The second round of the Italian F.4 Championship got underway at Vallelunga this morning with the first free practice session. All 40 drivers, already divided into the two series that will remain in place throughout the day, had to deal with constantly changing weather conditions. Rain fell until just minutes before the green light, then gave way to sunshine, which began drying the track. The cars from Series 1 went out on Pirelli wet tyres before switching to slicks as the session progressed.
In the first group, Brazilian driver Gabriel Gomez confirmed himself as one of the main contenders after performing well during Thursday’s collective tests. He held the top spot until the closing minutes, closely challenged by Kean Nakamura-Berta, the current championship leader. Nakamura-Berta improved his time late in the session to move ahead, only for Gomez to respond shortly after. But with just moments remaining before the chequered flag, Nakamura-Berta fired in the fastest lap, wrapping up an exciting first duel of the day. Also pushing to the front was Maksimilian Popov, who delivered a series of quick laps towards the end of the session.
Group 1 ended with Kean Nakamura-Berta on top with a best time of 1:35.654, just 18 thousandths of a second ahead of Gomez. Popov finished third, 36 thousandths behind, while Chinese driver Chi Newman made it a tightly packed top four by lapping just 54 thousandths off the lead. Fifth quickest was Luca Viisoreanu, racing with Real Racing, who trailed by 156 thousandths. He was followed by Enea Frey and Artem Severiukhin—both racing for Jenzer Motorsport—who finished 204 and 325 thousandths off the top, respectively. Eighth place went to German driver Maxim Rehm, with Alex Powell, a Mercedes junior with R-ace GP, in ninth at 421 thousandths.
Teo Schropp of Jenzer Motorsport completed the top ten, 0.422 seconds from the front.
With the track almost fully dry, Series 2 was able to run their session entirely on slicks. It was during this session that the outright fastest time of the day was recorded. American rising star Sebastian Wheldon set the benchmark with a lap of 1:34.871. Just behind him was his Ukrainian teammate Oleksandr Bondarev, 0.168 seconds adrift. Another Prema driver, Latvian Tomass Stolcermanis, took third, 0.199 seconds behind Wheldon.
Fourth fastest was Kabir Anurag, supported by the Alpine Academy and driving for US Racing, who finished 0.277 seconds off the top. Fifth place went to Romanian driver David Cosma-Cristofor with PHM Racing, 0.331 seconds behind, while Colombian racer Salim Hanna was sixth, 0.376 seconds back. Australian Dante Vinci placed seventh, followed by Luka Sammalisto in eighth. Aleksandr Ruta took ninth, and Andrija Kostic rounded out the top ten, 0.712 seconds behind the session leader.
Weekend schedule
A second free practice session is scheduled for Friday afternoon, with Group 1 on track from 13:10 to 13:40 and Group 2 from 13:50 to 14:20. Official qualifying will take place later in the day: Group 1 from 18:10 to 18:30, and Group 2 from 18:40 to 19:00.
On Saturday, 24 May, the weekend’s first two races will be held: Race 1 at 12:10 featuring Groups B and C, followed by Race 2 at 18:00 with Groups A and B. Sunday, 25 May, will open with Race 3 at 9:00 for Groups A and C, before concluding with the Final at 15:30. All races will last 25 minutes plus one lap.
How to follow the event
All races will be broadcast live on ACI Sport TV (Sky channel 228 and Tivùsat channel 52), streamed on www.acisport.tv, and available via ACI Sport TV’s official Facebook and YouTube pages. English-language coverage will be provided through the Italian F4 Championship’s social media channels and the series’ international broadcast partners.
Admission is free for all spectators, with open access to the paddock and grandstands upon registration at the following link:
https://ticket.vallelunga.it/it/racing/arwmaggio25