Sammalisto holds off Craigie for Italian F4 double at Mugello

Photo: ACI Sport

Having already clinched the title, US Racing’s Luka Sammalisto is looking to end the Italian Formula 4 championship on a high with his third clean sweep of the season. His two wins out of two heats ensure that he will also start Sunday’s final from pole position.

The Finn grabbed the lead from polesitter Prema’s David Cosma-Cristofor at the start and withheld race-long pressure from R-ace GP’s Kenzo Craigie, who pipped Sammalisto to the E4 title at Monza earlier this month.

The Mercedes-AMG F1 junior repeatedly towed himself onto the tail of the leader into San Donato, the fast 180 degree first corner, but Sammalisto ensured that there was no way through. Craigie had had a run at Sammalisto on the first lap as the field charged uphill through Turns 2 and 3 but had to back out.

Another opportunity presented itself with a late safety car to recover the R-ace GP car of Jensen Burnett from the San Donato gravel, the Canadian having been pitched off the track in a collision with countryman Alexander Chartier. However, Sammalisto judged the restart to perfection and held Craigie off to the flag.

In  fact, it was fourth-placed Ludovico Busso who took advantage of the restart to relieve Cosma-Cristofor of third place. Cosma-Cristofor had dropped back at the start before passing Busso for third before the safety car period. Indeed, the two had enjoyed a private battle throughout, although never within touching distance of the two leaders.

Trident’s Augustus Toniolo put in another storming drive after a disappointing qualifying session, picking up seven positions to finish fifth. Toniolo had to fend off a determined Alex Ruta although the Van Amersfoort Racing driver is under investigation for forcing Prema’s Alp Aksoy off the track on the exit of the first corner.

A delighted Sammalisto said: ” “Race 2 went really well again. I think the start was good, and Kenzo also got away quite well behind me, but I managed to keep him behind. The pace was a little worse than in Race 1 and I struggled a bit more, but otherwise the race went really well.

“There was a bit more fighting this time and I had to defend a couple of times against Kenzo. Nevertheless, we managed to stay in P1 for every lap and, overall, the result was really good. There are maybe still a couple of things I can improve, but we’ll see how it goes tomorrow.”

Craigie was also pleased to claim a podium place. “”It was quite a good race, to be honest. We got a really good start and I think we had the pace to win. It’s just a bit tricky to overtake around here, but I think we still came out with a great result,” he said after the race.

“The pace was really good, so thanks to the team for their work. I’m really happy with how the race went and I hope we can carry this momentum throughout the rest of the weekend,” he added.

Race results (14 laps)

Fastest lap: Craigie, 1m50.381s

Championship standings
1 Sammalisto 446   2 Aksoy 340   3 Bansal 309   4 Cosma-Cristofor 309   5 Craigie 292   6 Robinson 288   7 Costoya 220   8 Bearman 216   9 Busso 207   10 Savinkov 205