"Coming back to new and different conditions was a massive learning experience" - Joanne Ciconte completed the Portimão season opener of the Formula Winter Series with two top-20 finishes, demonstrating strong starts, a promising qualifying and consistent improvement, including in her first ever wet race.
Joanne Ciconte gained valuable experience during the season opener of the 2025 Formula Winter Series in Portimão, Portugal, securing two top-20 finishes.
The young Australian showed strong performances in the early stages of her races, making significant gains from her starting positions. In Race 1, after an unfortunate contact that forced her to pit, she impressively recovered to finish a best of 19th.
Ciconte, racing for AKM Motorsport, had another strong first half in Race 2 before dealing with her first wet race in Sunday’s final contest. Competing in a highly competitive 30-car field, she made notable improvements in lap times.
The 16-year-old Australian made her single-seater debut in 2024, finishing second in the Australian Formula Open round at Sandown before stepping up to the Australian F4 Championship in the new-gen Tatuus F4 car, where she achieved three top-10 finishes.
She then moved to Europe, making an impressive debut in the Central European Zone F4 Championship in Brno, where she claimed a fourth-place finish.
At the end of the season, she gained further experience in the highly competitive Spanish F4 Championship, racing in fields of over 35 cars and securing her first top-20 finish in Barcelona.
Now entering her second season in F4 competitions, Ciconte aims to build on her rookie year with a focus on continuous progress. The Formula Winter Series therefore presents a perfect opportunity to continue this learning process among some of the most promising young drivers in Europe.
The Gedlich-promoted Formula Winter Series enters its third season, boasting a larger grid than ever and continued growth. One of the standout aspects of 2025 is the significant female presence on the grid—one-third of the drivers are female.
The Portimão season opener featured the highest number of women in a mixed-gender F4 race to date, with nine female drivers, surpassing last year’s record at the British F4 Zandvoort round.
Drivers had six practice sessions leading up to the race weekend, allowing Ciconte to learn the track and refamiliarize herself with the car after being out of the car throughout the Australian summer. She quickly found her rhythm, consistently improving her lap times just outside the top-20 and setting her best practice lap in 1:46.829 during the final session.
In the first 15-minute qualifying session on Saturday morning, Ciconte initially put in a strong lap of 1:50.9, placing her in the top ten. As times rapidly dropped, she improved her first sector on the final run, ultimately setting a 1:47.5, securing a promising P23 starting position.
Shortly after, drivers returned to the track for the second qualifying session with new tyres. Ciconte started strong, leading the early minutes with times in the 1:48s before being the first driver to break into the 1:47s. She kept improving, reaching a best time of 1:47.2, placing her P21—a solid step forward despite having three laps deleted for track limits but still showcased her growing qualifying skills.
"The weekend was mixed with ups and downs", Joanne told us. "Qualifying 1 was really promising and put me in excellent positions."
RACE 1
A few hours later, the first race of the Formula Winter Series got underway, under sunny and dry conditions. Gabriel Gomez started from pole, with Edu Robinson alongside him.
Robinson took the early lead, passing the two US Racing cars. Several midfield drivers had to take the escape road at Turn 1 after minor incidents.
Starting from P23, Ciconte had a clean launch, avoiding early midfield chaos and moving up to P21. She continued closing in on the top 20, improving her lap times with every passing lap. By lap 6, she overtook Maksimilian Popov and gained another position when Kabir Anurag pitted with technical issues, moving her into P19.
However, soon after, Ciconte was hit from behind and sent into another car ahead, damaging her front wing. She was forced to pit and rejoined in P28 with a significant gap to the pack.
On lap 12, an incident involving Enea Frey and Thomas Bearman triggered a safety car, allowing Ciconte to catch up to the field.
When the race resumed for one final lap, Leo Robinson controlled the restart, while Ciconte capitalized on midfield attrition, gaining five positions to finish P21. After post-race penalties, she was classified in P19, securing her first top-20 of the season.
"Race 1 was super unfortunate as I was making positions progressing through the field under the top 20, but an opponent from behind hit me into a driver in front and broke my front wing", Ciconte said. "Meaning I had to go to the pits and starts from the back again during the race."
RACE 2
In the afternoon, Ciconte would be lining up from P29 in the second race, needing another charge through the field. With Kirill Kutskov and Kabir Anurag unable to take to the grid due to technical issues, she gained two positions before the race even began.
At the start, she made immediate progress, climbing to P25 on the first lap.
A lap 2 incident between Rafaela Ferreira and Mathilda Paatz brought out the safety car. By this point, Ciconte had already gained eight positions and was running P21.
At the restart, she avoided trouble ahead and reached P17 before another safety car was deployed following a collision between Aleksander Ruta and Andrea Dupe.
On lap 10, when racing resumed, Ciconte ran P16 and battled with Alba Hurup Larsen while defending against Kirill Kutskov. Despite losing out to the recovering Kutskov, she held her ground in a competitive group.
A tight fight with Zhuravskiy, Westcott, Vinci, Dupe, and Borenstein saw her drop four positions to P22 after a small mistake on lap 13.
Ciconte crossed the line in P22, but post-race penalties moved her up to P20, securing another top-20 finish.
"Race 2 was difficult, as I started in a rough position and made a few mistakes in my behalf and had the wrong strategy for that race", she summarized. Despite the setback, her early pace demonstrated again encouraging potential.
RACE 3
Sunday’s final race of the weekend took place in mixed weather conditions, leading to varied tyre strategies. While some drivers gambled on slicks, most opted for wet tyres.
Lining up in P21, Ciconte was once again in a position to battle in the midfield.
At the start, a technical issue with the lights meant only three lights illuminated before the race began, catching some drivers off guard. The race was soon red-flagged, and all cars returned to the pits for a restart.
Most drivers stayed on wet tyres during the red flag, and the race resumed behind the safety car. Once the green flag waved, Joanne Ciconte made again big gains, quickly moving up to P19 while others struggled for grip. Several drivers, including Andrija Kostic and Maksimilian Popov, hit trouble, and Andrea Dupe spun.
Ciconte engaged in a hard-fought battle with Hurup Larsen, exchanging positions multiple times before eventually settling into P20. However, as the track dried and drivers on slicks found pace, she was overtaken by Sebastian Bach but remained clear of Westcott behind.
With limited time left to make further progress, she crossed the line in P22. Despite the challenging conditions, she delivered a clean race and gained valuable experience.
"Race 3 was the most challenging", she commented. "I had never driven in the rain before and to go into a race with rain was definitely a challenge."
"Overall for not being in the car all of Australian summer and coming back to new and different conditions was a massive learning experience."
Joanne Ciconte wrapped up the Portimão round with two top-20 finishes, demonstrating strong early race pace and consistent improvement; she now looks forward to the next Formula Winter Series round at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo Circuit on February 13-16.
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