Home Featured Bearman becomes Italian F4 champion as Duerksen dominates Mugello

Bearman becomes Italian F4 champion as Duerksen dominates Mugello

by Ida Wood

Photo: ACI Sport

Ollie Bearman claimed the 2021 Italian Formula 4 title with a round to spare by finishing a subdued 10th at Mugello in a race dominated by Joshua Duerksen.

The pair shared the second row of the grid, and Duerksen immediately leapt into second place to challenge poleman Joshua Dufek for the lead. Bearman meanwhile dropped behind three cars, and their respective trajectories continued through the race.

Duerksen spent two laps hassling Van Amersfoort Racing’s Dufek before getting by, and he then pulled away while Dufek ended up at the front of an eight-car train which Bearman was at some points at the tail of.

Leonardo Fornaroli put Dufek under the most pressure but he couldn’t find a way past, and when Sebastian Montoya slipped past him he found the same trouble and the last of his attempts resulted in a turn one collision. Dufek retired, while Montoya spent several laps sat in the pits getting repairs.

That promoted Bearman up several spots, but didn’t stop his slide down the order as he fell behind three of Jenzer’s drivers and then title rival Tim Tranitz.

US Racing driver Tramnitz was also struggling but managed to stick with the train of cars ahead, while Bearman was gapped back in 10th.

Duerksen finished with a lead of 7.205s over Fornaroli at the front, while Nikita Bedrin won against fellow Russian Kirill Smal in the battle for third. Smal was almost taken at the end by Santiago Ramos, the first of the Jenzer drivers.

Race results (18 laps)

Pos Driver Team Time
1 Joshua Duerksen Mucke Motorsport 33m07.874s
2 Leonardo Fornaroli Iron Lynx +7.205s
3 Nikita Bedrin Van Amersfoort Racing +9.620s
4 Kirill Smal Prema +11.766s
5 Santiago Ramos Jenzer Motorsport +11.859s
6 Francesco Braschi Jenzer Motorsport +12.131s
7 Piotr Wisnicki Jenzer Motorsport +17.203s
8 Erick Zuniga Mucke Motorsport +17.534s
9 Tim Tramnitz US Racing +18.844s
10 Ollie Bearman Van Amersfoort Racing +22.106s
11 Conrad Laursen Prema +23.084s
12 Bence Valint Van Amersfoort Racing +23.931s
13 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Prema +24.147s
14 Levente Revesz AKM Mororsport +24.218s
15 Francesco Simonazzi BVM Racing +25.261s
16 Leonardo Bizzotto BVM Racing +25.424s
17 Hamda Al Qubaisi Prema +26.320s
18 Kacper Sztuka Iron Lynx +27.191s
19 Pietro Armanni Iron Lynx +28.258s
20 Jonas Ried Mucke Motorsport +28.713s
21 Oliver Gray BVM Racing +33.746s
22 Maya Weug Iron Lynx +34.310s
23 Jorge Garciarce Mucke Motorsport +34.660s
24 Pedro Perino US Racing +36.757s
25 Nicolas Baptiste Cram Motorsport +54.327s
26 Lorenzo Patrese AKM Motorsport +1 lap
27 Samir Ben Jenzer Motorsport +1 lap
28 Sebastian Montoya Prema +3 laps
Ret Joshua Dufek Van Amersfoort Racing
Fastest lap: Fornaroli, 1m49.217s

Championship standings (before dropped scores)
1 Bearman 281   2 Tramnitz 202   3 Montoya 166   4 Fornaroli 179   5 Smal 164   6 Dufek 148   7 Duerksen 136   8 Bedrin 102   9 Laursen 50   10 Vlad Lomko 37