The collective testing day for the Italian F.4 Championship has concluded at the Misano World Circuit, ahead of the season-opening round scheduled for the upcoming weekend. Around 40 drivers and 12 teams had four hours on track, split into two sessions, to fine-tune their preparations for the start of the 2025 season, organized by ACI Sport and WSK Promotion.
In the morning session, it was Maksimilian Popov from Van Amersfoort Racing who set the benchmark with a lap time of 1’35.400. However, in the afternoon, Sebastian Wheldon struck back. The young American talent from Prema Racing recorded the fastest time of the day with a lap of 1’35.178.
Wheldon edged out his teammate Kean Nakamura-Berta by just 0.076 seconds. The Japanese driver is making his second appearance in the championship. Third quickest was Gabriel Gomez (US Racing), the newly crowned Formula Winter Series champion, who finished 0.
282 behind the leader.
Just off the virtual podium was Oleksandr Bondarev (Prema Racing), 0.306 seconds behind, followed by Emanuele Olivieri in fifth. The Italian driver, racing for R-ace GP and already a title winner in the Middle East earlier this year, closed the session with a 0.316-second gap.
Sixth place went to Latvian driver Tomass Stolcermanis (Prema Racing) at 0.336, ahead of Colombian teammate Salim Hanna, who ended up seventh with a gap of 0.411. Serbian driver Andrija Kostic (US Racing) was eighth, 0.498 behind, followed closely by Czech teammate Jan Koller at 0.506.
Rounding out the top 10 was British driver Bart Harrison (Jenzer Motorsport), who clocked in 0.568 off Wheldon’s best time.
The day with the drivers set to return to the track tomorrow, Friday 2 May, for the official start of the race weekend.
Race weekend schedule
Friday, May 2 will begin with free practice sessions (8:30–9:10 and 13:25–14:05), followed by qualifying, split into two series:
Series 1 from 17:30 to 17:50
Series 2 from 18:00 to 18:20
Based on qualifying times, drivers will be split into three groups (A, B, and C).
Race schedule:
Saturday, May 3:
Race 1 (Group B vs Group C) at 11:15
Race 2 (Group A vs Group B) at 17:10
Sunday, May 4:
Race 3 (Group A vs Group C) at 10:55
Final race with the top 36 drivers at 19:30
All races will last 25 minutes + 1 lap and will count toward the championship standings.
Where to watch the event
All four races of the Italian F4 Championship will be broadcast live, with Italian commentary, on ACI Sport TV (channel 228 on Sky and 52 on Tivùsat), as well as streamed on www.acisport.tv and the ACI Sport TV Facebook page.
They will also be available with English commentary via live streaming on the Italian F4 Championship’s YouTube and Facebook pages, and across the international network of partner broadcasters.
For those wishing to experience the excitement in person, admission to the Misano World Circuit is free, including open access to the paddock.