend.

The Bulgarian Nikola Tsolov won in each of the three races, who secured the championship ahead of schedule even at the stage in Navarre, but behind him every time a stubborn struggle was in full swing. So, in the first race, the Pole Timoteush Kukharchik was the main pursuer of Tsolova at first, but the Russian Kirill Smal was faster, ahead of his opponent and took the second position from him.

In the second run, Hugh Barter, an Australian rider who became the vice-champion of this year, confidently took the second place. Kukharchik was third again, and Smal finished fourth – Kirill, as in the first race, put pressure on the Pole, but this time he could not overtake.

But in the third race, Smal started brilliantly from fourth position and broke through to second place by the first turn. The Russian tried to impose a fight on Tsolov, but he managed to break away, and Smal eventually had to fight off the attacks of Robert de Haan. The struggle, however, did not work out – in the last laps, as a result of contact with an opponent, Noah Strömsteda’s car soared into the air and collapsed upside down. The rider escaped injury, but the race finished in safety car mode.

Other Russians failed to score points in the final stage. Miron Pingasov finished all three races in the top 20, but did not rise above 13th position in the second run. In the same race, Vladislav Ryabov achieved the best result for the weekend – 20th place, while Maxim Arkhangelsky broke through to 21st place in the first race. Daniel Mavlyutov was classified 27th all three times.

In addition to the five pilots already mentioned, Victoria Blokhina, the most promising Russian racer at the moment, competed in Barcelona. For Victoria, this was the first experience of speaking in the Spanish championship, and yet the young rider was able to impose a fight on a number of rivals who are more familiar with the technique, and eventually finished 28th twice. True, in the second race, Blokhin was forced to retire – in the fight with one of her rivals, the racer lost her front wing and got stuck on the side of the road. Because of this incident, the second run also finished in safety car mode.

In the overall standings at the end of the season, Hugh Barter and Timoteush Kucharczyk entered the top 3 along with Nikola Tsolova. Kirill Smal is in fourth position – during the season he climbed the podium a total of eight times. Miron Pingasov is 18th in the standings with 18 points, while the rest of the Russians finished the championship without points.

Spanish F-4. Season results (top 10):

1. Nikola Tsolov – 400 points

2. Hugh Barter – 284

3. Timoteush Kucharchik – 225

4. Kirill Smal – 173

5. Georg Kelstrup – 103

6. Valerio Rinicella – 102

7. Robert de Haan – 76

8. Suleiman Zanfari – 70

9. Philip Yenich – 64

10. Tasanapol Intrapuvasak – 63