The first day of the ACI Racing Weekend at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza has concluded, with the excitement already building for the qualifying sessions of the final round of the Italian F.4 Championship. At the end of the two sessions, the polemen for the last weekend of the 2024 season are Jack Beeton, the Australian driver from US Racing, who will start from first position in Race 1, and Freddie Slater, the English driver from Prema Racing, who will, in turn, start at the front in Races 2 and 3.
Managing the two sessions was everything but easy, with the mixed, mostly wet, track in Monza creating some challenges for the drivers. A red flag was displayed in the first minutes of Qualifying 1 due to an incident involving Indian driver Kai Daryanani from CRAM Motorsport, who was unable to continue qualifying due to damage to his car. Freddie Slater was among the first to post a good time, but he was later surpassed by Australian Gianmarco Pradel from US Racing. Following that, Reno Francot from Jenzer Motorsport was the first to break the two-minute barrier, recording two consecutive fast laps. In the closing stages, Slater regained the top of the leaderboard but was ultimately outdone by Jack Beeton, who stopped the clock at 1’58.547. The session concluded about a minute early due to a second red flag caused by Luca Viisoreanu, a driver from Real Racing, going off track.
With Beeton's best time unbeaten, Slater finished second with a gap of 0.497. Dutch driver Reno Francot performed excellently, finishing third with a gap of 1.160. In fourth position, also with the same gap, was young Prema Racing driver Alex Powell, the current leader in the Rookie standings, which is the only title still open in this final round.
Akshay Bohra, the American-Indian driver from US Racing, secured fifth position with a gap of 1.451 from Beeton, ahead of his teammate Gianmarco Pradel, who finished at 1.475. Completing the top 10 was a quartet of Prema Racing drivers: Latvian Tomass Stolcermanis in seventh at 1.491; Alpine Academy representative Kean Nakamura-Berta eighth by just one thousandth of a second (1.492); Indian Dion Gowda ninth at 1.533; and finally Emirati Rashid Al Dhaheri tenth with a gap of 1.558.
The second session also presented challenges, starting with a collision in the pit lane between Freddie Slater and Brazilian driver Ciro Sobral from Jenzer Motorsport. There were no consequences for either driver, with Slater managing to clinch pole position with a lap of 1’57.666. Incidents, however, halted Bart Harrison from Jenzer Motorsport and Lia Block from ART Grand Prix, both making their debut in the championship. Kean Nakamura-Berta finished second with a gap of 0.318, while Jack Beeton secured the third-best time with a gap of 0.582. Swedish driver Jonsson qualified fourth at 0.657, ahead of Emanuele Olivieri. The Italian driver from AKM Motorsport put in an excellent performance to finish fifth with a gap of 1.188 from Slater. In sixth place, the American flag was waved by Everett Stack, a driver for PHM AIX Racing, with a gap of 1.539. Al Dhaheri finished seventh (1.631), followed by Gowda in eighth at 1.737. Gianmarco Pradel, with a margin of 1.792, and Finnish driver Luka Sammalisto completed the top 10, with the latter 1.804 seconds behind Slater.
Thanks to a second-best time of 1’59.267, Freddie Slater also secured pole position for Race 3. Next to him, in second position, will be Luka Sammalisto, with a gap of 0.332. Gianmarco Pradel will start third, at 0.608, followed by Alex Powell at 0.642. Reno Francot, fifth at 0.740, will precede Jack Beeton, who will start sixth with a gap of 0.832. Kean Nakamura-Berta secured seventh place with a gap of 1.007, followed by teammates Dion Gowda in eighth at 1.082 and Rashid Al Dhaheri in ninth at 1.131. Completing the top 10 will be Akshay Bohra, with a margin of 1.150 from Slater.
Tomorrow, Saturday, October 25, promises to be challenging, with two races that promise excitement, set against a backdrop of rain expected throughout the day. Therefore, there will be no shortage of thrills on the first race day of the ACI Racing Weekend, with 38 drivers ready to line up on the starting grid to give their best and achieve the best possible results on the legendary track of the Temple of Speed.
Jack Beeton: “It’s really great to start from P1! The car felt amazing, a big thanks to the Team, they did a spectacular job, I can’t thank them enough. Very mixed conditions, it was very tricky. We even started on slicks in Q1. I was very lucky for the red flag, and I was able to change the tires to wet. It was difficult to predict. It was hard, there was quite a bit of traffic, and obviously the conditions were very difficult. I’m happy to get away with a good result. It’s going to be difficult. T1 in Monza is already difficult in the dry, in the wet it just makes a whole new challenge.”
Freddie Slater: “It was a hectic qualifying session. In the first, Q1, I think slicks might have worked, but I think everyone saw a solid base for choosing wet tires. In Q2 we all gambled on slicks. Getting them up to temperature is nearly impossible in the wet. That was pretty interesting, a busy session. We did the job when it mattered, and that was it. There’s still a job to do, I still want to try to beat the record and then extend it as much as I can. Also, there are a couple of drivers fighting for P2 in the Championship, I’m sure that will get tasty into T1.”
The cars will return to the track tomorrow, Saturday, October 26 with Race 1 at 9:25, followed by Race 2 at 14:20. The grand finale, Race 3, is set for Sunday, October 27 at 10:25.
Each race, lasting 30 minutes plus one lap, will be broadcast live on the YouTube and Facebook channels of the Italian F.4 Championship, ACI Sport TV (Sky channel 228, Tivùsat channel 52, and streaming on www.acisport.it), as well as on DAZN and other platforms across the championship’s international network.