Starting from pole position, Luka Sammalisto of US Racing led the field in the early stages, with Niccolò Maccagnani and David Cosma-Cristofor, both representing Prema Racing, immediately behind him.
The race changed in the closing laps when a second Safety Car period was triggered following the stoppage of ACI Team Italia driver Vittorio Orsini of AKM Motorsport, who went off track after contact with Thiago Palotini of Alpha 54 Racing. For the incident, Palotini was later handed an eight-place grid penalty for the next race.
It was during that neutralisation that the race outcome was decided. Sammalisto, who had been leading until that point, suddenly slowed down and pulled to the side of the track due to a technical issue that caused a loss of power on his Tatuus. Maccagnani therefore inherited the lead ahead of the restart, which went green for one final flying lap.
The provisional Race 3 classification therefore sees Ferrari Driver Academy driver Niccolò Maccagnani take victory, ahead of teammate David Cosma-Cristofor, once again second during this opening weekend.
Third place went to Denmark’s David Walther, who secured the first podium of the season for Maffi Racing after a weekend in which he had shown strong pace from the very beginning, including a seventh-place finish in Saturday’s race.
Fourth position for Oleksandr Savinkov of US Racing, followed by Andy Consani of R-ace GP and Ludovico Busso of US Racing. The trio produced some spectacular battles around the Misano circuit, fighting intensely for the leading positions.
Noah Killion finished seventh for US Racing ahead of teammate Ary Bansal, confirming the competitiveness shown by the German squad throughout the race. Brazilian driver Pedro Lima of Van Amersfoort Racing finished ninth, ahead of Oscar Repetto of PHM Racing.
With tenth overall, Repetto also claimed victory in the Rookie classification, a result that moves him into the top positions of the Rookie standings, just a few points behind Alp Aksoy.
Alex Ruta of Van Amersfoort Racing finished eleventh ahead of Andre Rodriguez of CRAM Motorsport. Florentin Hattemer of Trident Motorsport and Arn Levi of Jenzer Motorsport, immediately behind, completed the Rookie podium for Race 3. Chinese Prema Racing driver Ho Kingsley Zheng Kwan crossed the line in fifteenth position.
Right behind him was Emma Felbermayr of PHM Racing, who therefore secured maximum points in the female classification.
Problems in the closing stages instead for Christian Costoya, the McLaren junior driver racing for Prema Racing.
The Spaniard, who had been fighting inside the top 10, was hit from behind by Rodriguez just metres before the finish line, spinning and ultimately ending the race nineteenth overall. The CRAM Motorsport driver was later handed a 25-second penalty, dropping him to twenty-eighth and promoting all drivers behind him by one position.
Now only the Final remains, scheduled to get underway at 1:50 PM (25 minutes + 1 lap), featuring the top 36 drivers of the weekend on track.
Niccolò Maccagnani: “I’ll wait for the official results, but for now I’m enjoying the moment. The track was much slower compared to yesterday. I found a good pace even though I didn’t have more new tyres compared to the others. It worked out well in the end.”
David Cosma-Cristofor: “Another P2 which is a very good amount of points for the Championship. It’s just the first round so we are going to keep pushing, but I’m happy with this race. It was a clean race, I expected it to be a bit worse, and I’m happy with the P2. The track was mostly dry, around one second slower than qualifying pace. At the beginning it was a bit tricky, but towards the end it was fine.”
David Walther: “I think nobody in this paddock worked as hard as we did. This is just the beginning of everything. I can’t thank the team and everyone around me enough for this opportunity. I’m so grateful to Maffi Racing for this car. I just tried to stay calm, relax, do my best and not overdo it.”
Oscar Repetto: “The evolution of the track was quite significant. At the start the kerbs were extremely slippery, but over time the track improved. The pace was very strong. It’s a shame about the Safety Car because we could probably have achieved even more today, but I’m happy with the top 10 and the first Rookie win of the season.”
Florentin Hattemer: “It was mixed conditions, a very interesting race. We were basically just trying to stay alive and keep moving forward. I’m proud of the team and all the work they have done. This is only the second race, our first experience in Italian F4, so I think it’s a pretty good result. We are improving race after race.”
Arn Levi: “It was a difficult race, we weren’t sure if the track was more wet or more dry. Starting behind the Safety Car was a bit different from the other races. I think we did a good job, not the best we could have done, but I’m happy and we will keep pushing.”
Emma Felbermayr: “It’s my first round in the Italian Championship. I’m feeling comfortable overall with both the team and the track, even though it’s my first time here. Yesterday we had a pretty good race and were fighting for the top 10, but then a collision and a puncture almost caused a DNF. Today the conditions were tricky. Let’s see how the Final goes.”