FWS | In Jerez the victories go to Cardenas, Peebles and Cota

Andres Cardenas of Peru and Campos Racing won the first race on Saturday. Australian Griffin Peebles and MP Motorsport won the second race on Sunday morning, before home driver Juan Cota led the DriveX one-two in the final race of the weekend.

Race 1

With more than half of the 38-strong field making their debut in motorsport, it was not difficult to predict that this would be a race full of anarchy and safety cars. But the youngsters let the owls down, behaving impeccably and resulting in a mostly toy train race entirely devoid of significant incidents.

One of the few overtakings, however, occurred for the lead. Cardenas, who had lost ground to Peebles at the start, accomplished this when he managed to overtake the Australian on the third lap, never looking back.

Behind him, his rivals were very close, but without exchanging positions. Peebles remained ahead of teammate Maciej Gladysz throughout, while the Pole was followed by the US Racing trio of Matheus Ferreira, Akshay Bohra and Gianmarco Pradel.

Pradel led Bohra until just before halfway, but their exchange of positions on lap eight was the only noteworthy move to the front of the pack.

The only time the field showed a bit of inexperience was while heading to the starting grid. With so many drivers trying to test it before leaving the pitlane, some lost time before the pit exit closed.

Among those who were stuck at the red light – and consequently forced to remain there without entering the track – there was the Campos duo formed by Ernesto Rivera and James Egozi, who qualified in fourth and sixth place respectively, which caused the front of the line to have a couple of holes. However, for them, a valuable lesson has undoubtedly been learned.

The same goes for Cardenas, who admitted that he was lucky not to have been caught in the same traffic jam. “I was waiting to do a test start, but then I left the pit lane because the water temperature was rising, not because I realized that the pits were closing!”.

Race 2

The safety car was called into action this time with two appearances that took up much of the half-hour race. To be fair to the inexperienced pilots, the conditions were difficult. The Jerez track appeared damp, but then became completely wet during the race.

Once again, however, it was the procedural shortcomings that attracted attention. Although no one was stuck in the pit lane, two attempts were needed to get the race started. Each of the first two procedures was aborted because Lorenzo Castillo was unable to find his place on the grid amidst what could be described as a fair amount of confusion.

On the third attempt, however, the all-clear was given, with Peebles sprinting from pole to hold the lead. Despite two interruptions with SC due to the stalled cars of Filippo Fiorentino and Lucas Fluxa, the experienced F4 driver maintained his lead until the end.

Although the leaders opted for the relative safety of wet tyres, the worsening conditions contributed to making the race interesting. Cardenas jumped into second position at the start, but came under pressure from Gladysz, managing to hold off the Pole only until the third lap.

The first neutralization then wiped out Peebles' early lead by nearly four seconds. When the safety car came into play on lap seven, Gladysz remained glued to the Australian for a couple of laps, while Ferreira and Mikel Pedersen (DriveX) held off Cardenas.

Then came the next safety car, leaving only time for two laps of the wet race when it left the scene in twelfth.

This time, Peebles came roaring back and ran away, while Gladysz also had no problems until the end. Ferreira came alongside Cardenas in the first two corners after the restart, but was unable to make any moves. The Brazilian ended up losing ground to Egozi and Pedersen, who took fourth and fifth place respectively.

Race 3

The wet race on Sunday afternoon was the best of the weekend: Cota converted pole into a seven-second victory, probably helped by Cardenas, Peebles and Gladysz who had qualified fourth, fifth and ninth respectively after a frenetic session evidence characterized by a red flag.

The battle for second place, however, was very eventful and Ferreira emerged as the protagonist. In the first laps he fought for second position with Rivera and Cardenas, then in the eighth he lost the position to Rivera, but responded with one of the most successful moves of the weekend, winning a battle of nerves that lasted several corners to take it back two rounds later.

Rivera and Cardenas broke away in the final laps, but Ferreira had to deal with Pedersen at the end. The Dane, who had made his way through his rivals after starting sixth, delivered a masterstroke when he overtook the Brazilian at the hairpin on the penultimate lap.

Peebles struggled to get going in this race, losing numerous positions in the early stages before finishing ninth. Gladysz, however, was able to advance from the center of the group, finishing fifth, between Cardenas and Rivera, obtaining the third victory out of three in the rookie class.

A courageous marshal also stood out in this race as he picked up a stray rear wing halfway down the start/finish straight, instead of waiting for the safety car. Rightly or wrongly, that's a rare thing these days.

As for the two leading names in motorsport, Jan Lammers' son René finished ahead of Ken Block's daughter Lia over the weekend. But both remained at the bottom of the pack and neither managed to crack the Top10.