Emily Cotty shines with first Top-10 qualifying and best finish in Italian F4 at Barcelona
- RACERS
- Sep 23, 2025
- 6 min read
Emily Cotty enjoyed her best weekend to date in Italian Formula 4 at Barcelona, with her first ever qualifying in the top ten followed by a P11 finish in Race 2, her strongest result so far, just missing out on points as well as securing her best rookie classification.
Emily Cotty enjoyed her best weekend to date in Italian Formula 4 at Barcelona, with her first ever qualifying in the top ten followed by a P11 finish in Race 2, her strongest result so far, just missing out on points as well as securing her best rookie classification.
Cotty showcased her pace despite an unlucky first qualifying that left the R-Ace GP driver further down the order and forced her to battle in the midfield in Race 1. She ultimately secured both Female Trophy wins at the Catalan round, claiming her fifth top-20 finish and running just outside the top ten, while the third race was eventually cancelled due to a rainstorm after she had again qualified strongly in P14 for the final race of the weekend.
Cotty, who is contesting her first full season of single-seater racing, has opted to build her experience at the sharp end of international F4, with Italian F4 widely regarded as one of the world’s most competitive junior championships. The British-New Zealander has quickly demonstrated strong racecraft, battling competitively in the midfield and showing potential just outside the top ten in a field of almost 40 entries.
With a P16 as her previous best result at Vallelunga, Cotty entered the Barcelona round — the sixth race meeting of the Italian F4 season — with prior experience at the track from her outing in Formula Winter Series, where she had delivered a positive result with two top-20 finishes and a personal best of P15.
Working on extracting the most performance over the weekend, Emily started off positively with P19 in opening practice, setting a 1:43.374, just 7 tenths off the overall pace setter. She then found more time in FP2, improving to 1:42.518, heading into qualifying with good hopes.
"We went into the weekend looking to deliver a good result at my favourite track on the calendar", Emily explained. "After doing well with Hitech during the FWS on my first time at the track I had a plan on how to improve. Working with my driver coach Garry Findlay we targeted the weak areas and made a significant step helped by the fantastic R-Ace GP car set up in qualifying trim."
Qualifying on Saturday morning in fact proved to be one of the highlights of the weekend for Cotty. She found extremely good pace in the second part of Q1, setting a 1:42.846 that briefly placed her fifth overall. However, with many drivers improving in the final minutes, she was eventually classified P24 after being hampered by traffic and a red flag.
Q2 would prove even more exciting: Cotty set a 1:42.018, again running inside the top five, and this time her performance held: she secured tenth place in yet another extremely competitive session, only half a second off pole position. Emily Cotty thus became only the fifth female driver to qualify in the top ten in the history of Italian Formula 4 — a really strong showing that also earned her a P14 starting slot for Race 3 with her second-best lap.
"In Q1 I was held up by traffic and then the red flag on my push lap, but in Q2 I managed to get some space and delivered P10 my best qually of the season only 0.5 off the pole lap set by my team mate. My second best lap time also put me P14 for R3."
On Saturday evening, Emily Cotty started Race 1 from P24. At the start, Cosma Cristofor stalled but was avoided by everyone and the race stayed green. Cotty slotted into P25 after the opening lap, as Gomez pitted with damage and dropped down the order.
Cotty was battling hard but slipped to P27, entering a fight for the Female Trophy with Paatz right behind her. She soon found speed, passing Dupe, and with Kostic hitting trouble, the R-Ace GP driver moved back up to P26, putting a few cars between herself and Paatz.
In big midfield battles, Cotty went three-wide into Turn 1, fighting with Berreby and Cosma, before finding a way past Berreby for P27. She now led a group of cars with a 4-second gap to close to the pack ahead, while Cosma and Dupe kept the pressure on. Cosma got back ahead on lap 9 as the battles intensified.
Amid scraps up the field with wheel-to-wheel contacts, the race staying green also when Koller dropped down the order and Cotty advanced to P23.
On lap 15, however, starting to struggle with tyre degradation, Cotty made a small mistake and lost out to both Dupe and Paatz.
Cotty fell 4 seconds back in the final laps and crossed the line in P25. A post-race penalty for Paatz eventually promoted Cotty back to P24, also handing her the Female Trophy victory.
"In R1 I was suffering from tyre deg during the last 6 laps and made a mistake on the last corner, losing some positions", Emily said. "Between the sessions I worked with Garry to look at how we could preserve the tyre going into R2."
Grey skies and morning rain made for damp conditions, but most cars started on slicks. Cotty lined up from tenth on the grid, her best starting position yet.
The start was behind the safety car, with green flag racing getting underway from lap 3: Cotty retained P10 initially but was passed by Ruta. She stayed close, only a couple of tenths back, while also defending from Saeter and Powell.
Cotty’s steady pace allowed her to build a small buffer from the cars behind, while consistently running within one second of Ruta ahead. Keeping up with the top-ten runners, the R-Ace GP driver drove strongly, pulling further away from Powell and cutting the gap to Ruta from 8 tenths to just 2 tenths with six minutes to go. Despite her pace, overtaking at Barcelona proved difficult, and Cotty was unable to find a way past.
With 2 minutes and 30 seconds left, the safety car was deployed for her teammate Viisoreanu, who had crashed heavily at the final corner. The race ended under safety car, with Cotty classified P11 — her best finish in Italian F4 — and once again winning the Female Trophy, as well as finishing fifth among the rookies, her best rookie result to date.
"R2 started under a safety car but I made it through the first few laps losing a position to a car who overtook off the race track, I tried to manage my pace to preserve the tyre and this really paid off towards the end when I was catching and looking for an overtake to get back up into P10", Cotty summarized.
"Unfortunately the safety car came out and I finished in P11 just out of the points, P5 of 21 rookies. I was very happy to be able to demonstrate my performance this weekend and to be only the fifth girl in Italian F4 to ever qualify in the top ten."
The final race of the Barcelona weekend was scheduled for late evening, with the sun setting and dark clouds looming. Cotty lined up from P14, eager to build on her near-points finish.
At the start, chaos unfolded into Turn 1. Cotty, was caught in the melee, dropping to P26. She pitted for a new front wing and rejoined at the back.
Rain drops began falling at Turn 3. Walther and Busso collided after the latter spun and was collected by the Maffi Racing car, bringing out the safety car at the end of lap 3. The neutralization worked in Cotty’s favour, as she was nearly a lap down but able to catch back up to the field.
Suddenly, however, a heavy rain shower flooded the track and with 19 minutes left the race was red flagged. With the sun setting and conditions worsening, it was not resumed, and the result was cancelled.
Cotty will next return at Misano for the season finale on 11–12 October, where five races are scheduled to close out the Italian F4 campaign.
"We are next out at Misano and will continue to push on to score points and finish on the rookie podium, which was my target in my first year racing cars", Cotty concluded. "I got two 3rd place rookie finishes in the Middle East but the grid size and competition is that much tougher in Italian F4. That's what I thrive on, the challenge and love racing in Italian F4 racing side by side with the best juniors in the world."
