The second round of the 2024 Formula Winter Series season organised by Gedlich Racing and the Spanish Formula 4 Championship took place this weekend in Cheste. There, Andrés Cárdenas, Griffin Peebles, and Matheus Ferreira shared the victories at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
After a Friday of acclimatisation to the track, Saturday started with the first qualifying of the event in which all the riders were disqualified as they did not have any valid laps due to track limits. Thus, the grid for race 1 was made up of the best combined times from Friday, which left Andrés Cárdenas (Griffin Core by Campos Racing) with his second pole position in the Formula Winter Series.
The Peruvian gave his rivals no chance and led the race with authority from start to finish to take his second Formula Winter Series win in a race that ended early with a red flag with Juan Cota (Drivex) and Griffin Peebles (MP Motorsport) on the podium and Maciej Gladysz (MP Motorsport) as best rookie.
Peebles holds his own and Ferreira makes his Winter Series debut at the top of the field. Sunday started with a new qualifying session with Griffin Peebles in pole position for his third of the year.
Race 2, with Peebles also on pole, saw the Australian dominate the race as Cárdenas did on Saturday. With the Safety Car being the main protagonist of the race with several interventions, the highlight was Gianmarco Padel (US Racing) overtaking his teammate Akshay Bora (US Racing) for the last step of the podium while Andrés Cárdenas added one more this year crossing the finish line second. Mattia Colnaghi (MP Motorsport), was the best rookie.
In the early afternoon, Race 3 put an end to the second round of the Formula Winter Series in Valencia with a new protagonist: Matheus Ferreira.
The young Brazilian from US Racing surprised Griffin Peebles at the start and took the lead at the first corner. From then on, a new race was marked by Safety Car appearances. Ferreira was able to withstand all the Australian's attacks at every restart and crossed the finish line in first position ahead of Peebles himself and another first-time driver: Douwe Dedecker (GRS Team).
At the conclusion of the first round of the Formula Winter Series in Jerez, Andrés Cárdenas remains the leader with 108 points and tied with Griffin Peebles. Matheus Ferreira (75) is third and Maciej Gladysz (70) is fourth. In the team battle, MP Motorsport leads with 177 points to 129 for US Racing and 128 for Campos Racing.
The next event will take place from 1-3 March at Motorland Aragón.