Spanish F4 Championship

Hugh Barter has enjoyed a solid start to the Spanish F4 Championship with a race win and second place in the Championship standings – just six points off the leading Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak. 

With the round taking place at Algarve International Circuit in Portugal, the Victorian picked up P3 in qualifying and started the first race on the second row, but was in first place by the time the field had reached the second turn in the opening race.

All race Barter was locked in a three-way battle with Inthraphuvasak and Tymoteusz Kucharczyk with the trio exchanging positions during the 25-minutes race, however Barter eventually got the lead with a few minutes to go and stayed there to claim the race win.

Unfortunately, during the race, the teenager hurt his hand which made it difficult for the rest of the weekend. As a result, in the remaining two races, Barter just missed out on podiums and finished both race two and three in fourth place. 


Barter wasn’t the only Aussie taking part in the Spanish F4 Championship opener with Noah Lisle making his open-wheel debut.

In what was his first ever time behind the wheel of an F4 car, Lisle didn’t have as good as a start as his Aussie counterpart, but still showed promise as he finished 11 positions higher in the final race compared to his first result.

The Spanish F4 Championship returns at the end of this month at Circuito de Jerez, while Barter will again be in action this coming weekend at the Circuit de Pau-Ville in Pau for the French F4 Championship.

Euroformula Open Championship

Barter wasn’t the only Australian to enjoy the top step on Saturday with Christian Mansell enjoying the perfect start to the Euroformula Open Championship.

Also held in Portugal but at the Circuito do Estoril in Alcabideche, Mansell’s victory came in similar fashion to Barter as a decent qualifying session saw him start in P3. 

In the opening race, Mansell had managed to work his way to first place at the expense of polesitter Oliver Goethe, while fellow Australian Alex Peroni had a solid return to European open-wheel racing with a P6 after gaining the most positions in the outing.


For the second race of the weekend, Peroni ended up the higher of the two as he moved a further two places and just missed on the podium in fourth, while Mansell had valve issues that caused him to lose seven places – the 17-year-old finishing the race in P8.

Unfortunately Peroni was the one to have issues in the final race of the weekend as the Tasmanian down the order to P10. 

Mansell on the other hand, recovered to end the season opener with a podium, which saw him end the round in fourth overall – 11 points off Goethe who bounced back in races two and three. 

Despite the race three setback, Peroni ended the weekend in sixth and around 21 points off Mansell.

It’s back-to-back weekends for the championship with the Circuit de Pau-Ville also hosting the second round this weekend.

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship

Matt Campbell and French teammate Mathieu Jaminet have enjoyed another solid weekend in the GT Daytona Pro class of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship as they picked up their second win of the season.

Having secured pole position on Saturday with a strong session, the duo both put in solid stints in the Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R to lead the class from lights out to the chequered flag. 

Having completed 107 laps in the Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship at WeatherTech Raceway in California, the duo finished 12th overall and more than 30 seconds ahead of their closest class rivals. 

Contesting the same class of the race was Aidan Read however he didn’t fare as well as Campbell as he and teammate Ryan Eversley were unable to guide their RWR Eurasia Motorsport Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 to a good result – the duo ended up last of all finishers.
 
Campbell and Jaminet now sit second on the class standings – just 30 points off the leading crew of Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia.

The next round of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is the Lexus Grand Prix at the Mid-Ohio Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on 15 May.