The sixth and penultimate round of the Italian F.4 Championship opened this morning in Barcelona with the first of two free practice sessions scheduled for the day. A total of 36 drivers took to the Catalan circuit, running for 40 minutes to fine-tune the setup of their Pirelli-shod Tatuus cars ahead of one of the season’s most decisive weekends.
The first to dip under the early benchmarks was Brazilian Gabriel Gomez with US Racing, who immediately battled for the lead with Alex Powell, the American-Jamaican Mercedes junior racing with R-ace GP, during the opening stages of the session. Soon after, Italian Emanuele Olivieri of R-ace GP and fellow Mercedes junior Andy Consani, also racing for the French outfit, emerged at the top. The team fielded a total of six cars, including Emily Cotty, Guy Albag, and Romanian Luca Viisoreanu, who impressed on his debut with the squad by adapting quickly and running lap times close to the top 10 from the outset.
The session was interrupted by a red flag caused by Bader Al Sulaiti going off track. Once the car was recovered and the gravel cleared, action resumed for the final 12 minutes, which proved decisive for the standings.
In the closing stages, it was once again Olivieri who moved to the top, edging ahead of Kean Nakamura-Berta by a few thousandths. The Japanese driver then closed the gap further, getting within 21 thousandths.
But the decisive strike came from Gomez, who clocked a 1:42.599, improving the Italian’s reference by just 0.002 seconds. Olivieri therefore finished second, with Nakamura-Berta third, only 0.023 adrift.
Fourth place went to Serbian Andrija Kostic with US Racing, just 0.037 behind, followed by Consani in fifth at 0.104. Seventh-fastest time was set by Russian Maksimilian Popov of Van Amersfoort Racing, 0.118 off the pace, ahead of American Sebastian Wheldon, an Andretti Junior with Prema Racing, eighth at 0.162. Ninth was Indian Kabir Anurag, Alpine Academy driver with US Racing, at 0.181, while Romanian David Cosma Cristofor of PHM Racing finished tenth at 0.195. Closing the top 10 was Colombian Salim Hanna with Prema Racing, 0.332 off the lead.
Among the contenders in the female competition, the fastest was Emily Cotty with R-ace GP, placing 19th overall.
The second free practice session is scheduled for today, Friday, September 19, from 17:21 to 18:01.