Akshay Bohra held off US Racing team-mate Jack Beeton for his maiden Italian Formula 4 victory at Paul Ricard, with points leader Freddie Slater not taking the start.
Bohra made a perfect getaway from pole and was never challenged. Two successive fastest laps brought Beeton to within half-a-second of the leader midway through the race but he was unable to attempt a move and dropped back later on.
“A great feeling. We’ve done double pole, P2 for race three, and now a win. I can’t thank the team enough for all their hard work,” a delighted Bohra told Formula Scout after the race.
Despite the pressure from Beeton, Bohra felt that “everything was under control”.
“It’s such a long circuit, and it’s known for being a pretty high deg[radation] circuit, especially with the temperature. I wasn’t trying to overpush, especially in those demanding corners and there were a few moments when he got close but I don’t think there was anything I would have not expected,” he explained.
“I’ve been working on myself as a driver quite a lot. I’ve made quite a few not massive mistakes, but I definitely have not made everything perfect in the weekends so I’m just trying to get as good as possible and now I’m starting to really develop as a driver.”
Van Amersfoort Racing’s Hiyu Yamakoshi held on to take third while Prema’s Slater did not take up his grid slot. A deflating tyre in qualifying had left him back on the grid’s 12th row, and he told Formula Scout post-race that on the installation lap he had an engine problem limiting the revs.
Yamakoshi came under pressure from Matheus Ferreira, as the Brazilian looked to give US Racing a clean sweep of the podium positions, but the Japanese driver held on by 0.408s.
Alex Powell headed a four-car train of Prema drivers in fifth, ahead of Kean Nakamura Berta.
Rashid Al Dhaheri and Dion Gowda enjoyed a heated battle in the early stages, with Al Dhaheri running wide at the final corner as Gowda tried to regain the position with a dive to the inside. VAR’s Gustav Jonsson joined their battle before damaging his front wing, forcing him to pit for repairs and resulting in a 29th place finish.
Gianmarco Pradel and Maxim Rehm completed the top 10th, to round off a strong race for US Racing with five cars in the points.
Race results (16 laps)
Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Akshay Bohra | US Racing | 33m41.017s |
2 | Jack Beeton | US Racing | +1.427s |
3 | Hiyu Yamakoshi | Van Amersfoort Racing | +4.228s |
4 | Matheus Ferreira | US Racing | +4.636s |
5 | Alex Powell | Prema | +6.243s |
6 | Kean Nakamura Berta | Prema | +7.882s |
7 | Rashid Al Dhaheri | Prema | +12.982s |
8 | Dion Gowda | Prema | +14.672s |
9 | Gianmarco Pradel | US Racing | +15.114s |
10 | Maxim Rehm | US Racing | +16.653s |
11 | Tomass Stolcermanis | Prema | +18.284s |
12 | Reno Francot | Jenzer Motorsport | +19.711s |
13 | Kabir Anurag | US Racing | +21.909s |
14 | Davide Larini | PHM Racing | +27.528s |
15 | Luca Viisoreanu | Real Racing Team | +28.246s |
16 | Andrija Kostic | Van Amersfoort Racing | +30.527s |
17 | Ethan Ischer | Jenzer Motorsport | +31.137s |
18 | Emanuele Olivieri | AKM Motorsport | +32.551s |
19 | Enzo Yeh | R-ace GP | +32.754s |
20 | Maximilian Popov | PHM Racing | +33.429s |
21 | Kamal Mrad | PHM Racing | +40.751s |
22 | Alvise Rodella | Van Amersfoort Racing | +40.892s |
23 | Alexander Savinkov | AKM Motorsport | +41.505s |
24 | Filippo Fiorentino | Cram Motorsport | +42.172s |
25 | Edu Robinson | AS Motorsport | +44.690s |
26 | Jan Koller | BVM Racing | +48.607s |
27 | Wiktor Dobrzanski | AKM Motorsport | +48.940s |
28 | Gabiel Holguin | Maffi Racing | +53.066s |
29 | Gustav Jonsson | Van Amersfoort Racing | +56.816s |
30 | Nathanael Berreby | Maffi Racing | +1m32.208s |
31 | Kai Daryanani | Cram Motorsport | +1m40.386s |
Ret | Lin Hodenius | Van Amersfoort Racing | |
Ret | Enea Frey | Jenzer Motorsport | |
Ret | Everett Stack | PHM Racing | |
Ret | Freddie Slater | Prema | |
Fastest lap: Beeton, 2m05.794s
Championship standings |