A wet qualifying session at Vallelunga followed the heavy afternoon rain at the Campagnano di Roma circuit. Despite the return of sunshine during the session, the track remained very wet. There was no doubt for the first group of drivers, all of whom went out on wet tyres. However, in the second group, the slick tyre debate came back into play. David Cosma-Cristofor of PHM AIX Racing set the fastest time at the end with a 1:45.127 lap, securing two pole positions. In Race 1, the fastest driver from the other group will start from pole: Prema Racing’s Anglo-Japanese driver, Kean Nakamura-Berta.
The first group took to the track in full wet conditions, and no one could match the pace of the Prema Racing driver, who completed two flying laps and improved his time on the final attempt to set a fastest lap of 1:49.658. Second place went to Emanuele Olivieri of R-ace GP, with a gap of 0.537s. The Italian had been among the early session leaders and eventually secured a strong starting position for the weekend races. Third went to Maxim Rehm (US Racing), just 0.577s behind. Gabriel Gomez, the Brazilian also driving for US Racing and the fastest in free practice, ended up fourth at 0.582s. Fifth went to Maksimilian Popov of Van Amersfoort Racing, with a 0.934s gap, followed by Jenzer Motorsport’s Teo Schropp at 0.975s. Rounding out the top ten were Artem Severiukhin (Jenzer Motorsport, +1.167s), Alex Powell (R-ace GP, +1.170s), Kirill Kutskov (Maffi Racing, +1.183s) and Enea Frey (Jenzer Motorsport, +1.221s).
Emir Tanju of Viola Formula Racing received a three-place grid penalty for the next race for overtaking in the pit lane.
The second qualifying group began under a ray of sunshine, with the track rapidly drying. Luka Sammalisto and Andrija Kostic of US Racing gambled on slick Pirellis right from the start. However, their gamble didn’t pay off, and after a couple of laps, both switched to wet tyres. The change proved beneficial for Finnish driver Sammalisto, who later set a strong lap that briefly placed him on provisional pole. But it was Romanian driver David Cosma-Cristofor of PHM AIX Racing who ultimately topped the timesheets, improving the best time by over 1.5 seconds with a 1:45.127 after fitting a new set of wet tyres.
Sammalisto finished second in the session with a gap of 1.549s. Estonian Tomass Stolcermanis of Prema Racing, who had led for much of the session, ended up third (+1.895s). Sebastian Wheldon was fourth (+1.904s). Marcus Saeter, representing Van Amersfoort Racing, came fifth with a 2.014s gap. He was followed by his teammate Dante Vinci (+2.330s), fellow VAR driver Aleksandr Ruta (+2.466s), and US Racing’s Alpine Academy driver Kabir Anurag (+2.479s).
Rounding out the top ten in Group B was British driver Emily Cotty (R-ace GP), with a gap of 2.711s.
The session was red-flagged 1:33 from the end due to an off-track incident at Soratte involving Kornelia Olkucka (Maffi Racing).
Nathaniel Berreby received a three-place grid drop for the next race for entering the fast lane prematurely.
David Cosma-Cristofor: “It was a really tricky qualifying, because it rained and then the sun came out. The track was drying, and we didn’t know whether to go with slicks or wets. In the end we chose the rain tyres. If we had gone out ten minutes later, slicks would have been the way to go for sure. But there were still too many puddles on track and that stopped us from using them. I’m a bit nervous for tomorrow because I’ve never started a race inside the top five. The start and battling at the front will be a challenge, there are a lot of experienced drivers there. I’ll try to stay calm and hope we can bring home a good result in the race as well.”
Kean Nakamura-Berta: “We did a good job. I think I managed to put together a decent lap. We didn’t do many push laps, we stopped in the pits a couple of times and had a few issues at the beginning. Still, it was a good qualifying and the team did an exceptional job. I think our group was tougher, considering free practice where gaps were really small. I knew it would be a difficult qualifying, and overall, I’m happy with the result. We ended up in Group B, but we knew the second session would be quicker with the drying track.”
Weekend schedule
On Saturday, 24 May, two races will be held: Race 1 at 12:10 (Groups B and C), followed by Race 2 at 18:00 (Groups A and B). On Sunday, 25 May, Race 3 will take place at 9:00 (Groups A and C), with the Final Race wrapping up the weekend at 15:30. All races will last 25 minutes plus one lap.
Where to watch
All races will be broadcast live on ACI Sport TV (Sky channel 228 and Tivùsat channel 52), and streamed on www.acisport.tv, as well as on ACI Sport TV’s official Facebook and YouTube pages. Live English commentary will be available on the Italian F4 Championship’s social media channels and through the series’ international broadcast partners.
Access to the circuit is free, with open entry to both the paddock and grandstands upon registration at the following link:
https://ticket.vallelunga.it/it/racing/arwmaggio25