Misano World Circuit - Three out of three for Freddie Slater at the Misano World Circuit, as the British driver doesn't miss a beat and takes home all the pole positions up for grabs in the first weekend of the 2024 Italian F.4 Championship. In qualifying 1, the English ace, already crowned this year's F4 UAE Champion, secured P1 with a time of 1'34.778. Following closely behind and accompanying him on the front row for Race 1, with a gap of 0.269 seconds, was his teammate Alex Powell. The double session of the Prema Racing junior Mercedes driver was equally exciting, gradually reducing the gap from the leader and securing the runner-up spot three times.
Third in qualifying 1 was Australian Gianmarco Pradel, with a gap of 0.460, closely followed by Akshay Bohra at 0.490, setting up a second row for Race 1, starting tomorrow at 11:30, entirely representing US Racing. Fifth position goes to Japanese driver Hiyu Yamakoshi of Van Amersfoort Racing, with a gap of 0.498, starting from the third row alongside Enzo Yeh, the Chinese driver of R-ace GP, with a gap of 0.501. Seventh place goes to Australian Jack Beeton of US Racing, with a gap of 0.514, followed by Italian driver Davide Larini, representing PHM AIX Racing, who secured a strong qualifying position earning him P8 with a gap of 0.564. Rounding up the top 10 in the first session were the two Prema drivers Kean Nakamura Berta, at 0.610, and Tomass Stolcermanis, at 0.722.
After a brief pit lane stop, the green light for Q2, once again with Freddie Slater setting the fastest time. This time the battle against Alex Powell was fierce, with the two drivers pushing until the end, shaving off tenths of a second in each sector, with the Englishman finishing ahead by just 19 hundredths of a second. The best lap was recorded at 1'34.615. Third place went to Askahy Bohra, with a gap of 0.164, followed by Japanese driver Kean Nakamura Berta, 0.315 seconds behind. The performance of his compatriot Hiyu Yamakoshi remained strong, securing fifth place just four milliseconds behind, with a 0.319 gap from Slater. Sixth was Reno Francot, the fast Dutchman of Jenzer Motorsport, with a gap of 0.353. Emirati driver Rashid Al Dhaheri of Prema Racing then secured P7 with 0.373, just ahead by a thousandth of a second of Jack Beeton, who in turn was 0.374 behind the leader. Davide Larini made it to the top 10 again, this time finishing ninth with a gap of 0.381, ahead of Enzo Yeh, at 0.477.
The grid for Race 3, determined by the second fastest overall time between the two sessions, sees Freddie Slater once again on pole position, with a time of 1'34.647 achieved in the second session. Powell is again on the front row, with a gap of 0.037. Third place goes to Bohra, 0.225 behind, followed by Yamakoshi at 0.316. Nakamura Berta takes fifth position with a gap of 0.317, with the two compatriots once again very close. Sixth position goes to Al Dhaheri, at 0.383, followed by Francot at 0.441. Among the top 10, Beeton is at 0.470, Pradel at 0.552, and Yeh at 0.559.
Freddie Slater: "Mega session, Q1 was executed perfectly. We had the perfect strategy, we got the right time, we had the perfect gap. I managed to do a good lap at the end. In the second one I only did 2 push laps, there was a lot more traffic in the second one, so it was a little bit closer. Overall, it’s a good start, and three pole positions is more than I can ask for. I only had to wait 7 months since the last one, it’s nice to get it back. I’m here to win, you just got to keep your head down, and keep going for pole positions and wins.”
The 3 races of the weekend
Saturday, May 4th, will see two of the three races of the weekend. It starts with Race 1 at 11:30. Race 2 will be in the evening, starting at 17:45. Race 3 will then be on Sunday, May 5th, at 11:00. All races of the weekend will be run over a distance of 30' + 1 lap and will be broadcast live with Italian commentary on ACI Sport TV, Sky channel 228, and Tivù Sat channel 52, as well as streaming on www.acisport.it, ACI Sport TV Facebook page, and channels. The Misano races will also be available with English commentary on the Italian F.4 Championship Facebook and YouTube pages, as well as on the extensive international television network, involving traditional broadcasters and IPTV. All detailed information is available in the media schedule.
Info and results