The Italian Formula 4 title fight will go down to the final race after Enzo Fittipaldi beat rival Leonardo Lorandi to victory in a disrupted race two at Mugello.
Championship leader Lorandi reduced poleman Fittipaldi’s two second lead to almost nothing in just two laps, pulling alongside Fittipaldi on the run up to the chequered flag. He didn?t quite have enough to snatch victory from Lorandi, who had led through multiple safety car restarts, and finished just 0.028 seconds behind.
Victory for Fittipaldi puts him just two points behind Lorandi in the championship standings, but the gap switches to two the other way when dropped scores is taken into account.
Due to wet conditions, the field spent 10 minutes behind the safety car at the start of the race. With just under 19 minutes on the clock, the race started proper, with second place starter Olli Caldwell immediately coming under pressure from Gianluca Petecof and Lorandi.
Racing lasted less than a lap before a multi-car accident towards the back of the field brought out a red flag. Two cars had spun in the slippery conditions and collected several others which were unable to stop in time, while many lost control of their cars as they tried to swerve to avoid the accident.
The field lined back up in starting order, with Lorandi and Petecof back behind Caldwell despite managing to pass the Prema driver on the initial start.
The race restarted behind the safety car again, with racing resuming with just over five minutes left on the clock.
Lorandi immediately snatched third from Petecof and set about challenging Caldwell for second while Fittipaldi enjoyed a strong start to pull away from the battle. Caldwell managed to put up a better defence on the second time of asking, but Lorandi was able to find a way through to take second, leaving the Brit to defend against team-mate Petecof.
Petecof claimed third, while a fourth place finish for Caldwell puts him out of the fight for the title. Giorgio Carrara took fifth, ahead of Federico Malvestiti, Gregoire Saucy and Lorenzo Colombo, the latter two who took R-ace GP’s first points finishes in its debut weekend.
Race results (7 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Prema | 19m43.221s |
| 2 | Leonardo Lorandi | Bhaitech | +0.028s |
| 3 | Gianluca Petecof | Prema | +6.814s |
| 4 | Olli Caldwell | Prema | +10.651s |
| 5 | Giorgio Carrara | Jenzer Motorsport | +12.380s |
| 6 | Federico Malvestiti | Jenzer Motorsport | +14.093s |
| 7 | Gregoire Saucy | R-ace GP | +14.519s |
| 8 | Lorenzo Colombo | R-ace GP | +17.210s |
| 9 | Andreas Estner | Van Amersfoort Racing | +18.674s |
| 10 | Marzio Morertti | BVM Racing | +22.107s |
| 11 | William Alatalo | Mucke Motorsport | +22.456s |
| 12 | Amaury Cordeel | Alma Racing | +23.728s |
| 13 | Ido Cohen | Mucke Motorsport | +27.572s |
| 14 | Alessandro Famularo | Bhaitech | +33.325s |
| 15 | Daniel Vebster | Cram Motorsport | +39.623s |
| 16 | Sebastian Estner | Van Amersfoort Racing | +47.514s |
| 17 | Andrea Dell’Accio | Cram Motorsport | +51.175s |
| 18 | Jesse Salmenautio | AS Motorsport | +52.137s |
| 19 | Ilya Morozov | Bhaitech | +52.302s |
| 20 | Fabio Venditti | Corbetta Competizioni | +1m18.589s |
| 21 | Amna Al Qubaisi | Prema | +2 laps |
| Ret | Lucas Alecco Roy | Van Amersfoort Racing | |
| Ret | Petr Ptacek | Bhaitech | |
| Ret | Oliver Rasmussen | Jenzer Motorsport | |
| Ret | Umberto Laganella | Cram Motorsport | |
| Ret | Niklas Krutten | Mucke Motorsport | |
| Ret | Emilio Cipriani | Cram Motorsport | |
| Ret | Nazim Azman | Jenzer Motorsport | |
| Ret | Alessio Deledda | Technorace | |
| Ret | Nicola Marinangeli | DR Formula/Curv Motorsport | |
| Pole: Fittipaldi, 1m46.780s? ? ??Fastest lap: Lorandi, 2m08.213s
Championship Standings |
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