The penultimate weekend of the Italian F4 Championship at the Misano World Circuit officially got underway this morning with free practice. Divided into two groups, the nearly 50 drivers in attendance took to the track in the opening session of the ACI Racing Weekend.
Several drivers took turns at the front in the first group, but after 30 minutes it was US Racing’s championship leader Luka Sammalisto who set the fastest time, stopping the clock at 1:37.133. The Finnish driver is close to wrapping up the title, arriving at Misano just a few points away from mathematically securing the championship. He immediately showed his determination to get the job done.
Ary Bansal of US Racing followed in second, 0.254 seconds behind. Third place went to McLaren Driver Development Programme driver Christian Costoya, 0.270 seconds off the pace, ahead of Mercedes junior driver Kenzo Craigie, 0.310 seconds behind the leader.
Prema Racing’s Lyuboslav Ruykov completed the top five, 0.343 seconds off the benchmark.
The second group took to the track immediately afterwards, producing the fastest time of the session overall. In the closing stages, US Racing’s Edward Robinson moved to the top of the standings with a lap time of 1:36.882. Prema Racing’s Romanian driver David Cosma-Cristofor finished just 0.063 seconds behind. Third place went to Van Amersfoort Racing’s Polish driver Alex Ruta, who was also within a narrow margin of the top, 0.084 seconds off the pace.
Cram Motorsport’s Dean Pedersen set the fourth-fastest time, 0.222 seconds behind, while US Racing’s Oleksandr Savinkov completed the top five at 0.265 seconds.
One more free practice session remains before the weekend gets fully underway this evening, Friday 18 September, with qualifying sessions determining the starting order for the first three of the four races scheduled this weekend. The drivers will return to the track for the second session at 11:40.
Qualifying will see the drivers in Division 1 on track from 4:50 PM to 5:10 PM, while Division 2 will take to the track 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.