Formula 4 Spanish Championship returned this weekend for the third round of the season. At the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, GRS completed a weekend that showed improvement over the previous event, although the team still remained outside the points-scoring positions.
The third round of the Spanish F4 Championship took place on June 7 and 8 at the iconic Portimao circuit. It was a weekend where the team showed signs of progress compared to the previous round, even though the results still fell short of the goals.
GRS entered the event with an unchanged line-up: Daniel Dallakyan and Aleksandar Bogunovič once again represented the team. The drivers completed three days of testing—on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday—along with a free practice session on Saturday morning ahead of the real action.
When qualifying got underway, lap times were not far off the front-runners’, but the final grid positions left room for improvement. This highlighted just how tight and competitive the F4 field is, where every tenth of a second counts, especially in qualifying. Bogunovič qualified 26th and Dallakyan 31st.
In Race 1, both drivers made good starts and gained positions off the line. The battle for the Top 20 was fiercely contested, with constant position changes. Both Bogunovič and Dallakyan improved on their starting spots—Bogunovič finished P24, and Dallakyan crossed the line in P26.
Sunday’s action began with the second qualifying session. This time, Aleksandar qualified 28th, with Daniel starting Race 3 from P30.
In Race 2, the Slovenian driver started from P26 and the Armenian from P31. The goal remained the same: to gain experience and move up the order. Both drivers achieved that, battling around the Top 25 throughout the race. With frequent position changes and intense fights within the midfield, Bogunovič finished 19th—matching his best result of the season—while Dallakyan came home in P23, both aided in part by post-race penalties applied to other drivers.
The final race followed a similar script. Both Bogunovič and Dallakyan gained several places and were engaged in constant on-track battles—including wheel-to-wheel duels with each other. After a chaotic race, Daniel finished 20th, equalling his best result of the season so far, while Aleksandar took 22nd.
The team’s performance and results in Portimao marked clear progress compared to the previous round. The drivers’ race pace and overall performance were significantly better, and the aim is to continue developing along this path. However, there is still plenty of work ahead to close the gap to the target positions. The team remains motivated and committed to pushing forward, both at the workshop and at the track, in pursuit of better results.
Formula 4 Spanish Championship returns in two weeks’ time. Circuit Paul Ricard will host the fourth round on the weekend of June 21–22.
