The second free practice sessions of the Italian F4 Championship at the Misano World Circuit have now concluded. Conditions were completely different compared to the morning session, with the drivers facing heavy rain that started shortly before the session got underway.
British driver Thomas Bearman of Van Amersfoort Racing topped the first group, setting the fastest time in 1’57.671 despite the challenging conditions caused by the heavy rain and the clouds of spray raised by the passing single-seaters. US Racing’s Australian driver Noah Killion was second, 0.651 seconds behind, followed by Brazilian driver Bernardo “Beco” Bernoldi, 2.121 seconds off the pace.
Fourth place went to American driver Andre Rodriguez of CRAM Motorsport, 3.126 seconds behind the leader, ahead of US Racing’s German driver Arjen Kraling, 4.151 seconds off the benchmark.
The first session ended shortly before the scheduled time due to a red flag in the closing stages, following the stoppage of Fabricio Fogaca of AKM Motorsport. The session had already been interrupted earlier by another red flag after Levi Arn of Trident Motorsport went off track.
As the weather conditions worsened, the second session was delayed by a few minutes. The session eventually got underway with the rain easing, allowing the drivers to gradually lower their lap times through to the closing stages.
At the end of the session, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Polish driver Alex Ruta set the fastest time overall, stopping the clock at 1’55.343. Swiss driver Florentin Hattemer of Trident Motorsport was second, 0.653 seconds behind. Third place went to Qatari driver Bader Al Sulaiti of Jenzer Motorsport, 0.744 seconds off the pace.
Two Trident Motorsport drivers followed: Brazilian driver Augustus Toniolo, 0.749 seconds behind, and Czech driver Dominik Simek, 1.189 seconds off the benchmark.
The drivers will return to the track for qualifying this evening, Friday 18 September, with Division 1 on track from 4:50 PM to 5:10 PM, followed by Division 2 from 5:20 PM to 5:40 PM.
On Saturday, 19 September, Race 1 will feature Groups B and C at 11:15 AM, while Race 2, with Groups A and B, will get underway at 5:05 PM.
On Sunday, 20 September, Race 3, featuring Groups A and C, will take place at 10:10 AM and will be the final qualifying race. Based on the results, the top 36 drivers will qualify for the final, scheduled for 4:20 PM.
All races will run for 25 minutes plus one lap and will be broadcast live on the official Italian F4 Championship and ACI Sport TV channels, as well as across the international network of broadcasters covering the championship worldwide.