The first race day of the final round of the Italian F.4 Championship came to an end at the Misano World Circuit, featuring a record number of three races held on Saturday. The day had already seen, in Race 2, the crowning of the new Italian F.4 Champion, Kean Nakamura-Berta (Prema Racing), twice on the podium in the opening two races.
Due to the group alternation format, Race 3 took place without the new champion on the grid, but with Gabriel Gomez (US Racing) starting from pole position. It was the perfect comeback after the misfortune of Race 2, when an alternator failure prevented him from capitalizing on his first pole of the weekend and even from reaching the grid. This time, nothing went wrong for the Brazilian, who claimed a dominant and convincing victory.
It was also redemption for Salim Hanna (Prema Racing), the Colombian who started from the front row for the second time today. After a clutch issue in the morning had cost him positions, in the evening he managed to hold on to second place until the chequered flag. Runner-up overall and once again Rookie winner, Hanna is still chasing his first overall victory after numerous podiums this season and will aim to achieve it on the final race day.
In third position, Luka Sammalisto (US Racing) completed the team’s double podium, once again showing great pace on the Misano circuit. The Finnish driver prevailed in a tough fight for P3, securing the result with determination and precision.
The last group race featured intense battles throughout the points zone, particularly around the top five, with minimal gaps and several position changes. Among the standouts was Oleksandr Bondarev (Prema Racing - Williams Driver Academy), who finished fourth ahead of teammate Newman Chi. The pair completed an all-Prema Rookie podium.
Andrea Charles Dupé (Prema Racing) took fifth place after a strong and hard-fought performance from start to finish, especially in the closing stages, where he defended from Bart Harrison (Jenzer Motorsport), who eventually finished seventh. Between them came Andrija Kostic (US Racing) in sixth position, followed by Reno Francot (PHM Racing). Tenth at the finish line was Emanuele Olivieri (R-ace GP), who engaged in a fierce battle with Kabir Anurag (US Racing – Alpine Academy) that ended with contact, forcing the Singaporean driver to pit and retire.

For the incident the Italian was handed a 10-second penalty and the P10 was then obtained by Marcus Saeter (Van Amersfoort Racing).
In the female trophy, Kornelia Olkucka (Maffi Racing) took the win, finding herself on track without her direct rivals due to the group rotation format.
Gabriel Gomez: “I feel like everyone in the team really deserved this win after what happened this morning. We’ve had a great weekend so far, with a really strong qualifying yesterday and pole position in the group and overall. Unfortunately, this morning we had an unexpected issue that prevented me from starting the race. It was tough to accept, but that’s motorsport, things like this can happen. I think both the team and I truly deserved this victory. We showed great pace, being strong in every session. In the race I managed to get a good start and pull a small gap. There was a nice fight with Hanna early on, but towards the end I could build the gap again and bring the win home. I’m really happy with this result, proud of the pace we showed. Now there’s still the fight for P2 in the championship, and we’ll give everything until the very last race.”
Salim Hanna: “in the end, not a bad result, but I still want that win. The start was much better this time, we changed the clutch, and it made a big difference. The car felt really good in the opening laps; I was right behind Gomez and tried to go for a move, but then I decided to back off a bit, create a gap behind me, and maybe try again later. At the end of the race I had some front degradation, so I couldn’t catch him. Still, it was a step forward. I learned from this one, and the win is getting closer. I have a good feeling about tomorrow.”
Luka Sammalisto: “already at the beginning of the year the pace here in Misano was really strong, and it has been the same this weekend. Earlier today I finished P4, and now finally I’m on the podium. I’m really happy. Big thanks to the team for the great push. I knew straight away the pace would be good, but it’s really hard to overtake here. I had to dive in to make the move happen, and once I got P3, I just focused on keeping it clean, avoiding track limits, and pushing to the end.”
With Race 3, the group stage at Misano has come to an end. Tomorrow, Sunday, October 12th, the action will resume at 11:00 AM with the Final Race, featuring the top 36 drivers of the round, selected based on the points and results from the previous heats. To close the weekend, at 4:00 PM, the final act of the Italian F.4 Championship will be the rescheduled Race 2 from Imola, which had been interrupted after a multi-car incident just minutes after the start.
All races will last 25 minutes plus one lap and will be broadcast live in Italian on ACI Sport TV (Sky channel 228 and streaming on live.acisport.tv).
The English-language livestream will be available on the championship’s social media channels and through the international broadcasters of the Italian F.4 Championship network.