Photo: ACI Sport
Kenzo Craigie claimed the E4 championship in dramatic fashion in the final race of the season at Monza after being punted out of the second race of the weekend with the title seemingly within reach. His R-ace GP team-mate and fellow Mercedes-AMG F1 junior Andy Consani moved aside on the final lap of the final race to allow Craigie to gain the extra place necessary to give him the title.
Third was enough to secure the championship for the Mercedes-AMG F1 junior on countback having tied on points with the race winner, US Racing’s Luka Sammalisto. The Briton, competing for R-ace GP, came out on top by virtue of his four wins, one more than the Finn, who thus just missed out on the double of Italian Formula 4 and E4 titles by the narrowest of margins.
US Racing’s Ary Bansal made up for the disappointment of Saturday’s race by taking victory in the first race of the day after the race-long leader, Trident’s Augustus Toniolo, had been wiped out on the penultimate lap in the same incident which eliminated Craigie.
Polesitter Toniolo had led from the start, resisting pressure from Bansal and Craigie, and managing three restarts in a race once again blighted by four separate safety car periods. Criagie had briefly got his nose ahead starting lap two but was forced to cut the second chicane as he looked to go around the outside of Toniolo, dropping back to fourth.
As Toniolo defended from Bansal at the third restart, US Racing’s Noah Killion completely missed his braking point for the second chicane, hitting Craigie in the rear.
Out of control, Craigie careered into the innocent Toniolo putting both out and bringing the safety car out again and ensuring the race would finish under caution. Killion was susequently given a 25-second penalty for causing the crash. Sammalisto managed to steer clear of the chaos to emerge in second ahead of the third US Racing entry of Iacopo Martinese, who had worked his way up from 17th on the grid.
Craigie’s team-mate Andy Consani took some consolation for R-ace GP with fourth ahead of Prema’s debutant Filippo Sala.
With Sammalisto gaining 26 points and Craigie not scoring, the gap was down to just eight points ahead of the title-deciding third race.
Consani led into the first chicane from pole but Toniolo was right on his tail and took the lead into the Roggia chicane. US Racing’s Ludovico Busso formed a leading triumvirate with Craigie heading the pack behind. Sammalisto completed the first lap in seventh, having made up three places from his grid position. The Finn was charging, drafting past Craigie on the third lap to take fourth. By lap seven he was up to second and bearing down on Toniolo.
The five leaders, Toniolo, Sammalisto, Consani, Busso and Craigie had pulled out a 4-second gap over their pursuers and were putting on a thrilling battle, particularly the two R-ace cars and Busso. Onto lap 13 and Sammalisto was tucked in Toniolo’s slipstream, outbraking the defending Brazilian around the outside into Turn 1, with Toniolo cutting the second chicane as he tried to wrest the lead back.
The field had been much better behanced than in the preceding races running green until Dean Pedersen’s stopped car brought out a late safety car. Sammalisto led away at the restart with two laps to go as Toniolo lost out to Consani. Craigie was back in fourth, not enough to take the title if Sammalisto remained in front.
Exiting the first chicane on the final lap Consani slowed to the inside, letting Toniolo and Craigie past, and giving Craigie the extra two points needed to clinch the championship. With it, R-ace GP took its first Formula 4 title in Europe and Craigie unsurprisingly clinched the rookie title alongside overall honours.
After the race, a delighted Craigie commented that “after this morning, things were looking a little dangerous, but now everything has worked out and it’s looking good. We have a test in Mugello on Tuesday, so we have to get back to work, but there will definitely be some celebrations with the team and everyone else. I’m really happy.”
Race winner Sammalisto accepted his championship defeat with good grace: “I knew that when we came to the last race, I had to win. I gave it everything I had, and even more. I finished P1 on track, so there was nothing more I could do. Kenzo finished P3, and I couldn’t win the championship. I gave it everything I had, but this time it wasn’t enough. Still, it was a really good race.”
Results round-up
Race 1 (12 laps)
1 Ary Bansal US Racing 33m41.416s
2 Luka Sammalisto US Racing +0.271s
3 Iacopo Martinese US Racing +0.437s
4 Andy Consani R-ace GP +0.602s
5 Filippo Sala Prema +1.521s
6 Alex Ruta Van Amersfoort Racing +1.684s
7 Thomas Bearman Van Amersfoort Racing +2.174s
8 Simon Rechenmacher CRAM Motorsport +2.845s
9 Jean-Paul Karras R-ace GP +3.301s
10 Dean Pedersen CRAM Motorsport +3.805s
Pole: Augustus Toniolo 1m51.915s
Fastest lap: Bansal 2m03.879s
Race 2 (16 laps)
1 Sammalisto 32m03.513s
2 Augustus Toniolo Trident Motorsport +0.782s
3 Craigie +0.983s
4 Consani +1.257s
5 Ruta +1.625s
6 Martinese +1.907s
7 Oleksandr Savinkov US Racing +2.138s
8 Ludovico Busso US Racing +2.699s
9 Dominik Simek Trident Motorsport +4.305s
10 Noah Killion US Racing +6.019s
Pole: Consani 1m52.553s
Fastest lap: Martinese 1m52.310s
Championship standings
1 Craigie 190 2 Sammalisto 190 3 Consani 131 4 Aksoy 112 5 Savinkov 110 6 Bansal 103 7 Ruta 81 8 Bondarev 78 9 Killion 75 10 Costoya 75