Arvid Lindblad wins again at Misano World Circuit. The Red Bull junior of PREMA Racing scores another uncontested victory in race 3. The Lindblad's lead over the Italian F.4 Championship grows, after the weekend that saw him second on the podium in race 1 and then celebrating with the champagne from the top step in the remaining two races of the weekend, with two uncontested victories starting as poleman. In the last one at the Riviera Romagnola circuit, he was accompanied on the podium, in P2, by teammate Ugo Ugochukwu. The American's name is again written among the greatest contenders during his weekend on the rise after taking sixth place and P3 yesterday. The junior McLaren driver of PREMA Racing manages at times to close the gap and get closer to the leader, but it is not enough to attempt an attack; he will now look for a return to the win at Spa-Francorchamps circuit, the third venue of the Championship. Third position for Zachary David. Maltese driver of US Racing, who also set the fastest lap in the race, 'spoils' the podium party for the Italian team, which twice over the weekend had three drivers on it. His work today was perfect, from the start to the checkered flag, and he brings Gerhard Ungar and Ralf Schumacher's team back to the overall podium.
Fourth place for Kacper Sztuka, US Racing. The Pole driver engaged in a spectacular fight with James Wharton (Prema Racing), pressing him closely. However, the Australian is then forced to retire from the race, the last of the weekend that had seen him return to the podium twice yesterday. Tuukka Taponen (Prema Racing) closed in fifth position, keeping himself consistently into the points in the second round that had started for him with pole and win in race 1. Rashid Al Dhaheri, the Emirati driver of PREMA Racing, closed sixth. Al Dhaheri climbs up positions with his Tatuus in Yas Heat livery, after being engaged in an intense fight inside the top 10 culminating in an exchange of overtaking moves with Alfio Spina (BVM Racing).
Seventh was Van Amersfoort Racing's Portuguese driver Ivan Domingues, ahead of Nicola Lacorte (Prema Racing). Closing the points zone are Spina and Akshay Bohra (US Racing). It is precisely the battle to enter into the points zone that is the most exciting, with Lindblad launched into another solo flight and the two on the podium who in turn managed to build a gap from the others.
Excellent then was the race of James Egozi, PHM Racing, although he didn't collect points (he finished the last race of the weekend in Misano in P11), he shows all his skills in the fight with teammate Valentin Kluss and excites with his overtaking. His performances during the weekend are certainly noteworthy.
Special mention for the Italian of Van Amersfoort Racing, Brando Badoer, who loses the second row at the start by stalling on the grid, was forced to restart from the back of the grid and climbed up positions until got to fight his way into the points. It was in the frantic stages of the fight for the top 10 that his Tatuus and the one of Valentin Kluss touched. Badoer thus ended the race with a DNF after skillfully moving up the field. Aurelia Nobels (Prema Racing) was not on the track for race 3, after yesterday's incident in the preliminary stages of the race, she suffered a wrist injury that did not allow her to take part in the second race day.
After the second of seven rounds of the Italian F.4 Championship Lindblad is confirmed at the top, with 3 wins and 3 P2 in 6 races, he faces the third round with 129 points in his pocket. The closest pursuer is now Ugochukwu, with 81 points. Lacorte mantains the podium in the standings after the race with 60 points. David and Taponend made the top 5, with 56 and 51 points, respectively.
The next round of the Championship will be the first of the European tour, with the Italian F.4 Championship circus ready to move to Spa-Francorchamps on the weekend of May 26-28 to contest the third round.
Arvid Lindblad: “really good race, I got a good start. I built a gap in the early laps, I had a really strong pace from the beginning. Then I struggled a bit, I think I over pushed and used a bit too much tyre and I started struggling for a few laps and then I was trying to bring the tyre back into the window. During those few laps, Ugo was catching me and put me under pressure, but after that, I managed to bring the tyre back into the window and I had really strong pace till the end. Really good race, another win, really good points for the Championship. We have been super consistent so far, it is going well, we need to keep doing like this, keep working hard.”
Ugo Ugochukwu: “we were just following Lindblad the whole race. I got quite close middle race, but not close enough to make a move, and then I fall back toward the end. Overall, not the best wanting to go for the win. We'll see what we can do next round in Spa and hopefully bounce back a bit better.”
Zachary David: “it feels good, the pace was quite strong throughout the race. Going into the race we always knew following and passing a car would be difficult. I think we just aim to manage the tyres and try to go for an attack in the end, but it didn’t work out.”