Gomez bounces back with victory in Italian F4 race three at Misano

Photo: ACI Sport

Gabriel Gomez bounced back from a non-start in race two to win from pole in Italian Formula 4 race three at Misano.

The US Racing driver was ruled out of race two, which he was also supposed to start from pole, by an alternator problem on the formation lap.

This time he not only made it to the grid but after the lights went out quickly pulled away from Prema’s Salim Hanna Hernandez and Newman Chi.

In fourth was US team-mate Luka Sammalisto, who had to fight off Prema’s Andrea Dupe and Sacha Bondarev through lap one. Further down the order, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Dante Vinci had an off that cost him many places and BVM Racing’s Niccolo Maccagnani had to pit for a new front wing.

US’s Jan Koller was sent spinning on lap two, and on lap three Hanna briefly got alongside Gomez up front. There was further drama down the field, with Jenzer Motorsport’s Teo Schropp having an off and Cram Motorsport’s Oscar Repetto picking up damage that required him to pits to change his front-left wheel.

Sammalisto had the pace to catch back up to the top three, but so did those behind and a six-car train formed on lap four. A diving move on Chi was attempted by Sammalisto, and two laps later Chi’s defences bunched up the drivers behind so much that Bondarev had a go at Sammalisto.

The pressure was on, and despite a lock-up Sammalisto was able to pull off an overtake on Chi, who ran wide later on and lost out to Bondarev and Dupe.

R-ace GP’s Emanuele Olivieri and US’s Kabir Anurag were slightly behind the train, but then they collided and Anurag was forced out of the race. Jenzer’s Bart Harrison and US’s rapid Andrija Kostic became the next challengers to Chi, as the drivers ahead spread out slightly.

Sammalisto was gapped by the top two, but he still traded fastest laps with them during the race’s second half. Gomez got his lead up to 0.863 seconds, with small gains and losses until the final lap when Hanna rapidly closed in. He got close enough to attempt an overtake for the lead but was unsuccessful, and finished 0.564s behind.

Chi gained back one place on Dupe, who was left to hold off Harrsion late on.

Race results (17 laps)