Barcelona - The sixth round of the Italian F.4 Championship opened with a spectacular show in Barcelona. Championship leader Kean Nakamura-Berta delivered a commanding performance in Race 1, starting from pole position and maintaining an untouchable pace throughout. At the finish line, the Japanese driver secured victory with more than five seconds of advantage.
Behind him, Colombian driver Salim Hanna completed a one-two finish for Prema Racing, also taking victory in the Rookie classification. Hanna made a strong start, holding third place for much of the race before overtaking his teammate Sebastian Wheldon to move up into second.
The podium was completed by Italian driver Emanuele Olivieri with R-ace GP. After a difficult getaway from the front row, the driver from Asti lost ground to the two Prema cars in the opening meters but managed to recover and climb back to third position.
Fourth place went to Newman Chi of Prema Racing, who fought hard within the top ten and also secured second in the Rookie standings. Just behind, Luka Sammalisto of US Racing emerged as one of the race’s protagonists, overtaking Wheldon in a tight battle. The American Andretti junior of Prema Racing, after a strong start, struggled with tyre wear in the final stages and dropped to sixth.
Seventh overall and third among the Rookies was Australian Dante Vinci with Van Amersfoort Racing. Artem Severiukhin of Jenzer Motorsport finished eighth after a lively fight for the points with Kabir Anurag of the Alpine Academy with US Racing, who closed in ninth. Completing the top ten was Alex Powell, Mercedes junior with R-ace GP, who staged a brilliant recovery drive from 15th on the grid.
It was a difficult race for Brazilian Gabriel Gomez of US Racing, Nakamura-Berta’s main title rival. After stalling at the start from the second row, he was forced to retire following a contact with R-ace GP’s Luca Viisoreanu. The incident was triggered by Kirill Kutskov’s car, and he was later handed a 25-second penalty. An early retirement also came for Mercedes junior Andy Consani (R-ace GP), as well as for Jan Koller and Andrija Kostic of US Racing.
In the female classification, the first to cross the finish line was Mathilda Paatz, driving the AS Motorsport Tatuus for the Mathilda Racing team. However, the German dropped to second after receiving a 10-second penalty for not correctly following the starting procedures, as she went through the pitlane before heading to the grid. The same penalty was also handed to Kirill Kutskov (Maffi Racing), David Walther (Maffi Racing), and Phil Coling Strenge (AS Motorsport). Victory therefore went to Emily Cotty of R-ace GP, with Payton Westcott of Van Amersfoort Racing taking third, followed by Kornelia Olkucka of Maffi Racing.
The race offered battles across the field, with action even around the edge of the top 20 involving David Cosma Cristofor of PHM Racing, Emily Cotty, Andrea Dupe of Prema Racing and female winner Mathilda Paatz. Among those fighting hard but just outside the points were Jenzer Motorsport drivers Bader Al Sulaiti, Bart Harrison and Teo Schropp. A strong performance also came from Ukrainian Oleksandr Bondarev of Prema Racing, Williams Driver Academy, who narrowly missed out on the points.
Kean Nakamura-Berta: “The race itself was really good, we managed incredibly well. I held the lead and did a good first couple of laps. Then I went into tyre save mode. Even with that massive gap, we just had the chance to save a huge amount. It was a really well-managed race. The car was fantastic, even at the end, I felt I had so much more pace left. To look after the tyres, since we had that big of a gap, we could save. Championship-wise, 25 crucial points. Gabriel stalled as well, which helps us. I just focus on myself, knowing I still have 2 more races left. Two races where we are starting at the front, and with changing weather conditions. I’m looking forward to that! Big thanks to Prema, overall it has been a mega championship so far, hopefully we keep that going. That was a really fun race.”
Salim Hanna: “It was a really good race. The start was decent, even though, to be honest, I didn’t practice it enough this weekend. I was just a bit too soft into turn 1. After that, it was really good. I managed to save the tyres, with a little pressure from behind. Then I managed to overtake the car in P2 the lap after, and it got way easier without the dirty air. Really good first race, we have the pace, the car is good. I’m really happy with my engineer for everything he has done. I have a good feeling about the other two races. We are going to start on the right side, so it’s going to be a small challenge there. I’m going to focus on maximizing the start… and then do my thing!”
Emanuele Olivieri: “It was a very intense race. From the right-hand side, the track was quite dirty, and I had a lot of wheelspin and lost several positions. Then the pace was good, the team worked well, and the car was strong. I was very close to Hanna, but overtaking in dirty air is very difficult, so I destroyed the tyres. I took advantage of Wheldon struggling with his tyres to get past. Tomorrow, starting from pole and from the left-hand side, it will be a different race.”
The weekend continues tomorrow, Sunday 21 September, with Race 2 at 11:45 AM and Race 3 at 5:50 PM. Both races will run over 30 minutes + 1 lap and will be streamed live on the ACI Sport social media pages. The English-language broadcast will also be available on the Italian F.4 Championship’s Facebook and YouTube channels.