Misano World Circuit - At the conclusion of the opening day of the ACI Racing Weekend in Misano, host of the inaugural round of the 2025 Italian F.4 Championship, the 41 drivers entered in the series faced off in the qualifying challenge, taking to the track in two groups. The results from both sessions will set the grid for three of the four races scheduled over the weekend. The final race, set for Sunday evening, will feature only the top 36 drivers, selected based on points and placements earned in the first three races.
Prema Racing drivers dominated qualifying and were the main protagonists of the evening. The fastest overall was Kean Nakamura-Berta, who set the benchmark in the second session with a stunning lap of 1’35.326. The Japanese driver prevailed in a fierce intra-team duel with Sebastian Wheldon, who ended up just 0.092 behind, securing pole position for two of the three qualifying races.
One of the remaining race pole positions went to Salim Hanna, thanks to the fastest lap in his respective group during the first session. The Colombian, also racing for Prema, stopped the clock at 1’35.841.
In Series 1, Maksimilian Popov (Van Amersfoort Racing), representing Granada, finished just 0.176 behind Hanna in second place. Newman Chi (Prema Racing), from China, was third with a gap of 0.233. He was followed closely by Luka Sammalisto (US Racing), from Finland, +0.269, and his teammate Kabir Anurag, an Alpine Academy driver, fifth at +0.311.
Maxim Rehm (US Racing) from Germany was sixth with a gap of 0.373, ahead of a trio of Jenzer Motorsport drivers: Artem Severiukhin (7th, +0.488), Bart Harrison (8th, +0.622), and Teo Schropp from Argentina (9th, +0.652). Rounding out the top 10 was Elia Luis Weiss (Cram Motorsport), also from Germany, +0.655. Just missing out was American Payton Westcott (Van Amersfoort Racing), who finished 11th.
In the second session, where the overall best time was recorded, Nakamura-Berta and Wheldon lit up the Misano World Circuit with a series of lead changes in the final minutes. Behind them, the third-fastest time went to Tomass Stolcermanis (Prema Racing), +0.200 off the pace. Italian driver Emanuele Olivieri (R-ace GP), among the early frontrunners, ended fourth, +0.325, just ahead of Oleksandr Bondarev (Prema Racing), a Williams Driver Academy member, +0.326.
Gabriel Gomez (US Racing), from Brazil, was seventh with a +0.371 gap, ahead of Alex Powell (R-ace GP), a Mercedes Junior driver, eighth at +0.433. Completing the top 10 were Andrija Kostic (US Racing), +0.608, and Enea Frey (Jenzer Motorsport), +0.662. Just outside the top 10 was Jan Koller (US Racing), 11th with a +0.864 gap.
Kean Nakamura-Berta: “It was incredible. We finally proved what we were capable of doing. The car has been feeling mega, Mark, my engineer, has been doing a really good job. I just stuck to the plan, the car felt incredible, and I’ve got to thank Prema for that. I did my part. I can’t be happier! No better way to start the season.”
Salim Hanna: “It was really good. We went out and did what we were supposed to do, though of course we still have a lot of margin. Tomorrow will be something different; it’ll be racing and more fun. We just need to keep improving, to keep moving forward, that’s it.”
Weekend schedule
• Saturday, May 3rd:
o Race 1 (Group B vs Group C) at 11:15
o Race 2 (Group A vs Group B) at 17:10
• Sunday, May 4th:
o Race 3 (Group A vs Group C) at 10:55
o 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.