Two teammates from the Jenzer Motorsport team are battling for the title in F4 CEZ and after the first race at Balaton Park, where Ischer won and Francot finished third behind Michael Sauter, the points situation became really close, with only a two-point margin between leading Francot and second-placed Ischer.
Ethan Ischer maintained the first position when the red lights went off, while Michael Sauter held the second place. Meanwhile, Francot crisscrossed the straight to defend his position into the first turn, and he was successful in doing so.
Ischer started to build a gap in the opening laps, while Francot was attacking Sauter. Francot managed to overtake him in the second lap, but the gap to the lead was already over two and a half seconds. Sauter dropped to third place, followed by Thomas Gore, Shimo Zhang, Max Karhan, Oliver Michl, Miroslav Mikeš and Roman Roubíček.
The lap times between Ischer and Francot were pretty similar. One lap Ischer was faster, the other lap Francot, so the gap remained basically unchanged at around 2.5 seconds.
An interesting battle ensued for fourth place between Gore, Zhang, Karhan,and Michl. These four drivers followed each other closely, waiting for the opportunity to pass. Chinese driver Zhang succeeded in overtaking his teammate Gore and moved up to fourth place.
With ten minutes to go, Francot was under the pressure from Sauter. Although Francot set the fastest lap of the race, he still had to defend his position. Unfortunately for Francot, the positions were not decided on the track, but by the race stewards, as Francot received a two-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage in turn 13.
The final results were Ischer, Sauter and Francot on the podium. Thomas Gore finished in fourth place, followed by Shimo Zhang in fifth, Max Karhan in sixth, Oliver Michl in seventh, Miroslav Mikeš in eighth, and Roman Roubíček in ninth. In the Rookie Rocket category, Gore won with Zhang and Roubíček finishing second and third, respectively.
The situation in the points standings is really close after the first race. Francot leads by only two points over Ischer, so the last two races will be crucial for both drivers. Michael Sauter had a mathematical chance for the title before the first race, but now he is out of contention.
The program for tomorrow starts with the second race at 10:05 a.m., followed by the final race at 1:25 p.m.
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