Race 3 of the Italian F4 Championship brought the weekend's qualifying races to a close. Luka Sammalisto claimed his second victory from two starts, securing pole position for the Final after winning both races from second on the grid.
Having already moved to the top of the drivers' standings after Race 1, the US Racing driver further extended his championship lead with another victory. Race 3 featured an intense battle for the podium, with Edward Robinson (US Racing) taking second place. The fight for third was even closer, only being decided in the closing stages in favour of Switzerland's Florentin Hattemer (Trident Motorsport). Also involved in the podium battle were Britain's Thomas Bearman (Van Amersfoort Racing) and India's Ary Bansal (US Racing), who entertained the crowd with several wheel-to-wheel fights on the main straight and into the First Chicane before finishing fourth and fifth respectively.
David Cosma-Cristofor (Prema Racing) crossed the line in sixth, continuing to collect valuable championship points after finishing second in Race 2. He was followed by Germany's Arjen Kraling (US Racing), while Canada's Alexander Chartier (PHM Racing) finished eighth and secured second place in the Rookie classification behind Hattemer.
Niccolò Maccagnani, the Italian Prema Racing driver and Ferrari Driver Academy member, finished ninth. Germany's Elia Weiss (Jenzer Motorsport) completed the top ten ahead of Poland's Alexander Ruta (Van Amersfoort Racing). During the race, Ruta was involved in an incident that sent Lyuboslav Ruykov (Trident Motorsport) off the track, prompting the deployment of the Safety Car.
Twelfth place allowed Denmark's Knud Nielsen (Real Racing) to complete the Rookie podium. Qatar's Bader Al Sulaiti (Jenzer Motorsport) finished thirteenth ahead of Pedro Lima (Van Amersfoort Racing). The final championship point went to Emma Felbermayr (PHM Racing), who also claimed victory in the Women's Trophy ahead of Californian Payton Westcott (R-ace GP), sixteenth overall.
Their on-track battle recalled the exciting duel seen recently in the F1 Academy event in Montréal. Completing the Women's Trophy podium was Dutch driver Rosanne Den Drijver (Maffi Racing), making her debut race weekend in the Italian Championship.
The other two female drivers in the field, Emily Cotty (R-ace GP) and Rafaela Ferreira (Cram Motorsport), were both forced to retire after an opening-lap incident involving Roland Kuklane (Trident Motorsport). Roman Kamyab (Prema Racing) also retired after stopping trackside following contact with Mexico's Nicolas Cortes (Jenzer Motorsport), who himself ended up stranded in the gravel on the final lap.
The results will remain provisional until the conclusion of the technical and sporting scrutineering.
Luka Sammalisto: "Everything is going really well so far. We took another win here at Monza. The race was cleaner than the first one, and I managed to make a good start. Edu and I swapped positions a couple of times, but then I managed to retake the lead. I stayed calm, just focused on bringing the result home, and we managed to do it, just like yesterday and at Vallelunga. I'm really happy and I'd like to thank the team and all our sponsors."
Edward Robinson: "We learned a few things from yesterday. We were competitive and the win was possible, but second place still brings valuable points. There were a lot of battles, it was an interesting race, and I'm happy with the result. Now the full focus is on the next one."
Florentin Hattemer: "We gained two positions at the start, and by the first Safety Car we were up to fifth. I got a little help from one of the US Racing drivers, who pushed me along the straight and allowed me to overtake Bearman. Then we had another Safety Car, and I managed to move up into second place, but I lost it again and finished the final lap in third. It's a really important result for the team. It's our first year, our first race weekend here, and finishing on the overall podium in third place is fantastic. I'm really happy—it was an almost perfect race. Since this is also the team's home race, it made achieving this overall podium even more special."
Only the Final now remains, featuring the best 36 drivers emerging from the first three races of the weekend. The action resumes this afternoon, Sunday, June 21, at 2:00 PM. All races are run over 25 minutes plus one lap and award points towards all championship classifications.
The races will be broadcast live on ACI Sport TV, on the ACI Sport and Italian F4 Championship social media channels, as well as through the extensive network of international broadcasters covering the Italian Formula 4 Championship.