Freddie Slater wins again in the Italian F.4 championship at Misano
The second race of the Italian F.4 Championship at the Misano World Circuit was thrilling and complex in its management. Freddie Slater once again in pole position, started well and maintend the lead despite numerous interruptions nullifying his advantage, forcing him to manage multiple restarts. However, there were no issues for the British driver from Prema Racing, who consistently stayed ahead, rebuilding his gap each time. Alex Powell, starting from the front row, chased him throughout the race, distancing the rest of the pack. The two drivers from the Team based in Vicenza led by Angelo Rosin, again claimed the top spots on the podium, echoing Race 1, with Mercedes junior Powell also crowned as the Rookie class winner. A representative from Team US Racing stood on the podium once again, after Gianmarco Pradel this morning, this time it was Akshay Bohra finishing third. Bohra, thanks to a perfect execution of the race, never really saw his position at risk, except in the final stages of the last lap when Dutchman Reno Francot closed the gap significantly. The Jenzer Motorsport driver, however, failed to complete his attack and crossed the finish line in fourth place, later receiving a 5-second penalty for overtaking outside track limits against the Japanese Yamakoshi, thus slipping to ninth.
In fourth place was the Van Amersfoort Racing driver, Hiyu Yamakoshi, followed by the Emirati driver from Prema Racing, Rashid Al Dhaheri, and the Swiss driver from Jenzer Motorsport, Ethan Ischer. This trio provided excitement throughout the race with intense battles and three-way fights. Similar to Race 1, the second race of the 2024 Italian F.4 Championship was characterized by an intense battle for the Top 10. Following them, in seventh place, was Dion Gowda, the Indian driver from Prema Racing, closely followed by his teammate from Latvia, Tomass Stolcermanis. Stolcermanis, who made a remarkable comeback in the race to finish in P8, secured the second step of the Rookie podium. Then, in P10, was the Serbian driver from PHM AIX Racing, Andrej Petrovic. Petrovic, after starting from a lower position, managed to gain positions during the race, finishing with the last point available. Furthermore, thanks to overtaking the Finnish driver from R-ace GP, Luka Sammalisto, in the final stages, Petrovic was able to celebrate his achievement on the third step of the Rookie podium.
Several drivers faced difficulties in Race 2, including Davide Larini (PHM AIX Racing) and Kean Nakamura Berta (Prema Racing), involved in an exciting battle at Carro on the first lap, which resulted in contact and deprived the race of two of the main contenders in the points battle.
Post-race penalties for Kabir Anurag (5 seconds) for an incident with Alvise Rodella; Lin Hodenius (5 seconds) for overtaking behind the Safety Car; Nathaniel Berreby (5 seconds) for overtaking under double yellow flags; Andrei Duna (10 seconds) for an incident with Andrija Kostic.
Awarding the drivers on the Race 2 podium was a special guest, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, winner of the Italian Championship in the 2022 season, before continuing his extraordinary career with great successes on the road to Formula 1.
Freddie Slater: “There were many safety cars, I just had to manage them. I had to get the tyres in the right temperature, look after them, make sure they were in the right window, and then get home with it. I tried to set as many quality laps as I could, as early as I could to get away. This was to keep pressure off from behind, then focus forward, don’t look in the mirrors and crack on forward.”
Alex Powell: “It was a very similar race to Race 1. I just struggled a little bit off the line, first few laps, and then found the rhythm of it. We had a few safety car interruptions, which I guess I expected, but it just make it a little bit more challenging for us to find the rhythm. In the end, another good race, another positive haul of points. It’s important to continue like this, stay consistent, and obviously if we get the opportunity to have something a little bit more, it would be nice! As of now, I’m quite with how we managed the weekend so far.”
Akshay Bohra: “It was definitely a difficult race. I had a good start, I looked for something on T1, but it wasn’t there. We just managed our race, the Jenzer behind me was pretty fast, so I was just focusing on making as minimum mistakes as possible. In the last we got a bit close, he caught up, in the end, we managed to keep our position. It’s a good result today. Obviously, we want to be winning the races, we are putting in the hard work, and today we have done our best.”
Tomass Stolcermanis: “It was a very difficult race. I started in position 15, it was very difficult fighting in the back, always together with other drivers. Off track, on track, it was up and down. I finished P9 [P8 after Renot time penalty], and that’s P2 on the Rookie podium, I’m quite happy with that.”
Andrej Petrovic: “It was a really tough race. It was my second-ever race in Italy. Being a rookie against all these very good drivers, it’s really difficult to compete. It was a really great race from the beginning. I had a good start, and after lap 2 I was up to P11, and I started P16. After that, it was just about managing the pace, not burning down the tyres and saving them until the end. When I saw that I had the chance for the Rookie podium, on the last lap, I managed to do an overtake and take it, and it was just the best feeling.”
Now only Race 3 remains to conclude the first round of the 2024 Italian F.4 Championship, starting Sunday, May 5th, at 11:00 for 30’+1 lap.