Adrian Manduca (Ferrari) has emerged victorious in the fourth round of the V1 Malta Series Main Championship in Texas. This win was a significant boost to Manduca’s hopes in his pursuit for his first National Championship title, and he will be hoping to build on this success in the coming races as he narrowed the gap to the first-place driver.
Manduca clinched pole position by a mere 0.071 seconds in a fiercely contested qualifying session. The race was an exciting spectacle from start to finish, with Manduca initially dominating proceedings after clearing away from the rest of the grid. After a lockup from Matthias Farrugia (Alfa Romeo), Brandon Bonello (Mercedes) touched with Farrugia’s rear wing. This caused Farrugia to spin and lose many positions. After this incident, Bonello started to close up the gap to Manduca and after a few laps he was able to fight for position with him. Manduca decided to pit for new tyres, hoping to gain an advantage over Bonello. The strategy paid off, and Manduca was able to retake the lead. However, Bonello refused to give up and managed to regain the lead with just seven laps remaining in the race. Despite Bonello crossing the finish line in first place, a 5-second time penalty handed down by the stewards for his role in the incident with Farrugia saw him drop to second place.
Ephrom Tabone (Red Bull) was awarded his first Driver of the Day award after finishing 8th from 16th place. There were also some impressive comebacks from drivers such as Daniel Cini (Mercedes), Matthew Cassar (Alfa Romeo), and Karl Magro Gazzano (Alpha Tauri), who showed incredible determination and skill to make up lost ground and finish strongly.
Stay in touch with us next Monday at 9pm on the Velocity Esports Racing Facebook or YouTube page for the next round of the V1 Malta Series Main Championship.