Race 2 at the Misano World Circuit marked Luka Sammalisto’s first appearance on track of the weekend. For the Finnish US Racing driver, who secured overall pole position in qualifying, it was his first race action of the event. The Italian F4 Championship format features a rotation of the groups across the three qualifying races before the Final.
Sammalisto controlled the race from lights to flag without putting a wheel wrong, securing his first win of the season.
There were some early difficulties instead for Alp Aksoy. The Turkish Prema Racing driver, winner of Race 1, started from the front row but ran off track following contact in the opening corners, dropping several positions. Aksoy managed to recover up to third place, a result that still allows him to end the first day of racing at the top of the championship standings.
Second place went to David Cosma-Cristofor. The Romanian Prema Racing driver delivered a smart and precise race, finishing behind the leader and securing the second step of the podium.
Fourth place for Edward Robinson of US Racing, who was also involved in the podium fight during the early stages of the race. Williams Driver Academy representative Oleksandr Bondarev of Prema Racing finished fifth ahead of US Racing’s Arjen Kräling.
The German driver was involved in an exciting battle with David Walther of Maffi Racing, who produced an aggressive and spectacular drive to finish seventh. Eighth place went to another US Racing driver, Ludovico Busso.
There was a photo finish between Thomas Bearman of Van Amersfoort Racing and Bader Al Sulaiti of Jenzer Motorsport. The British driver, younger brother of Formula 1 driver and 2021 series champion Oliver Bearman, managed to edge ahead by just a few thousandths of a second to secure ninth place.
Oscar Repetto of PHM Racing finished 11th overall and second among the Rookies. Behind him came Pedro Lima of Van Amersfoort Racing, who was involved in the intense early-race battles alongside Al Sulaiti.
After stalling on the grid from the fifth row and being forced to start from the back, Mercedes junior Kenzo Craigie of R-ace GP completed a strong recovery drive, finishing 13th and claiming the third Rookie podium position.
Completing the points-scoring positions were Nicolas Cortes of Jenzer Motorsport and Augustus Toniolo of Trident Motorsport.
Victory in the Female Trophy classification went to Californian driver Payton Westcott of R-ace GP, who finished 16th overall.
Behind her came teammate Emily Cotty and CRAM Motorsport driver Rafaela Ferreira.
The classification remains provisional pending the completion of the post-race technical and sporting checks following Race 2.
The programme will continue on Sunday, May 10, with Race 3 scheduled to start at 8:30 AM. At the end of the three qualifying heats, a combined classification will determine the 36 drivers admitted to the Final, scheduled for 1:50 PM. All races during the weekend will last 25 minutes plus one lap and will award points towards the championship standings.
All races throughout the weekend will be broadcast live on the Italian F4 Championship social media channels and on ACI Sport TV, available on Sky channel 228, Tivùsat channel 52, and streaming on acisport.tv. Admission to the event is free and the paddock is open to the public.
Luka Sammalisto:“It’s more or less the perfect way to start the season. I’m really happy about it. We had a really good pace already in practice, then pole in qualifying. We started P1 for this race and finished P1 without any issue, we were quite calm. Tomorrow we have more races. I’m starting also in P1 and we hope we can do it in the final one as well. We are expecting the rain to come, we are really prepared for it, we will see what happens tomorrow.”
David Cosma-Cristofor: “It’s a great start to the weekend with a P2 and some important points for the championship. I tried to catch him, but the pace was very similar. I just couldn’t close the gap enough to attempt an overtake, but I’m happy with the start and the progress we’ve made so far.”
Alp Aksoy: “We’ll take the result from Race 1, but it’s not the way we would like to win a race — I’d rather win it on track, of course. In this race we started P2, but we lost two places at the start. Then there was also contact in Turn 2, but that’s racing. We came back to P3 and finished there. I’m happy with the car, overall it was a good race. Tomorrow will most likely be wet and we are prepared for that too.”
Oscar Repetto: “The start was quite good and we had good pace in the middle part of the race. However, in the opening stages we got held up by some overtakes and dropped quite far back, forcing us to recover positions. It’s not exactly where we want to be, but being close to the fight is still positive. Tomorrow could be my first time driving in wet conditions at Misano, which could be very interesting.”
Kenzo Craigie: “It has been a tricky weekend so far. A crash in the first race and a difficult start in this one. The pace was really good though and we managed to fight our way back through. Hopefully tomorrow can be a better day because today has been pretty difficult. I’d love for the rain to come tomorrow, that would be great.”
Payton Westcott: “This first race weekend has been pretty intense for me, especially arriving here without having done the tests. Still, we showed decent pace. I’m not yet where I want to be and I want to keep improving. Qualifying was okay, I could have put the lap together better and started further up. I struggled a bit in Race 1, but Race 2 was a good improvement. I hope it rains a bit tomorrow; I really enjoy driving in the wet and I think it could spice things up!”