
Photo: ACI Sport
Ferrari junior James Wharton was fastest in a three-day pre-season test for Italian Formula 4 teams at Imola this week.
Each day had eight sessions split between two groups, and US Racing’s Kacper Sztuka started off the action on Tuesday by setting a 1m45.821s to top Group A by 0.061 seconds over Van Amersfoort Racing’s Brando Badoer.
He was fastest again in Group B’s red-flagged first session, setting a 1m45.613s to lead team-mate Gianmarco Pradel by 0.477s.
Badoer lowered the pace to 1m45.532s in Group A session two, with team-mate Ivan Domingues 0.126s behind. Sztuka was fourth fastest behind VAR’s Matheus Ferreira, but then set a new personal best to top Group B’s second session. A 1m45.686s put him over half a second clear of R-ace GP’s Matteo de Palo.
Sztuka topped another session, with team-mate Akshay Bohra his closest rival. Bohra then set the pace in Group B’s third session, heading team-mate Zachary David by 0.069s.
Badoer and Sztuka returned to the top in Tuesday’s final two sessions, with Sztuka 0.172s behind his rival in the penultimate session (and 0.081s behind in the day’s combined timesheet) while Bohra was second in the faster last hour of track action.
More teams joined on Wednesday, and David was fastest in Group B’s first session. He pipped Sztuka to top spot by 0.023s with a 1m45.503s. Badoer topped Group A, a 1m45.538s putting him 0.267s ahead of Prema’s Tuukka Taponen.
Sztuka returned to the fore when Group B headed back out, leading David by 0.168s with a 1m45.431s set early on (which put him third overall in the test), and Taponen laid down a new test benchmark of 1m45.342s in Group A to end the morning 0.12s ahead of team-mate Wharton.
The field closed up in the afternoon, with under a second covering the top 10 in Group B’s seventh session topped by Sztuka. Wharton closed his gap to Taponen in Group A, lapping 0.074s slower than the Funn, but in both instances the pace was slower than earlier in the day.
BVM Racing’s Alfio Spina pipped Sztuka by 0.035s top Group B’s last session, then Taponen ended Wednesday with a 1m45.479s that put him 0.071s ahead of Domingues in Group A. Badoer and Bohra were the only driver not to better their Tuesday pace.
Wharton started Thursday by topping Group C’s first session with a 1m45.414s, with Taponen, Badoer and Prema’s Niko Lacorte behind. Both Badoer and Lacorte had crashes.
Spina was fastest in Group D’s two morning sessions, in which Jenzer Motorsport hit trouble. Ethan Ischer encountered technical issues, while Reno Francot crashed out.
Wharton lowered the pace to 1m45.320s in Group C’s second session, with Taponen 0.056s behind and fellow team-mate Arvid Lindblad crashing out.
A 1m45.785s put Wharton on top again in session three, 0.181s up on Badoer, with 0.89s covering the top 10. Taponen struck back in their last session, edging Wharton by 0.035s with a 1m45.347s as the fastest laps were set early on for all but Ferreira and Domingues in third and fourth.
Spina led AKM Motorsport’s Griffin Peebles in Group D’s action-packed penultimate session, then was on top again in the very last session which was broken up by red flags. Badoer again failed to better his Tuesday pace.
Test results
Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | James Wharton | Prema | 1m45.320s | 139 | |
2 | Tuukka Taponen | Prema | 1m45.342s | +0.022s | 140 |
3 | Kacper Sztuka | US Racing | 1m45.431s | +0.111s | 195 |
4 | Matheus Ferreira | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m45.476s | +0.156s | 216 |
5 | Ivan Domingues | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m45.495s | +0.175s | 231 |
6 | Zachary David | US Racing | 1m45.503s | +0.183s | 160 |
7 | Brando Badoer | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m45.532s | +0.212s | 210 |
8 | Arvid Lindblad | Prema | 1m45.663s | +0.343s | 124 |
9 | Niko Lacorte | Prema | 1m45.665s | +0.345s | 131 |
10 | Gianmarco Pradel | US Racing | 1m45.724s | +0.404s | 194 |
11 | Ugo Ugochukwu | Prema | 1m45.724s | +0.404s | 138 |
12 | Alfio Spina | BVM Racing | 1m45.909s | +0.589s | 148 |
13 | Rashid Al Dhaheri | Prema | 1m45.916s | +0.596s | 138 |
14 | Akshay Bohra | US Racing | 1m45.969s | +0.649s | 186 |
15 | Matteo De Palo | R-ace GP | 1m45.975s | +0.655s | 159 |
16 | Griffin Peebles | AKM Motorsport | 1m46.002s | +0.682s | 145 |
17 | Jack Beeton | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m46.030s | +0.710s | 160 |
18 | Ruiqi Liu | US Racing | 1m46.336s | +1.016s | 168 |
19 | #38 | AKM Motorsport | 1m46.453s | +1.133s | 74 |
20 | Kim Hwarang | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m46.467s | +1.147s | 68 |
21 | Andrea Frassineti | BVM Racing | 1m46.499s | +1.179s | 74 |
22 | Ethan Ischer | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m46.541s | +1.221s | 65 |
23 | Ariel Elkin | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m46.544s | +1.224s | 61 |
24 | Alvise Rodella | BVM Racing | 1m46.580s | +1.260s | 125 |
25 | Matteo Quintarelli | R-ace GP | 1m46.669s | +1.349s | 149 |
26 | Raphael Narac | R-ace GP | 1m46.711s | +1.391s | 129 |
27 | Aurelia Nobels | Prema | 1m46.820s | +1.500s | 136 |
28 | Ismail Akhmed | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m46.873s | +1.553s | 238 |
29 | Davide Larini | AKM Motorsport | 1m47.018s | +1.698s | 69 |
30 | Michael Sauter | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m47.218s | +1.898s | 69 |
31 | Kabir Anurag | R-ace GP | 1m47.481s | +2.161s | 147 |
32 | #19 Tina Hausmann | AKM Motorsport | 1m47.558s | +2.238s | 50 |
33 | Reno Francot | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m47.819s | +2.499s | 22 |
34 | Ian Aguilera | Cram Motorsport | 1m48.056s | +2.736s | 144 |
35 | Emir Tanju | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m49.889s | +4.569s | 31 |