Kean Nakamura Berta and Kabir Anurag top Italian F4 tests

Photo: ACI Sport

Kean Nakamura Berta and Kabir Anurag were quickest in Italian Formula 4’s two recent in-season tests.

The first was at Misano on September 25, and the 38-car entry list was split into two groups which each got four sessions on track.

Prema’s Nakamura laid down the benchmark pace in group A’s first session, a 1m36.564s, and led team-mates Sebastian Wheldon and Sasha Bondarev by 0.294 and 0.44 seconds respectively.

Dante Vinci led session one for group B, a 1m36.657s putting him 0.112s ahead of Van Amersfoort Racing team-mate Maximilian Popov.

Group A had the same top three in session two, a 1m35.94s earning Nakamura top spot by 0.1s. Bondarev was a further 0.149s behind.

VAR’s drivers retained their advantage when they headed back out too, and Vinci set a 1m36.35s to lead by 0.144s. G Motorsport’s karter Riccardo Ferrari was once again third.

Nakamura posted a 1m36.082s to lead Wheldon by 0.217s in session three, and US Racing’s Luka Sammalisto was just 0.015s off him and 0.011s ahead of Bondarev.

Ferrari pipped Vinci in group B, a 1m36.106s putting him ahead by 0.019s. Jenzer Motorsport’s Nicolas Cortes trailed by 0.189s in third.

Most group A drivers set personal bests in session four, and Nakamura lowered the pace to 1m35.638s. He had a 0.296s gap to US’s Andrija Kostic and Prema’s Newman Chi, and Wheldon also went sub-1m36s.

Only three improved in group B, including Ferrari whose 1m35.981s made him fastest by 0.468s over Vinci and put him fourth overall. A second covered the test’s top 18.

Teams returned to action at Monza on September 30/October 1, and the 46-driver entry list was split again.

Nakamura topped all four of group A’s sessions on day one, with his fastest lap being a 1m52.277s. Wheldon trailed by 0.083s, having been second in two sessions, and Bondarev was 0.265s back. He was also second in session four.

Andrea Dupe completed a Prema 1-2-3-4, 0.502s off the pace, ninth overall and among the 16 drivers not to improve the next day.

US’s Anurag and Vinci eached topped two sessions in group B on day one. Vinci set a 1m52.135s in session three to go fastest overall by 0.119s over Kostic and with a 0.432s gap to Anurag, which put him sixth for the day 0.051s ahead of team-mate Gomez.

Anurag was quickest in group B’s first three sessions on day two then was absent, with Nakamura joining the last one and going fastest after topping group A’s first two. Bondarev set the pace in his group’s last two sessions.

A 1m52.647s put Anurag 0.189s ahead of Vinci in the day’s first period of track action, then Nakamura set a 1m52.709s to lead Wheldon by 0.272s in the next one. Anurag improved to 1m52.329s but had a smaller 0.129s gap to Vinci in session six, with Prema’s Alp Aksoy Hasan 0.212s behind in third.

Nakamura lowered the pace to 1m52.012s in group A, 0.523s clear of Wheldon in a Prema lockout of the top five.

US’s drivers filled the top six spots in session seven as the test’s fastest laps were laid down. Anurag broke into the 1m51s, going fastest by 0.31s over Kostic. Ludovico Busso was 0.383s behind in third, and non-improver Gomez was a distant fourth.

Bondarev was just shy of his day one pace with a 1m52.565s that put him on top of group A’s seventh session by 0.322s over Nakamura and 0.352s over Chi, then improved to 1m52.316s in session eight to lead non-improver Wheldon by 0.107s and go sixth fastest overall ahead of him.

A 1m52.258s had put Nakamura on top of group B’s last session, 0.211s ahead of Kostic as only three drivers set personal bests.

Vinci’s day one benchmark left him in third, Gomez and Dope ended the test in ninth and 14th, and Elia Weiss (Jenzer) was 15th with his day one best.

Running two cars was the Motorsport Performance Academy team. One of its five co-founders is Augusto Farfus, who was Formula Renault Eurocup and Auto GP champion in his junior single-seater career before going on to become a race-winning regular in the World Touring Car Championship, the DTM, IMSA and now the World Endurance Championship.

Test results