The first two rounds of the season, at the Misano World Circuit and the Autodromo Piero Taruffi in Vallelunga, followed a four-race format that included three qualifying races with the drivers divided into groups, and a final for the best 36 drivers of the weekend. Starting from the third round, at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, the championship returned to its classic format, with three races in total featuring all the drivers on track at the same time. This will also be the format at Mugello, where almost 40 drivers from all over the world, lined up by 12 different teams, will face off to take home the win.
Standing out strongly in the first part of the year has been Slovak-Japanese driver Kean Nakamura-Berta of Prema Racing, building on a first year of experience in which he had already managed to achieve important results in his rookie season. His second year began with five consecutive victories, to which he added a third-place finish and one more win in the last round at Monza, earning him the top spot in the standings with 165 points. His main rivals are Sebastian Wheldon, a driver with racing heritage, also with Prema Racing, who has taken one win in each round so far along with further podium finishes and points-scoring results, for a total of 136 points.
Also showing strong performances has been Brazilian Gabriel Gomez of US Racing, who has taken one win and several podium finishes, placing him third in the standings with 114 points. The only other driver to have celebrated from the top step of the podium is Chinese driver Newman Chi, also representing Prema Racing, who claimed his first win in the final race of the third round.
There are still many points to be awarded and many drivers ready to make their voices heard: from Italian Emanuele Olivieri of R-ace GP, to Grenadian driver Maksimilian Popov of Van Amersfoort, to Finnish driver Luka Sammalisto of US Racing, all of whom have already stepped onto the podium this year and are still looking for a victory capable of shaking up the standings.
In the last round before the summer break, the contenders will take to the track on Friday, July 11, for two 40-minute free practice sessions, scheduled for 8:30 AM and again at 11:55 AM. Qualifying will already take place on Friday evening, in two 15-minute sessions. The first, valid for the Race 1 grid, will be held from 4:45 PM to 5:00 PM, followed by the second, to determine the Race 2 grid, from 5:10 PM to 5:25 PM. The starting order for Race 3 will be based on each driver's second-best lap time from the two sessions.
Saturday, July 12, will see Race 1 take place at 11:10 AM over a distance of 30 minutes plus one lap. Race 2, over the same length, will start at 6:10 PM, closing out the first day of racing of the ACI Racing Weekend. Sunday, July 13, will see Race 3, once again over a distance of 30 minutes plus one lap, take the green flag at 10:40 AM.