The Italian F.4 Championship last weekend completed the second round of the 2023 season, at Misano World Circuit. After the event, Prema Racing's Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad's leadership in the standings comes out enlarged. The Londoner has so far achieved 3 wins (2 consecutive), and has stepped on the second step of the podium 3 times in the 6 races so far. An extremely positive start to the Championship for Lindblad, who now sits on 129 points; 48 points ahead of his closest pursuer, Ugo Ugochukwu.
American Ugochukwu, McLaren junior driver, in turn racing for PREMA, has scored a total of 41 points in Round 2, closing a weekend in which he steadily bested his own results, with sixth place in Race 1, then twice on the podium in the next two, first third and then second. Ugochukwu had already scored a victory this year, at his first race at Enzo and Dino Ferrari in Imola. In the very first round he had missed a precious chance when his car stalled on the grid and was hit by another car and he was forced not to take part in the race. Returning to the track for the last one at Imola he had managed to get P3 on the podium.
After Misano, his overall score in the drivers' standings rises to 81.
With 60 points, the Tuscan driver Nicola Lacorte is currently third in the standings. Lacorte is also a bearer of the Grisignano di Zocco Team led by Angelo Rosin. For him, the season had started in Imola under the mark of the speed, with a third-place finish in the first race of the year, then followed by his maiden win. In the last one at Imola he had come close to finishing on the podium again. At Misano World Circuit, however, the output was not as positive, with 8 points collected over the three races. Lacorte's total points tally stands at 60, and that is enough to maintain a position on the standings podium.
Fourth in in the drivers' rankings is Zachary David, US Racing driver who races under the double flag, Malta and the Philippines. David returned to the podium in Misano, still in third place, replicating his best result from the first round, in which he had already been among the main competitors. Representing the Team of Gerhard Ungar and Ralf Schumacher, David, with 56 points so far, is the only driver in the TOP 5 who does not race for Prema Racing.
Ferrari Driver Academy driver Tuukka Taponen makes a triumphant entry in the top five in the overall driver standings after round 2. The Finn on the Romagna Riviera unlocked his true potential. The great speed already shown in Imola had so far not been capitalized at its best; on the circuit named after Marco Simoncelli arrived his maiden win in the series promoted by ACI Sport and WSK Promotion. Taponen then maintained himself for the rest of the weekend at the top end of the standings, managing to bring his total score to 51 points, enough for gain the fifth place.
The next round of the Championship will be at Spa-Francorchamps on the weekend of May 28. It was precisely on this track that Arvid Lindblad, reached after the race by the microphones of ACI Sport TV, had his comments. The Championship leader, after praising a calendar made largely of Formula 1 circuits, cited Spa among the tracks he most looks forward to this season, along with Mugello and Paul Ricard.