A circuit known for late-season championship drama provided just that, with big crashes for championship contenders, last-lap drama for race victories, and a number of unhappy drivers at the end of Round four.
Sprint race
Verstappen Sim Racing took first blood as Gustavo Ariel took pole and controlled the early stages of a clean sprint race, at least to begin with. Only Augustin Torlashi had a trip through the grass on lap one, but everyone else got away well.
Championship leader Florian Lebigre was in early trouble, as he was embroiled in a fight for ninth place, outside of the reverse grid positions. To rectify this, his teammate Sebastian Job, running in seventh, slowed in front of rival Mitchell DeJong to create a battle for those front-row spots in race two.
Lebigre would only catch up late on, and with a couple of laps left made a move on DeJong at the Bico de Pato, although nearly spun on the exit, and needed another lap to catch back up. It all came down to the last lap, as Job’s slowing in front of DeJong got ever more aggressive, and Lebigre got ever more desperate for reverse grid pole.
At the final corner, Job parked in front of DeJong and the pair made contact, slowing them both and exacerbated by Job running into the side of the American on the following straight. But as Lebigre then also made contact with DeJong, his car fired off to the right, going hard into the wall, dropping him well down the field.
Verstappen Sim Racing’s aggression had backfired on them, and there were more tactical games happening at the front, as polesitter Ariel let Dayne Warren and Charlie Collins through for a 1-2 to secure himself a better position for race two.
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