Race 3 of the Italian F4 Championship opened the final day of the ACI Racing Weekend at Vallelunga with an early morning contest. The still-cold track conditions caused wheelspin issues for several drivers, including polesitter Edward Robinson (US Racing), who was immediately overtaken by teammate Luka Sammalisto. At the front, the order then remained stable, with Danish driver David Walther (Maffi Racing) holding onto third place from the start.
There was drama instead in the battle for fourth place, with Alex Ruta (Van Amersfoort Racing) and Niccolò Maccagnani (Prema Racing) involved in a fierce fight that ended with contact and retirement for both drivers. Sammalisto also perfectly managed the Safety Car restart following the incident, while another clash later involved Prema Racing teammates Christian Costoya and Roman Kamyab.
Fourth at the chequered flag was a combative Artem Severiukhin (Jenzer Motorsport), who spent much of the race pressuring Walther but was unable to find a way through. Fifth place and Rookie victory went to R-ace GP Mercedes junior Kenzo Craigie. The British driver, who also set the fastest lap of the race in 1’34.985, started from 12th on the grid and produced plenty of action in battles with Levi Arn (Jenzer Motorsport) and US Racing drivers Oleksandr Savinkov and Ludovico Busso, before later fighting with Ary Bansal.
Arn eventually dropped back following contact with Arjen Kraling (US Racing), who had also been battling inside the points before the incident. Indian driver Bansal eventually secured sixth place ahead of Busso. Oscar Repetto (PHM Racing) finished eighth overall and also claimed second place on the Rookie podium.
Oleksandr Bondarev finished ninth. The Williams Driver Academy member was the only Prema Racing driver to reach the chequered flag in what proved to be a particularly difficult race for the team. Elia Weiss (Jenzer Motorsport) completed the top ten ahead of Oleksandr Savinkov and Knud Nielsen. The Danish Real Racing driver also secured third place among the Rookie drivers in Race 3.
Nicolas Cortes (Jenzer Motorsport) finished 13th ahead of ACI Team Italia driver Iacopo Martinese (PHM Racing). Beco Bernoldi (Trident Motorsport) completed the points-paying positions. However, the Brazilian driver is under investigation by race control following a three-car incident also involving Roland Kuklane (PHM Racing) and Augustus Toniolo (Trident Motorsport), both of whom ended up stranded in the gravel.
The incident, which occurred in the closing stages, brought out the Safety Car once again, with the race ultimately ending under neutralised conditions.
Results remain provisional pending confirmation following post-race sporting and technical checks.
Luka Sammalisto: “Both races went really well. I think we managed the start quite well, maybe it could have been a little bit better, but we still made it to P1. I tried to stay as consistent as possible. The Safety Car restart was also quite good. The race went really well and it’s really nice to see the team finish first and second. I’m really happy about it.”
Edward Robinson: “It was good. I had a bit of wheelspin at the start, so Luka got past me. After that it was a fairly clean race. I had to defend from Walther for a few laps, but overall it was good. I managed to create a gap and chase Luka, but we had very similar pace, so there wasn’t much I could do.”
David Walther: “I’m happy with the result and also happy for the team because these championship points are really important… but I want more. We’ll keep working and we’ll get there for sure. Yesterday was quite a rough day, so today I didn’t want to take too many risks. We’ll keep working and find the solution to fight for first place.”
Kenzo Craigie: “We struggled a lot yesterday because we had a crash on the opening lap. So it’s really great for us to get a good result today. The team worked really hard last night to prepare a good car for today and it looks like it worked: fastest lap and seven positions gained from P12. After a difficult qualifying, I’m really happy with this result.”
Now only the Final remains, once again over a distance of 25 minutes + 1 lap, scheduled to start at 3:45 PM and featuring the best 36 drivers from the opening three races.
The final race of the weekend will also be broadcast live with Italian commentary on ACI Sport TV (Sky channel 228, Tivùsat channel 52 and acisport.tv), as well as streamed on the ACI Sport TV YouTube and Facebook channels.
The English-language broadcast will instead be available on the Italian F4 Championship YouTube and Facebook channels, as well as through the championship’s extensive international network of broadcasters airing the season’s races.
Admission to the circuit will be free upon registration on the circuit’s official website: https://ticket.vallelunga.it/it/racing/aci-racing-weekend-21-24-maggio-2026/