The fourth of the seven rounds of the Italian F.4 Championship season has kicked off at the Mugello Circuit. 37 drivers took to the track in the first session of the morning to test their setups for the Tuscan weekend in Free Practice 1.
At the end of the 40-minute session, the best time was recorded by the Australian driver of US Racing, Jack Beeton. Beeton completed the fastest lap in 1'48.305, securing P1 in the first session of the day. He was closely followed on the stopwatch by the Championship leader, Freddie Slater. The Brit of Prema Racing registered a minimal gap of just 2 thousandths of a second. In third place was US Racing's Singaporean driver, Askhay Bohra, who also kept his gap to the leader extremely narrow, recording a difference of only 0.042. Fourth, with another minimal margin, was Prema's Japanese driver and young talent from the Alpine Academy, Kean Nakamura Berta, with a gap of 0.063.
Another driver from the Grisignano di Zocco team made it into the top 5, with Latvian Tomass Stolcermanis occupying the fifth spot with a gap of 0.293. Following him was US Racing's Brazilian driver, Matheus Ferreira, with a 0.318-second difference from Beeton. Then two Prema drivers took the seventh and eighth positions in Free Practice 1, with Emirati Rashid Al Dhaheri at 0.402 and Mercedes junior Alex Powell at 0.450. Rounding out the top 10 were Jenzer Motorsport's Reno Francot in ninth with a 0.475 gap, and Van Amersfoort Racing's Swedish driver Gustav Jonsson, at 0.527.
There will be another practice session in the early afternoon before hitting the track this evening for qualifying, consisting of two 15-minute sessions that will determine the grid for the weekend races.
The track action continues with Free Practice 2 from 12:20 to 13:00. Then it's time for qualifying from 17:20 to 17:35, followed by the second session from 17:45 to 18:00. On Saturday, July 13, the first races of the weekend are scheduled: Race 1 (30 minutes + 1 lap) starts at 11:20; Race 2 (30 minutes + 1 lap) starts at 18:55. The final race of the weekend will be on Sunday, July 14, also 30 minutes + 1 lap, starting at 11:20.
The three races of the weekend will be broadcast live on the Italian F.4 Championship's YouTube and Facebook channels, on ACI Sport TV (Sky channel 228, Tivů Sat channel 52, and streaming on www.acisport.it), as well as on the extensive network of international TV stations that broadcast the Italian F4 Championship 2024 races, including the DAZN platform.
The public is invited to closely follow the exploits of their favorite drivers and enjoy an exciting motorsport weekend at the Mugello Circuit. Tickets for the event are available on the Ticketone platform at the following address: https://www.ticketone.it/artist/aci-racing-weekend/