The young stars of the Italian F.4 Championship were the first to take to the track, preparing for the fifth round of the season. In ideal weather conditions (clear skies, 25°C in the air and track temperatures nearing 40°) 39 Tatuus Formula 4 cars lit up the morning session.
After 1 hour and 55 minutes, the fastest time was set by Enea Frey of Jenzer Motorsport, who posted a lap of 1’47.032. Right behind him, Maksimilian Popov of Van Amersfoort Racing closed at 0.032 and Kean Nakamura-Berta of Prema Racing at 0.074.
Fourth-best performance for Italian driver Emanuele Olivieri, representing R-ace GP, with a gap of 0.117, followed by Oleksandr Bondarev, Williams Driver Academy member with Prema Racing and the fastest rookie at Imola, at 0.167.
Finnish driver Luka Sammalisto of US Racing, who had led the session in its early stages, ended up sixth at 0.171.
Seventh place went to Colombian driver Salim Hanna of Prema Racing at 0.203, followed by two Jenzer Motorsport drivers: Artem Severiukhin and Bart Harrison, at 0.264 and 0.284 respectively. Prema Racing's Chinese driver Newman Chi rounded out the top 10 with a time of 0.417 from the best reference.
Another session is scheduled for today, Thursday, July 31, from 2:00 PM to 3:55 PM. The real start of the weekend, however, will come tomorrow, Friday, August 1, with two 40-minute free practice sessions at 9:00 AM and 1:20 PM, followed by qualifying in the evening. Q1 will take place from 6:10 PM to 6:25 PM, and Q2 from 6:35 PM to 6:50 PM. These two sessions will determine the starting grids for Race 1 and Race 2, while the Race 3 grid will be based on each driver's second-fastest lap.
On Saturday, August 2, Race 1 will get underway at 11:40 AM (30 minutes + 1 lap), while Race 2 is scheduled for 6:40 PM (30 minutes + 1 lap). Sunday, August 3, will close with Race 3 at 12:00 PM (30 minutes + 1 lap).
The first two races will be broadcast live on ACI Sport TV (Sky channel 228 and Tivůsat channel 52), while Race 3 will be shown as a delayed broadcast on Sunday evening. All races will also be available via livestream at live.acisport.it and on the ACI Sport TV Facebook and YouTube channels. Live English commentary will also be available on the international broadcasters airing the Italian F.4 Championship and on the series’ official social media platforms.