Home Featured Enzo Fittipaldi becomes Italian F4 champion in final Mugello race

Enzo Fittipaldi becomes Italian F4 champion in final Mugello race

by Bethonie Waring

Enzo Fittipaldi was crowned Italian Formula 4 champion after winning a safety car disrupted season finale at Mugello.

Wet conditions once again limited racing, with the race starting and finishing behind the safety car. That meant Leonardo Lorandi had only a handful of laps to make up positions after starting towards the back end of the top 10.

Fittipaldi came under pressure from Prema team-mates Olli Caldwell and Guanluca Petecof when the safety car first pulled into the pits. They ran three abreast but Fittipaldi held the inside line and was able to shake off the pair.

He set about building a gap to the rest of the field, only for the safety car to be brought out again when Sebastian Estner ran into the gravel.

By this point, Lorandi had managed to climb up to sixth and was immediately challenging Giorgio Carrara when racing resumed with 15 minutes on the clock. This time, Fittipaldi was able to catch his team-mates sleeping on the restart and was unchallenged for the remainder of the race.

Though he couldn?t keep with Fittipaldi, Petecof did manage to pull away from Caldwell and was running comfortably in second when the safety car was brought out again.

Caldwell was left to battle with Petr Ptacek. They ran side by side and Caldwell appeared to slip in the treacherous conditions, but he kept control of his car to finish third, giving Prema a podium lock out to end the season.

Lorandi had managed to pass Carrara on the restart but Ilya Morozov ran wide into the gravel before the Bhaitech driver could move any further forward.

A fifth place finish puts Lorandi 21 points behind Fittipaldi,?, including dropped scores, enough for Fittipaldi to claim his first car racing title.

Marzio Moretti finished seventh, ahead of Andreas Estner, Lorenzo Colombo and Niklas Krutten.

 

Race results (8 laps)
Pos Driver Team Time
1 Enzo Fittipaldi Prema 26m40.852s
2 Gianluca Petecof Prema +0.706s
3 Olli Caldwell Prema +1.188s
4 Petr Ptacek Bhaitech +2.120s
5 Leonardo Lorandi Bhaitech +2.790s
6 Giorgio Carrara Jenzer Motorsport +4.379s
7 Marzio Moretti BVM Racing +5.536s
8 Andreas Estner Van Amersfoort Racing +5.865s
9 Lorenzo Colombo R-ace GP +7.665s
10 Niklas Krutten Mucke Motorsport +10.119s
11 William Alatalo Mucke Motorsport +11.179s
12 Amaury Cordeel Alma Racing +11.832s
13 Daniel Vebster Cram Motorsport +12.751s
14 Alessandro Famularo Bhaitech +14.133s
15 Ido Cohen Mucke Motorsport +15.567s
16 Emilio Cipriani Cram Motorsport +17.444s
17 Jesse Salmenautio AS Motorsport +19.039s
18 Nazim Azman Jenzer Motorsport +20.031s
19 Fabio Venditti Corbetta Competizioni +20.594s
20 Amna Al Qubaisi Prema +21.200s
21 Gregoir Saucy R-ace GP +22.323s
22 Andrea Dell’Accio Cram Motorsport +23.665s
23 Lucas Alecco Roy Van Amersfoort Racing +24.908s
24 Oliver Rasmussen Jenzer Motorsport +1m17.611s
25 Federico Mavestiti Cram Motorsport +1 lap
26 Sebastian Estner Van Amersfoort Racing +2 laps
Ret Ilya Morozov Bhaitech
Ret Alessio Deledda Technorace
Ret Nicola Marinangeli DR Formula/Curv Motorsport
Pole: Fittipaldi, 1m46.984s? ? ??Fastest lap: Fittipaldi, 2m19.711s

Championship Standings
1?Fittipaldi 303? ?2?Lorandi 282? ?3 Caldwell 268? ?4?Petecof 186? ?5?Ptacek 182? ?6?Malvestiti 167? ?7?Carrara 114? ?8?Alatalo 105? ?89?Ian Rodriguez 78? ?10?Frederik Vesti 68