Home Formula 4Italian F4 Antonelli on top again in second Italian F4 practice at Spa

Antonelli on top again in second Italian F4 practice at Spa

by Ida Wood

Photo: Ida Wood

Andrea Kimi Antonelli was fastest in the second Italian Formula 4 practice session at Spa-Francorchamps, repeating his session-topping performance from FP1.

Drivers went through several sets of new tyres in FP2, scrubbing them ready for later use by doing two or three laps on each of the first sets they used.

It was Van Amersfoort Racing’s Emmo Fittipaldi who led the way on pace at first, briefly being bettered by PHM Racing’s Nikita Bedrin before returning to the top.

US Racing trio Alex Dunne, Kacper Sztuka and Marcus Amand then brough the pace down into the 2m34s, and it was Dunne who sat in first place after 10 minutes.

Antonelli made his way up the order after 15, setting a 2m23.649s and with his Prema team-mate James Wharton joining him in the 2m23s. Points leader Rafael Camara, another of the Prema drivers, moved into second place before many drivers pitted.

The action picked up again with 13 minutes to go, as Dunne went three tenths of a second clear of Antonelli. There was no response from the erstwhile pacesetter and he was shuffled down to seventh place as Prema team-mate Charlie Wurz and Dunne lowered their pace into 2m22s territory with 10 minutes remaining of practice.

Antonelli and team-mate Conrad Laursen went one-two several minutes later, 0.077s apart on pace, and they remained at the head of the leaderboard until red flags were waved with five minutes to go after AKM Motorsport’s Valerio Rinicella crashed out at the Bus Stop chicane.

According to Rinicella’s own account of the crash, and that of Sztuka behind him, the car slowed as it approached the corner and then snapped out of control as the front-right wheel moved out of position. He required medical assistance but confirmed to Formula Scout afterwards he felt fine, and was unsure what had caused the incident.

Free practice results

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Prema 2m22.501s 11
2 Conrad Laursen Prema 2m22.578s +0.077s 11
3 Alex Dunne US Racing 2m22.810s +0.309s 11
4 Charlie Wurz Prema 2m22.826s +0.325s 11
5 Rafael Camara Prema 2m22.829s +0.328s 11
6 James Wharton Prema 2m23.046s +0.545s 9
7 Nikhil Bohra US Racing 2m23.109s +0.608s 12
8 Kacper Sztuka US Racing 2m23.305s +0.804s 11
9 Taylor Barnard PHM Racing 2m23.465s +0.964s 11
10 Brando Badoer Van Amersfoort Racing 2m23.475s +0.974s 13
11 Nikita Bedrin PHM Racing 2m23.503s +1.002s 12
12 Arias Deukmedjian Van Amersfoort Racing 2m23.527s +1.026s 13
13 Martinius Stenshorne Van Amersfoort Racing 2m23.570s +1.069s 12
14 Marcus Amand US Racing 2m23.813s +1.312s 11
15 Emmo Fittipaldi Van Amersfoort Racing 2m23.821s +1.320s 13
16 Ivan Domingues Iron Lynx 2m23.830s +1.329s 11
17 Maya Weug Iron Lynx 2m23.997s +1.496s 11
18 Alex Partyshev Jenzer Motorsport 2m24.036s +1.535s 10
19 Jonas Ried PHM Racing 2m24.047s +1.546s 12
20 Alfio Spina BWR Motorsports 2m24.118s +1.617s 12
21 Ethan Ischer Jenzer Motorsport 2m24.153s +1.652s 11
22 Jules Castro Van Amersfoort Racing 2m24.300s +1.799s 12
23 Victoria Blokhina PHM Racing 2m24.806s +2.305s 12
24 Valentin Kluss Jenzer Motorsport 2m24.932s +2.431s 11
25 William Karlsson BVM Racing 2m24.977s +2.476s 12
26 Frederik Lund R-ace GP 2m24.988s +2.487s 11
27 Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi Jenzer Motorsport 2m25.059s +2.558s 11
28 Ricardo Escotto Cram Motorsport 2m25.213s +2.712s 12
29 Kim Hwarang BVM Racing 2m25.301s +2.800s 13
30 Valerio Rinicella AKM Motorsport 2m25.316s +2.815s 10
31 Elia Sperandio Maffi Racing 2m25.782s +3.281s 10
32 Georgios Markogiannis Cram Motorsport 2m25.834s +3.333s 11
33 Nicholas Monteiro Cram Motorsport 2m26.260s +3.759s 12
34 Pedro Perino US Racing 2m26.326s +3.825s 11
35 Rishab Jain BWR Motorsports 2m26.453s +3.952s 11
36 Ismoilkhuja Akhmedkhodjaev US Racing 2m30.258s +7.757s 12