Aksoy holds off Bansal to win thrilling Italian F4 finale at Misano

Photo: ACI Sport

Prema’s Alp Aksoy just managed to hold off US Racing’s Ary Bansal to win a dramatic and thrilling Italian Formula 4 finale at Misano.

Maffi Racing’s David Walther continued the excellent form he had shown throughout the weekend to take his second podium in consecutive races. The Dane shadowed the leading duo throughout, hoping that their battle might open the door, but had to settle for third.

There were thrilling duels throughout the field, largely pitting the Prema squad against their rivals from US Racing, as drivers coped with the arrival of light rain, albeit less than the heavy downpour forecast for the start of the race.

The crack German team’s Luka Sammalisto, the weekend’s pacesetter who had lost victory in race three to a technical issue, set fastest lap in his charge to the front but try as he might was unable to find a way past his team-mate Oleksandr Savinkov for fourth.

Niccolo Maccagnani, a winner on the road in both his heats, made a strong start from the second row to challenge Aksoy before dropping back behind the US Racing duo, but just managed to hold off R-ace GP’s Andy Consani, who again showed that passing is possible around Misano as he charged through to seventh from 14th on the grid.

Aksoy made the best start from pole position, as fellow front-row starter David Cosma Cristofor lost out to Maccagnani. However, the race was immediately neutralised following a horrific-looking crash which eliminated Thomas Bearman.

Starting in the midfield, the Van Amersfoort Racing car stalled on the line, and was collected at speed by an unsighted Nicolas Cortes. Andre Rodriguez and Augustus Toniolo were also forced to retire having been caught up in the incident.

The safety car led the field through pit-lane as the pits straight was cleared, with racing resuming after three laps. Maccagnani was immediately pressing Aksoy, looking to pass at every opportunity, while Walther picked off Cosma Cristofor for third.

However, as the leaders battled, Bansal seemed to have grip to spare, passing Walther and then Maccagnani in a sensational couple of corners, having started the lap in sixth. Walther had a better exit onto the pit straight, diving inside Maccagnani for third into Turn 1.

The lead battle settled down with Bansal able to sit within half-a-second but not close enough to challenge until his last lap effort, which was not quite enough to wrest the lead from Aksoy, who rounded off a strong weekend with his second victory and the championship lead.

William junior Sasha Bondarev seemed to be struggling for grip as he slipped back, finishing ninth ahead of team-mate Cosma Cristofor, as Arjen Kraeling underlined the pace of the US Racing-prepared cars with a superb move to demote Bondarev into Turn 14 three laps from home.

Race results (15 laps)