Scarperia e San Piero (Florence) - Kean Nakamura-Berta claimed victory in Race 1 of Round 4 of the Italian F.4 Championship, promoted by ACI Sport and WSK Promotion. The Prema Racing driver delivered a commanding lights-to-flag performance from pole position, managing two race restarts following safety car interventions. With 190 points collected so far, Nakamura-Berta further extends his lead in the overall standings, now holding a 48-point advantage over teammate Sebastian Wheldon, who finished seventh today.
At the start, Gabriel Gomez (US Racing) attempted a move for the lead, but Nakamura-Berta successfully defended his position. Behind them, Alex Powell got the better of Emanuele Olivieri in the opening laps to take third place, which he held onto until the chequered flag. For the Mercedes-backed R-ace GP driver, this marks his second podium of the season after Vallelunga. Powell will also start from pole in both Race 2 and Race 3.
Olivieri finished fourth, while Luka Sammalisto (US Racing) beat teammate Maxim Rehm to secure fifth. Eighth overall and first among rookies was Oleksandr Bondarev (Prema Racing and Williams Driver Academy member), just ahead of teammate and direct class rival Newman Chi. Salim Hanna completed the rookie podium in eleventh overall, rounding out an all-Prema top three in the category. Tenth place went to Kabir Anurag, Alpine Academy driver with US Racing, who took the final point-scoring position.
The fastest lap of the race was set by Oleksandr Savinkov with a 1'50.371. However, the Ukrainian R-ace GP driver finished at the back of the field after ending up in the gravel on the final lap following a Turn 1 contact with Luca Viisoreanu (Real Racing), who also retired. The incident resulted in an 8-place grid penalty for the Romanian driver.
Guy Albag (R-ace GP) encountered difficulties after sustaining significant damage to his rear-left wheel cover due to contact, prompting the first safety car period. At the restart, Sammalisto passed Rehm, while Wheldon closed back up to the group. Later, Andrea Dupe (Prema Racing) went off track, triggering a second safety car.
In the Woman trophy classification, Emily Cotty (R-ace GP) took the win, ahead of Payton Westcott (Van Amersfoort Racing) and Kornelia Olkucka (Maffi Racing).
Kean Nakamura-Berta: “My launch off the line was not that good, I had to cover myself going into T1. From there, I managed to keep P1, and managed the race, with a bit of help from my engineer Mark: we just kept working to be sure we kept the gap around 1 second. The two safety cars were a bit annoying, but I think we handled that very well. Big thanks to Prema, it’s really good to start off the weekend like this. We have a more difficult race coming up later tonight.”
Gabriel Gomez: “We’ve had a good pace all weekend, and yesterday’s qualifying was strong. Starting from second, it’s hard to fight at Mugello, there are so many fast corners, it’s tricky to get close. I had a good start and pulled alongside into Turn 1. I was even ahead, but we had a fair fight, and I couldn’t make the move stick. I think the race would have turned out differently if I had. Still, it’s a good result for the championship. Now I’ll try to fight back in Race 2 starting from fifth.”
Alex Powell: “It’s such a release to be back in a really competitive position. It’s no secret that we had a tough start to the season, we’ve been building, and had a setback in Monza. I’m super happy to be back here in a competitive position. Yesterday I had an amazing qualifying session, and then today I was able to follow it up with a good Race 1. It’s great. Of course, we still have two races to try and go a few places better, we’re in the best position to make that happen. I’m just so grateful to be in this position. At this track, it’s very difficult to follow, so a lot of moves need to happen at the beginning of the race or on the safety car restart. I knew something had to happen at the start, and fortunately, I was able to get around Emanuele right away, then just held the position. It’s definitely been a turning point, whether the next two races are wins or not, being on pole twice is a huge achievement and a big relief. I’m super grateful for all the hard work from everyone around me – this is really the product of that.”
The racing action continues this evening, Saturday 12 July, with Race 2 scheduled for 6:10 PM. Race 3 will get underway on Sunday, 13 July at 10:40 AM.