Emma Felbermayr battles through adversity on first visit to Motorland Aragon
- LIAM REDFORD
- Mar 31
- 5 min read
Following an excellent debut in F1 Academy, Emma Felbermayr experienced a challenging opening weekend in the Spanish F4 Championship at Motorland Aragon, where she achieved a best result of 23rd as she battled among the midfield and gained valuable knowledge in her rookie season of formula car racing.
Emma Felbermayr experienced a challenging opening weekend in the Spanish F4 Championship at Motorland Aragon. The Rodin Motorsport driver achieved a best result of 23rd position in race three as she battled among the midfield drivers and gained valuable knowledge in her rookie season of formula car racing.
Following an excellent debut in the F1 Academy series at Shanghai International Circuit, Felbermayr arrived at Motorland Aragon for the opening round of the Spanish F4 Championship. Driving for Kick Sauber in the all-female single seater series, Felbermayr finished inside the top-5 in race two in China and currently sits sixth in the overall championship.
Despite entering the season as a circuit racing rookie, Felbermayr has shown excellent and speed and racecraft in her opening events. To start her campaign, Emma raced in the Eurocup-4 Spanish Winter Championship and achieved three top-20 finishes in six races, with a best result of 13th coming at Jerez.
Motorland Aragon was set to be another new circuit for Felbermayr to learn, however she was up for the challenge alongside her Rodin Motorsport team. Felbermayr benefited from six official test sessions leading up to the weekend in which she set a fastest time of a 1:59.405 in the fifth session. Lap times were extremely close throughout testing and the young Austrian driver was regularly within a second of the top-10.
On Friday, the young racers were given two further practice sessions ahead of Saturday morning’s final practice. Felbermayr’s fastest time came in the second session where her quickest lap of a 1:59.673 placed the Rodin Motorsport driver in 24th position. In the final practice session prior to qualifying, the young Austrian driver set the 29th fastest time, again just a second away from the overall top-10.
The first qualifying session of the weekend was held in extremely windy conditions on Saturday morning. As the fuel load burnt off, all drivers significantly improved their times throughout the session. For the majority of the session, Felbermayr was sitting just inside the top-30, until two excellent final laps vaulted her up the order. At the end of qualifying, Emma’s fastest lap of a 1:59.598 placed her in a credible 22nd position in a strong 36 car field.
Following penalties assessed to drivers ahead, Felbermayr lined up 20th for race one at Motorland Aragon. It was a challenging start for the Rodin Motorsport driver who initially fell to 26th, before being spun around. As a result, Felbermayr was now at the rear of the field and hoping for a safety car to bring her back into contention.
Despite the setback, Felbermayr’s pace was extremely strong as she was running top-15 lap times while catching the drivers ahead. By lap seven, Emma was into 32nd position after a number of rivals ahead pitted with damage. Three laps later, the safety car was deployed after an incident for Sacha Van’t Pad Bosch and therefore Felbermayr had the opportunity to bring herself back into contention.
The restart came with seven minutes remaining and the Rodin Motorsport driver was quickly into the top-30 after Alex Powell pitted. With a number of faster drivers coming through the field, Felbermayr dropped to 33rd at the end of lap 13. However, she was once again making progress and capitalised on a number of incidents ahead to move into 28th position. Continuing to run personal best times to the checkered flag, Felbermayr completed race one in 28th, before being promoted to 25th after penalties were assessed to drivers ahead.
Sunday morning’s action began with the second qualifying session which was held in cold and dry conditions. Therefore, getting temperature into the tyres was a challenge and this was made more difficult by an early red flag. When the session resumed, Felbermayr improved consistently and with a strong final lap, the Rodin Motorsport driver had set the 26th fastest time overall.
Grid positions for the second race of the weekend were based on the second fastest times from Saturday morning’s first qualifying session and therefore Felbermayr lined up from 21st position. It was an action-packed opening lap as drivers battled for positions and the Rodin Motorsport driver completed lap one in 25th. Felbermayr then lost one further position on lap two, before an off-track moment on lap three saw her fall to 33rd.
Despite this setback, Felbermayr got back into her rhythm and began catching the drivers ahead. After passing Daniel Dallakyan and Nacho Tunon, Emma was back into 31st position before re-entering the top-30 on lap seven. Dallakyan and Artem Severiukin then moved back ahead as Felbermayr enjoyed a close battle for position.
On lap 12, a small issue led to Felbermayr slipping back after running side-by-side with Severiukhin. Now running in 32nd position, Emma finished the race positively by setting a personal best time on the final lap of the contest. After taking the checkered flag in 32nd position, Felbermayr was promoted to 31st following a penalty assessed to a rival ahead.
For the final race of the weekend, Felbermayr lined up from 25th on the grid. The Rodin Motorsport driver did a superb job to negotiate a start line incident ahead of her which led to an extensive safety car period. Felbermayr remained in 25th position with all the drivers having to follow the safety car through the pits while the marshals cleared away the damaged cars.
When the racing resumed, a recovering Reno Francot moved ahead before Felbermayr re-entered the top-25 after Hudson Schwartz entered the pits. On lap seven, Emma passed Alexander Jacoby for 24th and then she enjoyed a close battle with the Tecnicar by Amtog machine of Nacho Tunon. Tunon moved ahead, however Felbermayr was running in a competitive train of cars who were fighting for positions inside the top-20.
After an issue for Vivek Kanthan on lap 11, the Rodin Motorsport driver moved into 24th and following a pass on Aleksandar Bogunovic, Emma was into 23rd position. Felbermayr challenged Tunon on the final lap and although she remained in 23rd spot, Emma finished just one tenth of a second behind her rival.
It was a productive event for Felbermayr at Motorland Aragon as she gained experience at a technical circuit. Overcoming a number of setbacks during the weekend, Emma twice finished inside the top-25 and developed her racecraft in the opening round of the Spanish F4 Championship. Felbermayr’s attention will now be focussed on the next round of the F1 Academy series which takes place at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit on the weekend of 19th/20th April.
