Photo: ACI Sport
The Italian Formula 4 championship is set for huge grid sizes once again this year, as several more drivers sign up to race ahead of this weekend’s Imola season opener.
Slovenian team AS Motorsport will enter 16-year-old Manuel Quondamcarlo, a member of the Minardi Management group led by long-time driver manager Giovanni Minardi. Quondamcarlo did two Italian F4 rounds with the team in 2022, and had a best finish of 20th.
BVM Racing have signed Jesse Carrasquedo Jr, Andrea Frassineti and Alfio Spina, with Carrasquedo so far only down for Imola.
The Mexican’s primary programme is Spanish F4 with Campos Racing, and he started 2023 with R-ace GP in the United Arab Emirates’ F4 championsip in which he came 18th in the standings with four points finishes.
Carrasquedo had a disrupted 2022, contesting one Spanish F4 round before his phagophobia, a fear of drowning/choking, “got out of control” and put him out of action.
He made his racing return in August, contesting a NACAM F4 round in Mexico City and claiming two wins and a second place. Two months later he returned to Spanish F4, contesting the final two rounds.
Frassineti raced in Italian F4 last year as the solo entry for Cars Racing, and had a best finish of 18th. Post-season he switched to BVM and has tested with them ever since.
He is the son of former rally driver Albano Frassineti, who owns the Cars Automobili dealership near the AlphaTauri F1 factory in Faenza which he named his F4 team after.
Before F4, Frassineti Jr drove for sportscar champion Federico Leo’s Esports team and raced in junior karting for factory teams but had little in results.
“Happy to announce that this year I will participate in the Italian F4 championship with BVM,” he said. “A special thank you to Giuseppe [Mazzotti, team manager] and to all the team staff for this great opportunity, and to the sponsors that will support me this year.”
Spina is embarking on his second year with BVM, having joined them halfway through last season. He began his rookie campaign with BWR Motorsports, and finished 12th in three of his first four races, then switched to BVM after four rounds and had worse results following that.
The Sicilian arrived in F4 with an impressive karting pedigree, having won WSK’s Champions Cup and Euro Series for OK Junior karts in 2020. He stepped up to the senior OK class with Parolin in 2021 and the highlight of his year was victory in the Italian championship held over a single weekend at Sarno.
“I’m happy to announce that I’ve renewed the contract with BVM,” Spina said. “During the winter we had a strong testing campaign and I’m ready to show my full potential during the season.”
Another team growing its 2023 line-up is Jenzer Motorsport, which has signed rookie Ariel Elkin. He began testing with the team last month, and in 2022 was a medallist for Israel in karting at the FIA Motorsport Games and won the IAME Italy Series for X30 Senior karts.