VALENCIA (April 12, 2026) – With two wins and a fourth-place finish, Red Bull Junior driver Rocco Coronel got off to a flying start in the fiercely contested Spanish Formula 4 Championship. At the Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo in Cheste near Valencia, Coronel consistently battled at the front of the 35-car field. In the first two races, the TeamNL talent, competing for MP Motorsport, converted a front-row starting position into victory. In the third race, he started sixth and finished fourth, just missing the podium. After the first of a total of seven events, the Dutch driver leads the championship standings.
“In the end, I took home five trophies: two overall first-place finishes and one rookie title, plus a second-place finish in the rookie standings.”
Rocco Coronel – Formula 4 talent at Red Bull Junior Team
After several races during the winter as preparation, the race weekend in Valencia marked the start of the Spanish Formula 4 Championship for Rocco Coronel, his main program for this year. There had already been two test days in the week leading up to the event. “I was able to keep up well during those tests; I was consistently in the top seven or eight, and we were able to improve the car in a number of areas,” Coronel reported.
The official program began on Friday with a joint test and two free practice sessions, both of which went smoothly. The first qualifying session took place on Saturday morning, with each rider’s fastest lap time determining the starting grid for the first race and the second-fastest time determining the starting positions for the second race. “The day before, I had stayed at the track until the evening to thoroughly analyze everything and get the most out of it in the run-up to qualifying,” said Coronel. “That paid off, because qualifying went well; I finished second, just one-hundredth of a second behind. The second-fastest lap was also good, just two hundredths off the rider in the lead. That meant a spot on the front row for both races, which I was happy about, though it was of course a shame that I missed pole position by a hair.”
Coronel got off to an excellent start but was then pushed off the track by pole-sitter Kanthan, which would later have consequences for the American. Coronel then managed to defend his second-place position against the aggressively driving competition. “I had to manage things a bit, but I was able to hold my position and crossed the finish line in second place. However, because Kanthan received a five-second time penalty for that move at the start, I was declared the winner,” he said. “Winning the first race of the season is, of course, a great start!”
He also got off to a great start in the second race, later that Saturday afternoon. “I was right on the inside, kept exactly a car’s width of space, and took the lead,” he reported. Unlike most other drivers, who started on new tires, Coronel had a set of tires that had already been broken in, which was an advantage in the early stages. This allowed him to hold the lead, although the tires did deteriorate as the race progressed. Nevertheless, Coronel didn’t run into any trouble and claimed this race as well. “It’s a really great feeling,” he said.
On Sunday morning, another qualifying session was held to determine the starting positions for the final race. The conditions were completely different, as the track was wet following overnight rain, forcing the riders to take very different lines. For Coronel, this ultimately resulted in the sixth starting position. Once again, the start of the race—now on a dry track—went very well. “I was able to move up from sixth to fourth right away, but in the opening lap I lost a spot again because I was boxed in. There was a really intense battle that entire lap; one driver went off the track, so I ended up back in fourth. Then there were several safety cars, so there were constant restarts. I tried to gain another position, but I just couldn’t quite manage it, so I finished fourth overall and second in the rookie standings,” he reported.
“In the end, I took home five trophies: two overall first-place finishes and one rookie title, plus a second-place finish in the rookie standings. I’m very happy with that as a start to the season—I scored a lot of points and was able to work on my own performance. We can build on this,” said Coronel. The next race weekend in the Spanish Championship will take place from June 5 through 7 at the Portimão circuit in the Algarve, Portugal.
