Photo: ACI Sport
Gabriel Gomez held off Kean Nakamura-Berta to win the second Italian Formula 4 race at Barcelona and keep his slim title hopes alive.
The race started with two laps behind the safety car after a wet race was declared officially, even though the track appeared to have dried after earlier rain and all drivers were on slick tyres.
Polesitter Emanuele Olivieri therefore led Gomez and Kean Nakamura-Berta when the pack was released, but the R-ace GP driver seemingly ran wide in the final corner and was passed immediately by his two chasers.
Gomez couldn’t pull away from Nakamura-Berta but did manage to stay ahead of the championship leader. There were just 0.3 seconds between them when the safety car was deployed with less than three minutes left on the clock after Luca Viisoreanu went off into the barriers in the final corner.
The race therefore ended under safety car, just as rain was starting to fall once more.
Maximilian Popov managed to complete the podium in third after starting sixth on the grid. He cleared Sebastian Wheldon and Salim Hanna early on and then passed Olivieri around the outside of Turn 1 with nine minutes remaining.
Wheldon, having just passed Prema team-mate Hanna, would go on to make a similar move on Olivieri for fourth just before the safety car was deployed.
Luka Sammalisto jumped ahead of the duelling Prema pair of Newman Chi and Hanna to finish sixth, with Andrea Dupe and Alexander Ruta completing the top 10.
Having started 10th, Emily Cotty was also part of the fight for the final points positions and took her best finish in 11th, ahead of her R-ace GP team-mate Alex Powell.
Race results (17 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gabriel Gomez | US Racing | 34m19.197s |
| 2 | Kean Nakamura-Berta | Prema Racing | +0.522s |
| 3 | Maximilian Popov | Van Amersfoort Racing | +1.121s |
| 4 | Sebastian Wheldon | Prema Racing | +1.354s |
| 5 | Emanuele Olivieri | R-ace GP | +1.710s |
| 6 | Luka Sammalisto | US Racing | +2.218s |
| 7 | Newman Chi | Prema Racing | +4.553s |
| 8 | Salim Hanna | Prema Racing | +5.268s |
| 9 | Andrea Dupe | Prema Racing | +8.236s |
| 10 | Alexander Ruta | Van Amersfoort Racing | +8.649s |
| 11 | Emily Cotty | R-ace GP | +9.274s |
| 12 | Alex Powell | R-ace GP | +9.659s |
| 13 | David Cosma Cristofor | PHM Racing | +10.014s |
| 14 | Dante Vinci | Van Amersfoort Racing | +10.419s |
| 15 | Oleksandr Bondarev | Prema Racing | +10.853s |
| 16 | Artem Severiukhin | Jenzer Motorsport | +12.830s |
| 17 | Teo Schropp | Jenzer Motorsport | +13.492s |
| 18 | Kabir Anurag | US Racing | +14.212s |
| 19 | Andrija Kostic | US Racing | +14.635s |
| 20 | Bader Al Sulaiti | Jenzer Motorsport | +15.053s |
| 21 | Ludovico Busso | US Racing | +15.560s |
| 22 | Elia Weiss | Cram Motorsport | +17.732s |
| 23 | Bart Harrison | Jenzer Motorsport | +18.778s |
| 24 | Jan Koller | US Racing | +19.891s |
| 25 | David Walther | Maffi Racing | +20.235s |
| 26 | Mathilda Paatz | AS Motorsport | +20.641s |
| 27 | Kirill Kutskov | Maffi Racing | +21.102s |
| 28 | Payton Westcott | Van Amersfoort Racing | +21.470s |
| 29 | Andre Rodriguez | Cram Motorsport | +21.992s |
| 30 | Nathanael Berreby | Maffi Racing | +22.253s |
| 31 | Phil Colin Strenge | AS Motorsport | +22.623s |
| 32 | Kornelia Olkucka | Maffi Racing | +22.624s |
| 33 | Andy Consani | R-ace GP | +23.831s |
| 34 | Albag Guy | R-ace GP | +24.045s |
| 35 | Luca Viisoreanu | R-ace GP | +4 laps |
| 36 | Marcus Saeter | Van Amersfoort Racing | +7 laps |
| Fastest lap: Nakamura-Berta, 1m44.593s
Championship standings |
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