Italian F4: Freddie Slater is back at it!
At Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, the fifth round of the Italian F.4 Championship, Freddie Slater returned to victory this morning. After an unfortunate first day that saw him forced to retire in Race 1, the British driver of PREMA Racing bounced back to win. Strengthening his grip on the Championship, Slater made a long comeback from the fourth block of the starting grid, securing his eleventh win and a total of 265 points in the standings. Slater immediately challenged Yamakoshi at the start to move up to third but was unsuccessful in the early stages. Then came the duel with Jack Beeton, following the restart after the Safety Car was called out due to an incident between Gabriel Holguin (Maffi Racing) and Filippo Fiorentino (Cram Motorsport). On this occasion, Slater managed to pass into third, after a very tough battle that saw the Australian from US Racing forced to cut off-track. Subsequently, Slater overtook Hiyu Yamakoshi on the straight, moving into P2 and beginning his chase for pole-sitter Akshay Bohra. The final overtake came, bringing victory back to Freddie Slater, who finished first in Race 2 with a gap of over 3 seconds. Akshay Bohra, the Indian driver from US Racing who already triumphed in yesterday's race, maintained the lead in the first part of the race, then defended for a long time against Slater's attacks, before giving way and finishing second at the line. However, the Indian driver was penalized with 3 seconds for making several direction changes on the straight during the last lap, dropping to third and swapping places on the podium with teammate Jack Beeton. The Australian Beeton thus finished second ahead of Bohra, on a podium that still showcased US Racing's colors on the remaining two steps.
Beeton, starting from P2, was overtaken by Yamakoshi and Slater, finding himself in fourth and in a tough fight with Rashid Al Dhaheri. On this occasion, he managed to resist skillfully, eventually reclaiming the podium with an overtake on the Japanese driver from Van Amersfoort Racing.
Finishing fourth was the Swedish driver from Van Amersfoort Racing, Gustav Jonsson. Jonsson, who started eighth, delivered an exceptional race, marked by several overtakes in a comeback that demonstrated his driving ability. In fifth position was the Japanese driver Yamakoshi. At the end of an exciting Race 2, he continues to hold second place in the drivers' standings, but with a points lead over Bohra that is now extremely narrow. Sixth was the Prema Racing driver Rashid Al Dhaheri, who was also among the most active drivers in the position exchanges and battles of Race 2. The Emirati driver had overtaken Beeton on the restart from the safety car, and then the duel continued, seeing him hit a kerb, causing him to lose several positions. Australian US Racing driver Gianmarco Pradel finished seventh. Pradel, coming off a difficult Race 1, did not have an easy time in the first of Sunday's two races either. Particularly thrilling was his battle with Tomass Stolcermanis. The Latvian driver from Prema Racing was then forced to retire due to a broken front wing after contact with teammate Kean Nakamura Berta. The Japanese Alpine Academy driver from Prema Racing finished eighth, also winning the Rookie class. Following him on the class podium were the two drivers who completed the top 10: Prema's Mercedes junior Alex Powell and Swiss Jenzer Motorsport driver Enea Frey.
Post-race penalties were assigned to Stolcermanis, losing 6 grid positions for his driving in the duel with Pradel, and 5 seconds to PHM AIX Racing's Italian driver Davide Larini for an overtake executed outside track limits.
Thus, the second race of the weekend was highly spectacular. The 35 drivers from around the world took to the track today under different conditions compared to the previous day. The heat gave way to cooler temperatures and overcast skies, with a few drops of rain beginning to fall ten minutes before the end, but leaving the track mostly dry. Different conditions are expected for today's final race, starting at 17:25.
Freddie Slater: "Yesterday was a super difficult day, we had too many issues. Mostly in Q1, and then also in Race 1. That’s motorsport, at the end of the day that happens. We bounced back well, also the conditions were quite challenging, because it was actually raining in sector 3, with about ten minutes to go. Trying to keep it on the road was difficult, and finishing first, and overtaking in T2 was quite nice. Good race, the conditions were a bit different from yesterday, it’s a bit cooler and there’s rain in the air. It went well, it’s definitely tough to bounce back, but we did it well."
Jack Beeton: "Starting from P2, like yesterday, I knew I would have to try and get the position at the start, because of how hard it would be to overtake. I tried the overtake in turn 5 and it didn’t work. I ended up in P3, then with the Safety Car I went back to P4, then almost P5 and P6. It was a tough fight. It was hard to get back to P3, and in the end, I was close to P2. It was definitely a hard race, that’s for sure!"
Akshay Bohra: "Pretty tough race. The start wasn’t incredible, but I managed to hold my position. Also at the safety car restart, I created a bit of a gap. Unfortunately, I just didn’t have the pace, against four fresh tyres. I couldn’t keep up, I had to eventually concede the position, otherwise, I would have ruined my race even more. I think we maximized what we could do, I don’t feel I could have done more. I’m happy I gave it my all."
Kean Nakamura Berta: "In Q2 it was a bit of a disaster. Mistakes on my part and chaos, I couldn’t get a good lap in. I qualified P12 and P10 for Race 3. Not great positions. Today we knew we had to work a bit. Overall, it was a pretty good race, also a bit chaotic, with some touches here and there. We had a good pace, but it’s annoying because maybe if I did a better job in Q2, I could have been a bit further up, and I could have fought for something a bit better. Now I have to stay focused for Race 3, I’ll start one row ahead, so maybe I could move a bit further forward. We’ll see what happens, maybe the rain might interfere with the strategy and everything."