Andrea Kimi Antonelli is the new Italian Champion. The Italian F.4 Championship crowned his Champion with two races to go: the Junior Mercedes driver of PREMA Racing is perfect in the last race weekend. Only 4 points separated him from mathematical confirmation before the round, in race 1 he wins as poleman and celebrates a fantastic season from the highest step of the podium. Already champion in Germany - the first Italian to win in the German series - he replicates in Italy with victory bringing back in Italy the title that was Bearman's last year. 11 victories that put Andrea Kimi Antonelli’name in the records of the Italian F.4 Championship certified by FIA, already in the early stages of the weekend. Two more races are scheduled tomorrow, Sunday, October 23, which will offer Antonelli the chance to win again, for the first time as Italian Champion. An all-Italian talent, which once again underscores the farsightedness of the Italian Federation, which can claim the merit of having immediately noticed and supported the very young driver from Bologna, at the dawn of his career in karting, with the initiatives of the Federal School of ACI Sport dedicated to the very young, and then again during his career, which today reaches an important junction with the dazzling success in his debut season in single-seater. A flawless success also for the team, which had already won the team title in Monza, and now sees coming a further confirmation of the great quality of the work carried out during the year.
Fighting until the end was US Racing's Irishman Alexander Dunne, who finished in second place, starting from the front row due to a great qualifying. After a heated initial tussle with Ugo Ugochukwu (PREMA Racing) he kept himself in P2, in a not easy race that saw several drivers give in to the challenges of the Tuscan track. In P3, again on the overall podium, closes the Norwegian of Van Amersfoort Racing, Martinius Stenshorne, also second on the Rookie podium in race 1.
Fourth place and third step on the podium dedicated to Rookie drivers for PREMA Racing's Austrian Charlie Wurz. Wurz won the position by winning the internal fight with Teammates Rafael Camara (Ferrari Driver Academy) and Ugo Ugochukwu (McLaren Young Driver) in P5 and P6 respectively.
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Very heated 3-way fight that gives highlights, with the Italian-American Ugochukwu third for most of the race, then slipping behind and trying to force a comeback, fouling the trajectory but risking a collision then avoided, which nonetheless earned him a "warning flag."
Eighth and ninth positions for two home US Racing drivers, Nikhil Bohra and Marcus Amand, who continue to bring home points for the team that most managed to rival giving the winning team a hard time. In P9, PHM Racing's British driver, Taylor Barnard, author in turn of a great performance at the Mugello Circuit, comes in to finish in the points starting from the tenth row of the grid, also chasing Amand until the end. Closing out the top 10 is Van Amersfoort Racing's Italian driver Brando Badoer, who emerges victorious from the arduous battle to get into the points zone.
Finishing 11th is Emerson Fittipaldi Jr, Van Amersfoort Racing, followed by Nikita Bedrin (PHM Racing). P13 for Akshay Bohra, brother of Nikhil, in his debut race in the Italian series with US Racing. Maya Weug (Ferrari Driver Academy Iron Dames) closes 14th, after having long
maintained P10, achieved with a textbook start that led her in the very first few laps to recover 6 positions. Fifteenth position is for Roman driver Valerio Rinicella, AKM Motorsport, who brings home an excellent performance in a race that was certainly not easy. There are in fact many difficulties on the track: for Prema come the stops of James Wharton, conservative, starting from the bottom of the grid, accuses problems in the first laps and chooses not to force in order to focus on the two races on Sunday, and Conrad Laursen. Stop also for Kacper Sztuka, US Racing, who in turn chooses to save himself for Sunday after experiencing some car problems on the kerbs. The stop also comes for Jonas Ried (PHM Racing) while Alfio Spina (BVM Racing) does not start in race 1. Problems then for Pedro Perino (US Racing) who stops at the side of the track, the stop however sends out trajectory Monlau driver Niels Koolen, Giovanni Maschio, in this round competing with the Tatuus of R-ace GP, and Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi, Thai driver of Jenzer Motorsport. The race is then over also for the other Monlau driver Jef Machiels.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli: "I wanted to close on a high note and I must say that we succeeded. I thank for that all my team, my family, my sponsors and also ACI Sport. With the Federal School I started since my karting days, since then they have always helped me, they have always supported me and for that I am very grateful. We managed everything very well, the whole weekend, and it's nice to finish the Championship with a win. It is definitely not over yet because we have tomorrow, however, I am very happy to have won. It was very important, we have worked very hard all season to win this Championship. To be able to win both the German and the Italian is very satisfying."
Alexander Dunne: “It’s been a good year. Kimi has been extremely quick all year. Obviously is disappointing in a sense, we all come here to win, so to lose it after race 1 is disappointing. He has been in a quicker car this year and he has done a really good job to be fair. Everybody knows that in the past Kimi has always been pretty good, I’ve really enjoyed having some good battles with him.”
Martinius Stenshorne: “the speed was quite good, starting from P5 I finished P3, quite good. Next starting from P14, will be not so good, we will try to gain some positions and the we’ll see. I’ve done some testing here, but this was the first race at Mugello Circuit, I really like the track, is really enjoyable.”