Home Formula 4Italian F4 Bernier and Smal matched at the top in Italian F4 practice at Misano

Bernier and Smal matched at the top in Italian F4 practice at Misano

by Ida Wood

Photo: ACI Sport

Victor Bernier and Kirill Smal set identical laptimes to sit atop the leaderboard in the second Italian Formula 4 free practice session at Misano.

The order frequently changed in the final quarter of the 40-minute session, with Mucke Motorsport’s Jonas Ried the surprise pacesetter ahead of Van Amersfoort Racing’s Ollie Bearman with 10 minutes to go.

Prema’s Sebastian Montoya and Iron Lynx’s Leonardo Fornaroli soon jumped past by a third of a second, with Bearman also improving to go past Ried, before Fornaroli posted another personal best to go the top just as R-ace GP’s Bernier rose to third.

But it was Bernier’s team-mate Sami Meguetounif who was fastest with five minutes to go, posting a 1m34.496s lap as Bernier improved again to retain third behind Fornaroli.

Smal was also increasing his pace, and in the final minutes it became a duel between the Prema driver and Bernier for top spot. Remarkably, both set a 1m34.393s to go joint top.

Fornaroli, Montoya and Meguetounif completed the top five, spread by little over a tenth of a second, with Mucke’s Joshua Duerksen 0.256s back in sixth.

Ried and Bearman were shuffled down to eighth and ninth places behind Prema’s Hamda Al Qubaisi.

Only 29 drivers set laps, with Jenzer Motorsport’s Santiago Ramos sitting out the session due to a broken back. Cram Motorsport’s Vittorio Catino was also absent as he is in quarantine since a family member recently contracted COVID-19. Catino’s team-mates are also not racing this weekend.

Free practice results

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Victor Bernier R-ace GP 1m34.393s 18
2 Kirill Smal Prema 1m34.393s +0.000s 18
3 Leonardo Fornaroli Iron Lynx 1m34.443s +0.050s 19
4 Sebastian Montoya Prema 1m34.474s +0.081s 17
5 Sami Meguetounif R-ace GP 1m34.496s +0.103s 17
6 Joshua Duerksen Mucke Motorsport 1m34.649s +0.256s 18
7 Hamda Al Qubaisi Prema 1m34.704s +0.311s 19
8 Jonas Ried Mucke Motorsport 1m34.843s +0.450s 16
9 Ollie Bearman Van Amersfoort Racing 1m34.862s +0.469s 22
10 Nicolas Baptiste Cram Motorsport 1m34.888s +0.495s 20
11 Erick Zuniga Mucke Motorsport 1m34.890s +0.497s 18
12 Conrad Laursen Prema 1m34.970s +0.577s 17
13 Joshua Dufek Van Amersfoort Racing 1m35.008s +0.615s 21
14 Nikita Bedrin Van Amersfoort Racing 1m35.019s +0.626s 22
15 Francesco Braschi Jenzer Motorsport 1m35.098s +0.705s 18
16 Piotr Wisnicki Jenzer Motorsport 1m35.141s +0.748s 16
17 Cenyu Han Van Amersfoort Racing 1m35.148s +0.755s 22
18 Maya Weug Iron Lynx 1m35.155s +0.762s 18
19 Marcus Amand R-ace GP 1m35.228s +0.835s 15
20 Eron Rexhepi BVM Racing 1m35.234s +0.841s 20
21 Kacper Sztuka AS Motorsport 1m35.246s +0.853s 18
22 Leonardo Bizzotto BVM Racing 1m35.298s +0.905s 18
23 Lorenzo Patrese AKM Motorsport 1m35.344s +0.951s 18
24 Bence Valint Van Amersfoort Racing 1m35.345s +0.952s 21
25 Samir Ben Jenzer Motorsport 1m35.482s +1.089s 17
26 Pietro Armanni Iron Lynx 1m35.524s +1.131s 18
27 Jorge Garciarce Jenzer Motorsport 1m35.647s +1.254s 17
28 Pedro Perino DR Formula 1m35.772s +1.379s 20
29 Levente Revesz AKM Motorsport 1m35.930s +1.537s 22
30 Santiago Ramos Jenzer Motorsport no time 0