After a highly positive weekend showing significant improvement from her debut in Jerez, Joanne Ciconte secured her first top-20 finish in Spanish F4, in only her second participation, wrapping up the season finale at Barcelona by gaining 24 positions over the weekend.
Joanne Ciconte enjoyed a highly positive weekend at the Spanish Formula 4 season finale at Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona, where she secured a breakthrough top-20 finish in a 35-car field of some of the most competitive up-and-coming single-seater talents in Europe, in only her second participation in the series.
The 15-year-old Australian made her debut in an F4 car earlier this year, 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.
She achieved three top-10 finishes in the Australian series, then continued her learning process by moving to Europe, where she entered the Brno round in the Central European Zone F4 Championship. In a remarkable debut, Ciconte claimed a fourth-place finish in her first appearance in the FIA F4 CEZ.
Continuing to climb the ladder, Ciconte made a notable step forward as she joined the highly competitive Spanish F4 at the penultimate round in Jerez, in an almost 40-car field. She made good progress over the weekend, with a best finish of P28.
Joanne then returned to the Spanish F4 grid for the season finale, tackling one of the most competitive F4 championships in Europe at the home of the Spanish GP in Barcelona.
A total of 58 drivers took the start in at least one round of this year's Spanish F4. Among them were three female drivers – Lia Block, Nerea Marti, and Joanne Ciconte, who was the only woman in the final round, eager to build on her experience from Jerez and improve further.
In Friday testing, Ciconte got up to speed, setting a time of 1:44.632, finishing P32.
The official practice brought more positive signs; she showed good improvement in times despite a red flag mid-session when Ried went off. As the session resumed, she set a 1:53.5, continued to improve as the track evolved, and found more time at the end, with a final run of 1:51.884, placing her P34.
Qualifying 1 followed, which would set the grid for the opening race of the weekend. In her first timed lap, Ciconte placed P4 with a 1:50.190. Times continued to improve quickly, and Ciconte went under the 1:50 mark as others also improved with 10 minutes to go. A 1:45.172 brought her back into the top 20.
In the extremely tight session, with 19 drivers within one second, Ciconte found more tenths and got back into the top-30 with a 1:44.239 with 3 minutes to go. She improved again to 1:43.918, 1.8 seconds off pole, taking P30 for the Race 1 grid— marking a strong improvement from her first outing in the series and from testing sessions.
Barcelona greeted Race 1 on Saturday afternoon with sunny skies for the 30-minute +1 lap race. Mattia Colnaghi started from pole position, followed by Ernesto Rivera and Griffin Peebles.
Ciconte had a tricky start, dropping to P32 but quickly recovered: she passed Jacoby and Berenstein to return to her starting position by the end of the first lap, before the safety car was deployed for Gabriel Gomez's accident at Turn 9. Ciconte was up to P29 when the race was neutralized.
At the green flag on lap 3, big battles for the lead took place between Colnaghi and Keanu Al Azhari, with plenty of position changes across the field. Joanne was also battling hard, trading places in the top 30. Running at 1:44 times, faster than several cars ahead, she climbed to P26 as Adam Al Azhari dropped down the order.
Keeping consistent pace, Ciconte held her own in the packed midfield, engaging in a duel with Ary Bansal again after passing Cantù. With 11 minutes to go, Ried and Bouzinelos crashed at Turn 11, leading to another safety car on lap 9; Ciconte picked up more places, reaching P23, and gained another when Lucas Fluxa pitted with damage.
After a restart on lap 13, Joanne had a strong restart, battling with Bansal, and ran as high as 21st before settling into P22 with a one-second margin over Cantù on the final lap. Mattia Colnaghi won, taking the championship lead. Ciconte gained one more position in the final stages, crossing the line in 21st—barely missing out on her first top-20 finish and marking her best performance in the series to date.
It was a race of solid improvements, with strong pace that gained her nine positions from the start.
"Today was a range of emotions", she commented at the end of Saturday. "Practice this morning was very different and in difficult conditions, but I kept my eyes forward for qualifying. In quali, I came P30. It wasn’t too bad; I had some good pace, but for Race 1, I was super excited, and I had a good result. I finished nine places forward. Overall, an amazing day."
On Sunday morning, the 20-minute second qualifying session on a damp track was halted by a red flag in the opening minutes, with Ciconte setting the fourth-fastest time on early laps. The session resumed with 5 minutes remaining, and as times dropped significantly, Ciconte set a 1:45.0 to qualify 28th, just 1.5 seconds off pole—again showing strong improvement.
Starting from P30 in the shorter second race of the weekend, Joanne Ciconte aimed to move up the order in the penultimate race of the season.
At lights out, several drivers stalled toward the back, while Joanne had a great launch, immediately moving up to P24 and gaining three more positions on the first lap, reaching 21st with a nine-place gain. She then had to fend off fast drivers like Tarnvanichkul and Bouzinelos before a lap 2 incident involving Dobrzanski brought out another safety car.
The restart on lap 4 saw Ciconte fighting with Gladysz, and while she dropped behind the MP Motorsport car, she stayed in the pack, battling hard in P24. They both overtook Jacoby, and when Matus Ryba went off from the top ten, the safety car came out again on lap 7, with Ciconte now in P22.
When the green flag flew again, Joanne lost a spot to Adam Al Azhari but passed Bansal to grab P21. However, Bouzinelos crashed at Turn 7, ending the race prematurely with one minute remaining.
Post-race penalties promoted Ciconte to 20th place, securing her first top-20 finish in the series—a significant achievement for the Australian rookie.
With Colnaghi winning Race 2 and his title rival Keanu Al Azhari out of the points after a penalty, the 2024 Spanish F4 title was set to be decided in the final race.
The final round of the 2024 Spanish F4 Championship provided another opportunity for Ciconte to showcase her progression. After a strong Quali 2, she lined up P28.
At lights out, Ciconte immediately picked up two positions before a crash involving Cardenas, Ryba, and Hideg brought out the safety car. Colnaghi, ahead, dropped to seventh, while Al Azhari moved up to third in the championship battle.
From 26th, Ciconte kept up the pace and gained a position after the green flag on lap 3, holding a good gap on Borenstein while chasing Dobrzanski. She consistently improved her sector times, defending from Elkin.
On lap 8, Elkin found a way past, but Joanne kept her times competitive, matching the pace of many cars ahead and gaining on Dobrzanski with 4 minutes remaining.
On lap 13, she overtook the Tecnicar driver, advancing to P25. She then gained ground on Oscar Wurz in the final laps but ultimately ran out of time to close in further. However, post-race penalties for Macedo and Bansal promoted her to P23, in yet another positive result with a five-place gain.
Mattia Colnaghi’s fifth-place finish was enough to secure the title, as Keanu Al Azhari couldn’t score higher than third.
After a highly positive weekend showing significant improvement from her debut in Jerez, Joanne Ciconte closed out the season finale by gaining 24 positions over the entire weekend.
Looking forward, the young Australian will be aiming to carry this progress forward, building on the experience gained in one of Europe’s most competitive F4 series, as she continues her international journey in motorsport.
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