PREMA Racing put on a dominant display in the opening round of the Italian Formula 4 Championship. The team took two dominant wins in the heat races before Turkish racer Alp Aksoy led the Final from start to finish to secure the early lead and underline a spectacular season start.
Aksoy, who is making his full-time debut in single-seaters, won the first heat in front of teammate Oleksandr Bondarev, before securing pole position for the Final with a podium in Race 2. He then pulled away from the front and never really looked back, mastering the early, tricky, damp conditions to perfection.
Niccolò Maccagnani showed an equally impressive form. After dominating the opening race, he was demoted to P4 due to a procedural infraction, but rebounded with an amazing run to take the win in Race 3. He eventually posted P6 in the final to complete an extremely solid debut weekend in the series.
David Cosma Cristofor was consistently in the hunt for the win. The Romanian secured two second-place finishes in his heats before harvesting another points finish in the Final. Oleksandr Bondarev also climbed onto the podium with P2 in Race 1. He then proceeded to capture two additional points finishes with P2 in Race 2 and P9 in the Final.
Christian Costoya and Kingsley Zheng showed promise and focused on making the most of their first weekend, battling within a close pack in the challenging Italian series and in tricky conditions. The Spaniard eventually posted a rookie podium.
PREMA Racing will be back for more action as soon as the series resumes at Vallelunga in two weeks.
#1 Christian Costoya
"A challenging weekend where we struggled a bit to find the qualifying pace. We qualified in P8, and we started the heats in P10. In the first one, we had to pit due to a puncture but recovered to P15. In the second one, we were struggling a bit, and we were hit in the final stages, ending up in the wall. That led to starting P26 in the final. The start was great, and we recovered positions until reaching P15. Tough weekend, but we want to take the positives and get back stronger for the next one."
Qualifying 1: P8 Series 1 Fastest lap: 1:36.096
Starting position Race 1: P10 Race 1: P14
Starting position Race 3: P9 Race 3: P9
Starting position Final: P25 Final: P15
#10 Alp Aksoy
"We were P1 in group qualifying, which is amazing, and the car was also really good, so props to the team. We had P1 in Race 1, P3 in Race 2. We had a small issue at the start, but we fixed it for the Final, and we also won that. I'm really happy with the team and the car. A big thank you for supporting me this weekend. The win in the Final was for my mom. I love you!"
Qualifying: P1 Series 2 Fastest lap: 1:35.637
Starting position Race 1: P1 Race 1: P1
Starting position Race 2: P2 Race 2: P3
Starting position Final: P1 Final: P1
#19 Niccolò Maccagnani
"It was a very good weekend. Good qualifying and two good heat races — it's a bit of a pity about the penalty. But it's fine; we managed to get the win back in Race 3. Unfortunately, the rain didn't come, and we weren't prepared for those conditions. I want to thank the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy, my family, and Med-ex for supporting me — let's keep pushing."
Qualifying: P2 Series 1 Fastest lap: 1:35.898
Starting position Race 1: P2 Race 1: P4
Starting position Race 2: P2 Race 2: P1
Starting position Final: P3 Final: P6
#27 Oleksandr Bondarev
"I think it was a difficult start to the year. We were not quite as fast as we expected. In qualifying, a mistake cost me a big amount of time because everyone improved at the end. We progressed in the first two races, with P2 and P5, but in the last one, we lacked pace for some reason, and we are struggling to understand why. We have some work to do before the next round, but the season is long, and we can still come back. Big thanks to everyone in the team for their work, and we don't give up. We'll be stronger for the next one."
Qualifying: P6 Series 1 Fastest lap: 1:36.015
Starting position Race 1: P7 Race 1: P2
Starting position Race 2: P7 Race 2: P5
Starting position Final: P4 Final: P9
#69 Kingsley Zheng
"There are plenty of positives to take from this weekend. We have been improving across the whole weekend, and we managed to recover the positions on track, which I'm very happy about. It was just unfortunate in the first race, and we had a bit of bad luck in the last one, but there's plenty that I learned. We keep pushing for the next. I want to give a big thanks to my family, my coach and the team for all the support."
Qualifying: P9 Series 2 Fastest lap: 1:36.635
Starting position Race 1: P12 Race 1: DNF
Starting position Race 3: P12 Race 3: P14
Starting position Final: P26 Final: P18
#98 David Cosma Cristofor
"We take the amazing pace we had as the positive of the weekend. We were P1 and P2 in practice — a positive day going into qualifying — and maintained a top-3 rhythm. We got P2 in qualifying and started P3 in all races. I improved my consistency a lot, with two second places, and I'm very happy about that. The Final was not quite as positive, but I'm looking at Vallelunga with confidence."
Qualifying: P2 Series 2 Fastest lap: 1:35.679
Starting position Race 2: P3 Race 2: P2
Starting position Race 3: P3 Race 3: P2
Starting position Final: P2 Final: P10
