The first of the three Italian F.4 Championship races at the Autodromo Nazionale was packed with drama. Wheldon, driving for Prema Racing under the Andretti Global banner, kept the lead at the start but was soon challenged by teammate Oleksandr Bondarev, who pulled off a spectacular move into the first chicane to take the lead. However, Bondarev’s advantage was short-lived, as a spin in the early stages took the Ukrainian out of contention, handing the top spot back to Wheldon.
The race then saw an intense three-way fight between Gomez (US Racing), Nakamura-Berta (Prema Racing), and Wheldon. Both challengers managed to overtake the American mid-race, but Wheldon wasn’t done yet: in one of the most spectacular moments of the morning, he pulled off a breathtaking double overtake on the straight with all three cars running side by side, reclaiming the lead to the delight of the crowd.
The final laps were extremely tight, with Gabriel Gomez fending off a late attack from Nakamura-Berta to hold onto second place. The Slovak-Japanese driver completed the podium after a brilliant recovery drive from 13th on the grid. Despite his lead in the standings narrowing slightly, he remains at the top of the championship and will benefit from two pole positions still to be contested over the remainder of the weekend.
Newman Chi initially finished fourth, but was handed two time penalties totaling 15 seconds (5 seconds for leaving the track and 10 seconds for causing a collision with Powell), which dropped him down the order. The fourth place and Rookie win thus went to his Prema Racing teammate Salim Hanna. The second-best rookie in Race 1 was Dante Vinci (Van Amersfoort Racing), sixth overall, followed by Romanian driver David Cosma-Cristofor (PHM Racing) in tenth.
Fifth place went to Luka Sammalisto (US Racing), who had featured in the lead group during the early laps. Seventh was his teammate Andrija Kostic, followed by Alpine Academy representative Kabir Anurag (Singapore) and Italian driver Emanuele Olivieri (R-ace GP).
It was also a recovery race for Alex Powell (R-ace GP). The Jamaican-American talent had climbed from 18th to fifth before a collision sent him off track, dropping him down the order. He eventually finished 16th, after a performance that had placed him among the race’s front-runners.
The race featured several short interruptions, with the first safety car deployed after an incident at the first chicane involving Alexander Ruta (Van Amersfoort Racing), Enea Frey (Jenzer Motorsport), and Powell himself.
In the Female Trophy, Payton Westcott (Van Amersfoort Racing) claimed victory ahead of Emily Cotty (R-ace GP) and Kornelia Olkcucka (Maffi Racing).
The weekend continues today, Saturday 21 June, with Race 2 scheduled for 17:50. Race 3 will follow on Sunday 22 June at 10:20.
All races will be 30 minutes + 1 lap and will be broadcast live on ACI Sport TV (Sky channel 228, Tivùsat channel 52), as well as streamed on www.acisport.tv and ACI Sport TV’s Facebook and YouTube pages. English-language coverage will be available on the championship’s official channels and distributed globally through its international media partner network.
Admission to the circuit is free, with open access to grandstands and paddock. Full event information is available at:
www.monzanet.it/evento/aci-racing-weekend-1-3/
Sebastian Wheldon: "I’ve always dreamed of racing at this track since I was little, and finally winning here feels amazing. The circuit is fantastic, and the races are insane. I can’t thank the Prema Racing team enough for everything they’ve done. I knew it would all come down to the final corner, so I prioritized the exit and managed to get ahead even before the turn, then just held my line. From there, I just tried to do my best out front. I knew they were fighting behind, so I had to stay focused and avoid any mistakes."
Gabriel Gomez: "Monza is a beautiful track, but racing here is very tough. The straight is long, and slipstreaming is hard to manage. I managed to take the lead early on, but then got passed. I dropped to third, but in the end recovered and finished second. I was missing just a bit, maybe with one more lap, I could’ve caught Sebastian. That’s racing, it’s always tough here, but it was a pleasure. Definitely good points for the championship. It's a shame about Quali 2 yesterday, it was a bit tricky, and we’ll be starting further back in the next races. But I think we can still do a good job; the pace is really strong."
Kean Nakamura-Berta: "In three words: it was chaos. Qualifying 1 didn’t really go as we wanted, but in the race I was able to fight back. I stayed very patient and overtook one by one. But in the end, I had no tyres left to push. Starting from the back, there was so much dirty air. Honestly, I’m pretty happy: I tried one last move in the final corner, but I knew it would be tough. It was a damage limitation race, and I made it to the podium. We’ll be starting from pole in the next two races, so we’ll be able to manage tyres a bit better. Overall, I’m really happy, big thanks to Prema. Let’s keep pushing!"