The three races of the ACI Racing Weekend at Vallelunga promise great excitement, starting with Race 1 this afternoon
This morning in Vallelunga, the drivers of the Italian F.4 Championship took to the track for qualifying, determined to gain the maximum advantage for the three weekend races. 37 drivers battled against the clock in two 15-minute sessions to determine the grid for Race-1 and Race-2, while the grid for Race-3 was decided by the second-best time recorded across the two sessions. At the end, it was the Australian driver from US Racing, Jack Beeton, who was crowned poleman for the first race of the weekend, taking place today, Saturday, June 14, at 15:45. For the remaining two races of the weekend, starting on Sunday, June 15, P1 went to two Prema Racing drivers: Freddie Slater in Race-2 and Mercedes junior Alex Powell in the final race.
The first session quickly heated up, with Jack Beeton's fastest lap of 1'33.598 set in the first half, which held up until the checkered flag. Second, starting from the front row, was the Championship leader Freddie Slater, with a gap of only 0.029 seconds. Third place went to the Brazilian driver from US Racing Matheus Ferreira, who was just over a tenth behind his teammate on pole (+0.107). Joining him at the start from the front row in the first race of the weekend will be the Japanese driver from Van Amersfoort Racing, Hiyu Yamakoshi, with a gap of 0.158. Fifth place in Qualifying 1 went to Alex Powell at 0.220, followed by two teammates from the Vicenza-based Team: Emirati driver Rashid Al Dhaheri at 0.231, closely followed by Indian driver Dion Gowda at 0.234. Eighth place went to the Indo-American driver Akshay Bohra, representing the Team led by Gerhard Ungar and Ralf Schumacher, with a margin of 0.243, followed by his Australian teammate Gianmarco Pradel at 0.265. Closing the top 10 was the Japanese Alpine Academy driver from Prema Racing, Kean Nakamura Berta, at 0.313.
Qualifying 2 started more slowly but became extremely exciting in the second phase. With 8 minutes remaining, the first fast lap was recorded by Freddie Slater, with Bohra simultaneously completing his lap just a few hundredths of a second behind. More changes in the rankings followed, with the British driver from Prema Racing continuing to improve. At the end of the session, the best lap was completed in 1'33.488. Second place went to Alex Powell with a gap of 0.068. Hiyu Yamakoshi was also close behind in third with a gap of 0.084. Fourth was Latvian driver Tomass Stolcermanis, with a gap from his teammate Slater of 0.121. In P5 was Matheus Ferreira with a margin of 0.131, followed by Bohra at 0.181. Swiss driver Ethan Ischer from Team Jenzer Motorsport will start from seventh in Race 2, with a gap of 0.241, followed by Gianmarco Pradel at 0.267. Closing the top 10 were Prema Racing drivers Rashid Al Dhaheri and Dion Gowda, who recorded identical times, both with a gap of 0.294.
The third pole went to Alex Powell with the second-best lap obtained in the second session, concluded in 1'33.564. The front row in Race-3 will have Freddie Slater (0.060 the gap from his teammate). Third was Hiyu Yamakoshi at 0.079. P4 for Beeton with a margin of 0.093, followed by Ferreira at 0.146. Sixth place went to Akshay Bohra with a gap of 0.174, followed by Gianmarco Pradel at 0.198. Eighth was Tomass Stolcermanis, with a gap of 0.267, while ninth and tenth were again Rashid Al Dhaheri and Dion Gowda, with respective gaps of 0.280 and 0.292.
Everything is ready now for the weekend races, with the first big battle of the weekend set to hit the track this afternoon, Saturday, June 15, at 15:45. Race 2 will kick off the second day of the ACI Racing Weekend Vallelunga, on Sunday, June 16, at 9:00, followed by Race-3 at 14:25. All weekend races will run for 30 minutes +1 lap and will be broadcast live on the Italian F.4 Championship YouTube and Facebook channels, on ACI Sport TV (channel 228 of Sky, channel 52 Tivù Sat, and streaming on www.acisport.it), as well as the extensive international television network that broadcasts the Italian F4 Championship 2024, including the DAZN platform.
Jack Beeton: “I’m really happy. It’s the first time being in pole position, since I started racing in F4 last year. I’m really excited, we’ll see what we can do starting P1 in Race-1. We were going into Vallelunga, expecting a good result. It would have been my best result last year, but I was involved in an incident when I was in the top 10, so we had high expectations for this round.”
Freddie Slater: “I’m in a good position, I think we got three consistent results as well. We bounced back from yesterday and that’s the main thing, I couldn’t have done it without Prema of course. We worked hard overnight, and we are at the front again. Consistency is key in this Championship.”
Alex Powell: “It was a tough quali in general, both Q1 and Q2. In Q1, I struggled a little bit more with track position, but I think in Q2 we were really clinical. I’m happy with the position overall, Race 1 is going to be a bit of a tough one. In Race 2 and 3 we are in a really good spot. Big thanks to Prema, the first pole position in Italian F.4 it’s a great feeling. I can’t wait to start off the first position!”