Yamakoshi flies to victory in Race 2 of the Italian F.4 Championship at Imola
Imola - The second day of the ACI Racing Weekend in Imola opened with Race 2 of the Italian F.4 Championship, the first race on track in the morning. Hiyu Yamakoshi, the Japanese driver for Van Amersfoort Racing, started from pole position and maintained control until the checkered flag. The Japanese driver was unstoppable, showcasing an exhilarating pace. No issues arose even during the race restart on the last lap after a stop caused by a collision between Jan Koller (BVM Racing) and Oleksandr Savinkov (AKM Motorsport) at Tamburello.
The remaining podium positions were hotly contested. Australian driver Jack Beeton (US Racing), who started from P2, initially held his position but was overtaken by his teammate Akshay Bohra. Bohra secured second position, matching his result from the previous day, until the end. The overtaking maneuver was highly spectacular, with Beeton ending up in the gravel but skillfully managing to stay in the race. However, Beeton, in third place, was targeted by Freddie Slater (Prema Racing), who engaged in a fierce battle. A contact between the two at Tosa in the final stages once again shook up the race standings. The Indian driver for Prema Racing, Dion Gowda, ultimately crossed the finish line in third. Gowda, incredibly fast throughout the whole weekend, drove an impeccable race, starting from the seventh spot on the grid to secure his first podium of the season.
In fourth place overall and first among the Rookies was Tomass Stolcermanis, Latvian driver for Prema Racing, who was ahead of his teammate, Japanese driver Kean Nakamura Berta, both in the race and on the Rookie podium. Sixth place went to Rashid Al Dhaheri from Prema Racing, followed by Gustav Jonsson from Van Amersfoort Racing and Reno Francot from Jenzer Motorsport. These three drivers stood out in Race 2 for their tough battles characteristic of the fierce competition for points in the Italian F.4 Championship. Crossing the finish line ninth, after a pit stop for rear wing damage, was Freddie Slater, who managed to rejoin the race in tenth after his contact with Beeton. The English driver, however, was penalized with a drive-through converted into a 25-second penalty, dropping him out of the points. Finishing ninth then was Davide Larini, from PHM AIX Racing. With the retirement of Sammalisto, the third Rookie on the Race 2 podium was Emanuele Olivieri from AKM Motorsport, finishing tenth behind Larini.
Two expected protagonists were out of the race due to an incident: Gianmarco Pradel (US Racing) and Alex Powell (Prema Racing). Australian Pradel retired due to a puncture caused by the contact, while Powell broke his front wing and continued after a pit stop, finishing twenty-ninth. The Jamaican driver then received a five-second penalty for the incident. Lastly, Enzo Yeh (R-ace GP) was penalized with a drive-through converted into a 25-second penalty following a collision with Shimo Zhang (Jenzer Motorsport).
Hiyu Yamakoshi: “yesterday in Race 1 I lost a position in the Safety Car, but today it’s a different story. I’ve built gap in the green flag, we improved. We’ll see if it is going to be another win in Race 3. Actually, I didn’t feel much pressure at the restart. Yesterday I had more pressure, because it was the first time in P1 starting after the Safety Car, today is the second time, actually the third time…so no pressure, we had a very good start. I tried to push at maximum in the beginning of the race, make a gap, I saw that Beeton and Bohra were fighting a lot, then I managed the tyre in the right way.”
Akshay Bohra: “it was a good race. We managed pretty well, I had a good overtake, I can’t ask for more. I think P1 was a bit unobtainable, so P2 is another maximum result. Race 3 we start a bit further than we had in Race 1 and 2, but I’m just going to keep my head down, doing my best, and see where we can go.”
Dion Gowda: “it was really good. Starting a little bit further back in P7, and then just kept it clean, filling the gap and managed to get into P4/P5. From then on, the pace was really strong, we were closing the top 4. I think overall we did a really good race. Thanks to the Team, for the mega car. Overall, very solid weekend so far. The tyres started to drop off towards the end, so it became a bit more difficult. With the Safety Car we lost a lot of tyre temp, and there was only one lap. I don’t think, any of us had much grip. It was quite fun, but also quite difficult racing toward the end. It was hectic.”
Tomass Stolcermanis: “it was quite good race for us. I was starting P9, from there is very difficult in the first lap, because everyone is very close. I was quite lucky toward the race, because other drivers crashed, so I just had to stay out of troubles. I think finishing on the overall podium would have been perfect, but there is always space for improvements.”