Misano World Circuit - The second race of the weekend, featuring Groups A and B, was held in the evening at Misano World Circuit. It marked the first outing of the season for the Group A drivers, led by pole-sitter Kean Nakamura-Berta. The Japanese driver from Prema Racing, who had set the fastest overall time in Friday’s qualifying, dominated from the very start.
“It was really tough this morning not to be able to race and just watch the others from as a spectator”, he said with a smile after the podium ceremony. Having sat out Race 1 due to the group rotation system – implemented to manage the 41 entries in the opening round of the Italian F.4 Championship – Nakamura-Berta made a commanding debut in his first race of 2025. “As a driver, you always want to be in the action, but getting back on track this evening was amazing. It was the perfect way to start the season.”
The victory came in dominant fashion: a win with a 3.9-second margin on track over the closest pursuer, teammate Tomass Stolcermanis. The Latvian had crossed the finish line in second place thanks to a spectacular overtake on Maksimilian Popov (Van Amersfoort Racing), after having spent most of the race in that position. However, his joy was dampened by a track limits violation, which earned him a 5-second penalty and dropped him to fifth place.
Maksimilian Popov therefore finished second, having shown great sportsmanship both on track, when he left a safe gap for the move, and on the podium, where he congratulated his rival. The driver racing under the Grenadian flag then displayed remarkable skill in defending his position from the attacks of Emanuele Olivieri behind him. “Overall, we had a good pace, even though we struggled a bit with grip. I’m happy to start the year with a podium and important points,” he commented after the podium ceremony.
Third place in Race 2 went to Italian ace Emanuele Olivieri, the R-ace GP driver already crowned F4 Middle East Champion earlier this year. Olivieri relentlessly chased Popov in the final stages, at times becoming a serious threat to his rival, but ultimately wasn’t able to complete the move.
The race began with an additional formation lap due to Arthur Lorimier (Viola Formula Racing) stopping on track, which led to a two-minute reduction in the scheduled race time. In the early stages, a collision between Emily Cotty (R-ace GP) and David Walther (Maffi Racing) at Turn 7 brought out the Safety Car and forced both to retire. Cotty was penalized for the incident with a 4-place grid drop for the next race. Shortly afterwards, Luca Viisoreanu (Real Racing) was also forced to return to the pits following contact with Payton Westcott (Van Amersfoort Racing). Westcott was likewise handed a 4-place grid penalty for the incident.
At the restart, Nakamura-Berta immediately imposed his pace, while several battles ignited behind him. One of the fiercest was between Emanuele Olivieri (R-ace GP) and Salim Hanna (Prema Racing), ultimately won by the Italian. Hanna, who had finished third in Race 1, ended up fourth this time and claimed his second Rookie win of the weekend.
Sixth was Brazil’s Gabriel Gomez (US Racing), who engaged in a heated battle with Alex Powell (R-ace GP). The Mercedes junior went off track during the duel, dropping to P15 before recovering to 11th by the end, also setting the fastest lap in the closing stages.
Seventh went to Alpine Academy driver Kabir Anurag (US Racing), followed by Artem Severiukhin (Jenzer Motorsport), who finished second among the Rookies. The final points positions were claimed by two more Jenzer drivers: Briton Bart Harrison and Swiss Enea Frey. Among the retirements was Luka Sammalisto (US Racing), who was forced to slow and park on the grass at Turn 11 after a loss of power due to an electrical issue.
Nakamura-Berta’s win brought the first race day at the Misano ACI Racing Weekend, the opening event of the 2025 Italian Championships, including the F4 series promoted by ACI Sport and WSK Promotion, to a close for the young talents on the road to F1
Earlier in the day, Race 1 featured Groups B and C. Race 2 saw Group B return to action, this time paired with Group A. That meant Race 1 winner Sebastian Wheldon (Group C) sat out the evening session, awaiting the final group race tomorrow morning (Groups A and C). After Race 3, a combined classification based on points and placements will determine the 36 drivers who qualify for Sunday evening’s final, along with its starting grid.
Kean Nakamura-Berta: “It was really good. Overall, it was a good start, then we had an early Safety Car. I had a decent restart, trying to stretch the gap a little bit. I just looked after everything, made sure we came back in one piece. Last lap, I gave it a little bit of a go, just to test the pace. I think it was pretty good with the track condition out there. I got to thank Prema for the rocket ship this evening, it was a mega job by them. Hopefully, there is more of this to come this season, and later this weekend.”
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.