Scarperia e San Piero (FI) - At the Mugello Circuit, 38 drivers competing in the Italian F.4 Championship took to the track for official qualifying, pushing against the clock to secure the best possible starting position for the weekend’s races. Pole position for Race 1 went to Prema Racing’s Kean Nakamura-Berta, while Mercedes junior Alex Powell of R-ace GP will start from the front in both Race 2 and Race 3, a positive turnaround after a challenging start to the season.
In the first of the two 15-minute sessions, it was the Jamaican-American driver who initially set the pace. Powell’s lap time was later bested by Kean Nakamura-Berta, who put together a flawless flying lap in 1’48.484. Brazilian Gabriel Gomez of US Racing set the second fastest time, 0.260 off the leader. Italian driver Emanuele Olivieri was third fastest, showing strong pace at the wheel of the R-ace GP Tatuus with a gap of 0.373. Alex Powell ended Q1 in fourth, securing a second-row start with a margin of 0.425. Once again this season, US Racing’s Finnish driver Luka Sammalisto secured a spot in the front half of the grid, taking fifth at 0.441, followed by Sebastian Wheldon. Representing Prema Racing under the Andretti Global banner, Wheldon had topped both free practice sessions, and finished Q1 in sixth at 0.575. Seventh place went to Maxim Rehm of US Racing, 0.629 behind. In eighth, and fastest of the rookies, was Colombia’s Salim Hanna with Prema Racing, 0.712 off the pace. The top 10 was completed by two more rookies: Ukraine’s Oleksandr Bondarev, part of the Williams Driver Academy and racing for Prema, at 0.728, and Poland’s Aleksander Ruta of Van Amersfoort Racing at 0.739.
The fastest time of the day came in the second session, as Alex Powell posted a 1’48.347. Reno Francot, returning to the Italian Championship with PHM Racing after racing here last season, took second with a gap of 0.360. Sebastian Wheldon was third fastest at 0.428, ahead of teammate Newman Chi in fourth, who finished 0.581 behind and was the top Rookie in Q2. Gabriel Gomez was fifth at 0.587, followed by Oleksandr Bondarev at 0.621 and Luka Sammalisto at 0.757. Australian driver Dante Vinci, racing for Van Amersfoort Racing, placed eighth at 0.800, ahead of Kean Nakamura-Berta in ninth at 0.862. The championship leader encountered some issues in Q2, with his fastest lap deleted due to track limits. Rounding out the top 10 once again was Salim Hanna, 0.867 off the leader.
With another strong performance in the second session, Alex Powell also secured pole position for Race 3 with a time of 1:48.737. Kean Nakamura-Berta will start alongside him, second by just 0.101. Reno Francot remained competitive in third at 0.115, followed by Gabriel Gomez in fourth at 0.172. Fifth was Sebastian Wheldon at 0.262, followed by Oleksandr Bondarev at 0.333. Luka Sammalisto was seventh at 0.493, then Maksimilian Popov of Van Amersfoort Racing in eighth at 0.611. Newman Chi and Salim Hanna completed the top 10, at 0.613 and 0.619, respectively.
Kean Nakamura-Berta: “Q1 went really well. I think I did a really clean job, a complete turnaround from the free practices, which is good. We learned a lot from the practices this morning and put it together for this one. The car was perfect. Q2 we did a little changes to the car, just to fix an issue, and I think I just didn’t drive that well, to be honest. Then we got a P2, and I’m actually really happy with it, considering the tyres drop off so quickly here. Overall, it was a good job. I’m a bit disappointed with myself. I know the car is fast. Big thanks to Prema for the hard work, we will just keep pushing, the race are long and hard on the tyres, we’ll see what happens, I can’t wait.”
Alex Powell: “it feels incredible. I’m lost for words, we were really strong here in the test last week, but I had a really open mind into this weekend, it feels great to be back on top. It’s no secret that has been a tough start to the season for me, but we are looking to turn things around, and this is a great way to do that. I can’t thank the team around me enough, everyone has put such a big effort behind me, and they know who they are. I thank each and everyone of you for your hard work. I’m happy that it came together today. Q1 was a bit tricky, a bit under the limit. It’s quite easy to drive over the limit here at Mugello, and you only get one or two laps. The window of performance is very small. Driving a bit under in Q1, I really put things together in Q2, it was a really good lap. I’m super happy to be starting up front for race 2 and race 3.”
The action resumes tomorrow, Saturday 12 July, with Race 1 and Race 2. All races are 30 minutes plus one lap and will start at 11:10 AM and 6:10 PM.
Race 3 will then take place on Sunday, 13 July at 10:40 AM. All races will be broadcast live on ACI Sport TV (Sky channel 288 and TivùSat channel 52) and streamed on www.live.acisport.tv as well as the ACI Sport TV YouTube and Facebook pages. International viewers can follow the action live, with English commentary, via the global network of broadcasters covering the Italian F.4 Championship, and via the official Italian F.4 YouTube and Facebook pages.