The 49 drivers entered for the third round of the Italian F4 Championship at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza returned to the track this morning after completing four hours of collective testing yesterday, with the first official lap times now recorded in Free Practice.
From today, the field has been split into two sessions based on the championship standings and results achieved in the previous races. The same division will also be used for this evening's qualifying sessions, which will determine the race groups.
In Session 1, Indian US Racing driver Ary Bansal set the fastest time with a lap of 1’52.284. His teammate Noah Killion was second, 0.340 seconds behind, while Ferrari Driver Academy member Niccolò Maccagnani of Prema Racing completed the top three, 0.485 off the pace. Prema Racing also claimed fourth and fifth with Romanian David Cosma-Cristofor (+0.596) and championship leader Turkish Alp Aksoy (+0.672).
Brazilian Bernardo "Beco" Bernoldi finished sixth. The Trident Motorsport driver ended the session 0.738 seconds behind the leader.
Prema Racing's Williams Driver Academy member Oleksandr Bondarev posted the eighth-fastest time, 0.813 adrift, ahead of Real Racing's Danish driver Knud Nielsen (+0.
908). Rounding out the top 10 was Britain's Emily Cotty of R-ace GP, who finished ahead of her direct rival in the Women's Trophy, Emma Felbermayr of PHM Racing. They were the final two drivers to remain within one second of the session leader, with gaps of 0.953 and 0.976 respectively.
In Session 2, Luka Sammalisto of US Racing recorded the fastest lap of the morning overall with a 1’52.108. Teammate Edward Robinson, who had topped yesterday's collective test, finished second, just 0.147 seconds behind. Third was Thomas Bearman of Van Amersfoort Racing, younger brother of the Formula 1 driver who dominated the Italian F4 Championship in 2021, with a gap of 0.289.
Mercedes Junior Team driver Andy Consani of R-ace GP was fourth (+0.409), followed by US Racing's Sicilian driver Ludovico Busso (+0.413). Rookie drivers Alexander Chartier (PHM Racing) and Levi Arn (Jenzer Motorsport) were sixth and seventh, 0.589 and 0.647 off the pace respectively. Alex Ruta (Van Amersfoort Racing) claimed eighth (+0.755), ahead of Elia Weiss (Jenzer Motorsport) (+0.767).
Completing the top 10 was David Walther of Maffi Racing, 0.873 seconds behind.
Today's programme, Friday, June 19, includes one more Free Practice session (Session 1: 12:58 PM–1:28 PM; Session 2: 1:36 PM–2:06 PM). Qualifying will follow later in the afternoon, with Session 1 on track from 5:10 PM to 5:30 PM and Session 2 from 5:40 PM to 6:00 PM. Based on those results, the drivers will be split into three race groups, which will determine the grids for the first three races.
On Saturday, June 20, the Qualifying Races begin with Race 1 (Groups B-C) at 11:30 AM, followed by Race 2 (Groups A-B) at 5:30 PM. On Sunday, June 21, Race 3 (Groups A-C) starts at 9:30 AM. Following the first three races, the top 36 classified drivers will qualify for the Final, scheduled for 2:00 PM. All races will be run over 25 minutes plus one lap and will award championship points.
The races will be broadcast live on ACI Sport TV, on the official ACI Sport and Italian F4 Championship social media channels, as well as through the extensive international broadcast network covering the Italian Formula 4 Championship.