The ACI Racing Weekend at Vallelunga opened with the first of four races of the Italian F4 Championship, the second round of the season. The first victory of the weekend went to Luka Sammalisto (US Racing), who started alongside polesitter David Cosma-Cristofor (Prema Racing). The Finn made the decisive move right at the start, taking the lead in the opening stages and never relinquishing it until the chequered flag.
Cosma-Cristofor initially dropped a few positions off the line before fighting his way back up to second place. In the decisive overtake a contact with Alex Ruta (Van Amersfoort Racing) occurred, with the incident noted by Race Control for further investigation. Oleksandr Savinkov completed the podium. The US Racing driver climbed through the field from eigth on the grid with a strong recovery drive.
Fourth overall and Rookie class victory went to Alp Aksoy (Prema Racing), who remains at the top of the drivers’ standings after the race. The Turkish driver spent much of the race fighting for a podium finish, producing exciting battles alongside teammate Cosma-Cristofor in the attack on Ruta, who had held second place for most of the race before the contact. Fifth place went to Noah Killion, another US Racing driver who recovered strongly after starting from the fifth row.
Thomas Bearman, racing for Van Amersfoort Racing, finished sixth after an impressive performance in the opening race of the weekend. Seventh overall and second on the Rookie podium was Roman Kamyab, the British Prema Racing driver making his debut in the Italian F4 Championship. Bader Al Sulaiti (Jenzer Motorsport) crossed the line eighth, ahead of Florentin Hattemer (Trident Motorsport), who completed the Rookie podium.
US Racing’s Indian driver Ary Bansal finished tenth ahead of Williams Driver Academy member Oleksandr Bondarev (Prema Racing). Levi Arn (Jenzer Motorsport) took 12th place ahead of Dominik Simek (Trident Motorsport). Fourteenth position brought the first overall championship points at Vallelunga for ACI Team Italia driver Iacopo Martinese, racing with PHM Racing. Evan Michelini, representing Costa Rica with AKM Motorsport, completed the points-paying positions. In the Women’s Trophy, Emily Cotty (R-ace GP) finished ahead of Ginevra Panzeri (PA Racing).
Results remain provisional pending confirmation following post-race sporting and technical checks.
The opening race of the weekend immediately delivered plenty of action and drama from the very start. Among the standout performers was R-ace GP Mercedes junior Andy Consani, who was forced into the pits while fighting near the front.
There were also intense battles involving the French team’s other Mercedes junior, Kenzo Craigie, who was involved in an early incident that also forced Pedro Lima (Van Amersfoort Racing) into retirement.
The safety car was also deployed following an incident involving Prema Racing’s Chinese driver Kwan Zheng and Jenzer Motorsport’s Mexican driver Nicolas Cortes. Cortes was immediately deemed responsible by race control and served a drive-through penalty during the race.
Track action resumes at 6:00 PM today, Saturday, May 23, with Race 2 (Groups A and B) of the Italian F4 Championship set to close the day’s programme.
On Sunday, May 24, the single-seaters of the championship promoted by ACI Sport and WSK Promotion will once again open and close the schedule: Race 3 (Groups A and C) will start at 9:00 AM, followed by the Final at 3:45 PM, featuring the top 36 drivers emerging from the first three races.
All races will last 25 minutes + 1 lap and will be broadcast live with Italian commentary on ACI Sport TV (Sky channel 228, Tivùsat channel 52 and acisport.tv), as well as streamed on the ACI Sport TV YouTube and Facebook channels.
English-language live broadcasts will instead be available on the Italian F4 Championship YouTube and Facebook channels, as well as through the championship’s extensive international broadcaster network airing the season’s races.
Admission to the circuit will be free upon registration on the circuit’s official website: https://ticket.vallelunga.it/it/racing/aci-racing-weekend-21-24-maggio-2026/
Luka Sammalisto: “It was a really successful race for me. I managed to take the lead on the opening lap straight from the start and stayed there for the whole race. I remained calm and consistent with both my lap times and driving, without overpushing. I tried to manage the tyres well and everything worked perfectly. We finished P1, it was a really good race and I’m very happy. I can’t wait for the other two races.”
David Cosma-Cristofor: “The start wasn’t ideal and I dropped to P3. From there, fighting my way back was complicated. I overtook Ruta, then the safety car came out, and after that I just focused on keeping second place. It was really hard to maintain it. Right now I’m happy, but we still need to improve a bit.”
Oleksandr Savinkov: “It was a good race. Qualifying didn’t really help us and probably I could have done even more starting a bit further up the grid. In the end I was overtaking cars one by one and finished P3. I think I was a bit quicker than the cars ahead of me, so we definitely have the pace.”
Alp Aksoy: “I started fifth, we had a good launch and moved up to P4. There was a lot of fighting through Turns 8, 9 and 10. I was trying to get into P3, but I got boxed in on the outside and the driver behind managed to get underneath me. There wasn’t much we could do there. Overall, we still have things to improve and we’ll analyse everything for the next races. The fight will definitely continue.”
Roman Kamyab: “The first race was good, the start was nice and we didn’t lose much time. There were a few crashes in the opening laps and I gained some places there. Mainly I was focused on staying consistent throughout the race so I could build a gap behind me. There were a few moments where I had to defend, but I managed to hold on to my position until the end. The pace was good, I’m still learning since this is my first weekend, and the next race will be even better. I’m happy with the result.”
Florentin Hattemer: “The main target was just to get away well, have a good start and keep things clean throughout the race because it was quite messy out there. A lot of the work was about being consistent and not losing too much time while fighting. I just tried to be smart about it and in the end it worked out. I think we can push even further towards the front.”