Slater wins again at Monza in safety car-filled second Italian F4 race

Photo: ACI Sport

Prema’s Freddie Slater took his second Italian Formula 4 victory of the weekend, and 15th of the season, in a race which again finished behind the safety car.

The poleman held off team-mate Kean Nakamura Berta into the first chicane but carnage behind them brought out the safety car for the first of four times.

Andrea Duna, Jan Koller and Kai Daryanani were all eliminated in an incident at the first chicane, while Dion Gowda spun into retirement at the second chicane.

Racing resumed at the end of lap three, with Slater holding off challenges from Nakamura at the first two chicanes. US Racing’s Jack Beeton also challenged both, and his team-mate Gianmarco Pradel ran behind in fourth.

Nakamura was not to be denied, finding a way through into Parabolica, with Beeton snatching second. However, an incident at the same corner left ART Grand Prix’s Bianca Bustamante in the gravel, and the safety car was deployed again.

At the restart Nakamura Berta left it until the last moment to return to racing speed, holding off a challenge from Beeton who had to cut the corner.

Slater got back into second as a result, and when he got a better exit out of della Roggia chicane he was able to draw alongside Nakamura. They banged wheels, but he found a way through into Lesmo 1.

Another incident at the first corner, this time involving Pradel, Sasha Bondarev and Alexander Savinkov, led to the third safety car summoning.

It pulled in with four minutes left on the race clock, and US’s Beeton and Akshay Boohra looked to challenge Nakamura as the field returned to racing. But a spin from series newcomer Bart Harrison at Ascari meant the safety car very quickly returned.

With little time remaining the race finished behind it, guaranteeing Slater a record-extending win.

AKM Motorsport’s Emanuele Olivieri finished fifth on the road but incurred a 25-second penalty due to his team having been working on his car at the three-minute board before the start.

His penalty promoted US’s Edu Robinson to fifth, ahead of Prema’s Tomass Stolcermanis and Maffi Racing’s Kirill Kutskov.

Race results (12 laps)