At the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the first day came to an end for the 36 young talents on the road to F1 competing in the sixth and penultimate round of the Italian F.4 Championship. Friday in Catalonia was entirely dedicated to free practice, a crucial opportunity to get familiar with the track that hosts the Spanish Grand Prix. Teams were able to fine-tune their setups ahead of the decisive stages of the weekend.
In the closing stages of the second session, Kean Nakamura-Berta set the fastest time of the day. The Japanese-Slovak driver of Prema Racing stopped the clock at 1’41.507, one of the very few to break the 1’42 barrier.
Second fastest was Maksimilian Popov with Van Amersfoort Racing, just 0.089 adrift. Sebastian Wheldon, Andretti Junior with Prema Racing, secured third at 0.189. Emanuele Olivieri, the best of the Italians with R-ace GP, was fourth at 0.
410, the last to dip below 1’42.
Fifth place went to Gabriel Gomez. The Brazilian with US Racing, who had topped the morning session, ended the day with a gap of 0.605. Sixth and fastest rookie of the afternoon was Colombian driver Salim Hanna with Prema Racing, 0.626 behind. Seventh was Aleksander Ruta, the Polish driver with Van Amersfoort Racing, at 0.632, ahead of US Racing’s Finnish driver Luka Sammalisto at 0.644. In ninth came Artem Severiukhin with Jenzer Motorsport, 0.663 off, followed by Prema Racing’s Chinese driver Newman Chi in tenth at 0.713.
Among the women, Britain’s Emily Cotty once again stood out, confirming herself as the fastest in the second session of the female class, setting the 21st overall time of the day.
On Saturday, September 19, the day will open with qualifying at 9:00 AM, split into two 15-minute sessions with a 10-minute break in the pitlane. Race 1 will then follow at 12:30 PM. On Sunday, September 20, it will be time for Race 2 and Race 3 at 11:45 AM and 5:50 PM.
All races will run for 30 minutes plus one lap and will be streamed live on ACI Sport’s social media pages. Live coverage in English will also be available on the Italian F.4 Championship’s Facebook and YouTube channels.
In Italy, television coverage will be provided by ACI Sport TV (Sky channel 228, Tivùsat channel 52, and live.acisport.tv): live on Saturday, while Sunday’s races will be broadcast on delay, with Race 2 at 8:00PM and Race 3 at 11:30 PM. English-language coverage will also be distributed through the international network broadcasting the championship.