hree out of three podiums achieved by Russia´s driver and Drivex at the Autódromo do Algarve. Vartanyan stepped second twice and third and climbs to second in championship heading into summer break. Volegov also proved his competitiveness both in qualifying and race pace but several incidents prevented from claiming a good result.

The third round of the Spanish F.4 Championship took place last weekend at the Autódromo do Algarve and Drivex again achieved brilliant results in its series debut. The Portuguese venue, near to Portimão, was another fertile ground for the only Spanish team in the series as the team founded by Pedro de la Rosa and Miguel Ángel de Castro claimed three podium finishes over the weekend.

Aleksander Vartanyan, driving one of the Drivex-entered Tatuus-built cars, set the pace from the very beginning when he topped the first free practice session with a lap time of 1:50.163. His closest rival was more than two tenths off pace. Nikita Volegov, with another car of Drivex, took 5th in the timesheets proving they both learned the challenging Portuguese track very quickly. In Q1, Vartanyan took 3rd spot on the starting grid with his lap of 1:51.218. On the other hand, Volegov was 7th-fastest after clocking a time of 1:51.509.

Saturday´s race, which took place at 17.25, was marked by hot temperatures and either drivers or cars were tested. But Vartanyan managed to keep a cool head and, after 14 laps, Russian young ace took the checkered flag in third place. Besides, he scored valuable points. Unfortunately, Volegov didn´t have Lady Luck on his side and a race incident with another driver forced him to retire.

On Sunday morning Q2 was held and both Drivex´s driver again shone and delivered a good performance. Vartanyan stormed to pole position with a lap time of 1:49.587 ahead of series leader Richard Verschoor. On this occasion, Volegov set 5th-fastest time only two tenths slower than his teammate Vartanyan.

In race two, Vartanyan lined up third on the grid - positions of classification of race 1 for the starting grid of race 2- and passed Juho Valtanen for second on lap two. Vartanyan finished second. Following a drive through penalty, Volegov still set 2nd fastest lap, which was only 27 thousandths slower than Verschoor´s time.

F4 Spain´s weekend came to an end with race 3. Vartanyan was eying his maiden win in the series but Verschoor made a sensational start and took the lead. Volegov was hit by another car and it resulted in suspension damage when he had moved up to fourth. Vartanyan tried to follow Verschoor but he couldn´t and secured another second place finish. Despite struggling with suspension damage, Volegov still made it to the finish in 7th place.

After nine races and three rounds Vartanyan sits second in drivers´ championship on 112 points. Volegov is 7th on 46 points.

Miguel Ángel de Castro: “As expected, we were rather competitive in Portugal and we were in win contention again. Aleksander grabbed a fantastic pole position but Verschoor is really strong at the moment. Not in vain, he is contesting four different championships at the same time. So, we need to keep working and close that small gap. After Nikita´s fastest lap time in race 2, we thought everything was moving along smoothly but Aleksander couldn´t keep him at bay at the start. Aleksander has done a great work and claimed three podiums. Nikita was also pretty quick but several circumstances prevented him from equaling his teammate´s performance. He was a mere two tenths slower in Q2 and his race pace he was the closest to Verschoor. I´m sure Nikita will step onto the podium very soon!”