Photo: ACI Sport
US Racing’s Akshay Bohra and Prema’s Freddie Slater took the pole positions in Italian Formula 4 qualifying at Mugello.
Bohra claimed race one pole by topping Q1, and Slater earned pole for races two and three by being quickest in Q2 and also having the fastest second-best laptime in the field.
Maffi Racing’s drivers were first out on track in both sessions, and Nathanael Berreby was on provisional pole until the second half of Q1. US Racing’s Gianmarco Pradel knocked him off of top spot before the action really heated up with five minutes left on the clock and Berreby was shuffled all the way down to 12th.
Prema’s Rashid Al Dhaheri went fastest with a 1m48.187s, with team-mates Slater and Tomass Stolcermanis in second and third, then Jenzer Motorsport’s Enea Frey was fourth and R-ace GP’s Enzo Yeh completed a top five covered by 1.073 seconds.
Real Racing Team’s Luca Viisoreanu rose up to third place with four minutes to go, ahead of Van Amersfoort Racing’s practice pacesetter Hiyu Yamakoshi, and two minutes later the order had been completely changed with Bohra lowering the pace to 1m47.837s to lead Slater, US’s Jack Beeton, Yamakoshi, Al Dhaheri, Prema’s Alex Powell and Viisoreanu.
Beeton moved ahead of Slater with 90s to go, lapping 0.059s off Bohra’s pace, and Slater was unable to respond so qualified third.
Prema’s Kean Nakamura Berta jumped to fifth with his last lap, putting him ahead of team-mates Al Dhaheri, Powell and Stolcermanis. Viisoreanu impressively remained in the top 10, which was rounded out by Jenzer’s Reno Francot.
Berreby’s team-mate Gabriel Holguin was the first to the top in Q2, and it was only in the final six minutes that he was knocked down to third by Nakamura and Jenzer’s Oscar Wurz.
Nakamura spent just over a minute on top before Slater lowered the pace to 1m47.667s, leading VAR’s Gustav Jonsson and Yamakoshi by 0.3s. Frey jumped up to fifth, ahead of US Racing’s Maxim Rehm and Kabir Anurag.#
Al Dhaheri then became Slater’s closest rival, lapping 0.125s slower than the provisional poleman. The gap grew to 0.204s when Slater improved, while Yamakoshi took third from Jonsson with three minutes remaining.
They could improve no further, while Bohra was able to and split the quartet by going third fastest. Powell and Nakamura were sixth and seventh, ahead of their team-mate Dion Gowda, beeton and Stolcermanis.
Slater clinched another pole through second-best laptimes by 0.35s over Jonsson, with Yamakoshi and Beeton provisionally filling row two of the grid for race three.
R-ace’s Luka Sammalisto missed a practice session and then also missed Q1 and Q2.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Akshay Bohra US Racing 1m47.837s
2 Jack Beeton US Racing +0.059s
3 Freddie Slater Prema +0.147s
4 Hiyu Yamakoshi Van Amersfoort Racing +0.276s
5 Kean Nakamura Berta Prema +0.308s
6 Rashid Al Dhaheri Prema +0.335s
7 Alex Powell Prema +0.354s
8 Tomass Stolcermanis Prema +0.657s
9 Luca Viisoreanu Real Racing Team +0.665s
10 Reno Francot Jenzer Motorsport +0.666s
Race 2 grid
1 Slater 1m47.588s
2 Al Dhaheri +0.204s
3 Bohra +0.255s
4 Yamakoshi +0.312s
5 Gustav Jonsson Van Amersfoort Racing +0.354s
6 Powell +0.385s
7 Nakamura +0.478s
8 Dion Gowda Prema +0.550s
9 Beeton +0.635s
10 Stolcermanis +0.696s
Race 3 grid
1 Slater 1m47.667s
2 Jonsson +0.350s
3 Yamakoshi +0.363s
4 Beeton +0.392s
5 Nakamura +0.478s
6 Powell +0.517s
7 Al Dhaheri +0.520s
8 Bohra +0.674s
9 Gowda +0.710s
10 Stolcermanis +0.898s