Niko Lacorte escapes battling pursuers to take maiden Italian F4 win

Photo: ACI Sport

Prema’s Nicola Lacorte put in a composed performance to take victory in the third Italian Formula 4 race at Imola.

Starting alone on the front row after poleman Ugo Ugochukwu had been eliminated in a horrific start line crash that required the race to be restarted, Lacorte took an immediate lead and was never seriously challenged.

Behind him, his pursuers led by Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad battled amongst themselves allowing Lacorte to build up a gap of over two seconds.

Lindblad led a train of four cars comprising Van Amersfoort Racing pair Brando Badoer and Ivan Domingues, and Prema’s Ferrari junior James Wharton who had rapidly closed onto their tails in the early laps.

Wharton was able to put pressure on Domingues, drawing alongside as they passed the pits at the end of lap four. The Australian tried in vain to find a way through at Tamburello and later at Piratella, allowing Badoer to pull away slightly and to think about challenging Lindblad.

Coming into Tamburello on lap 12, Badoer tried to find a way past Lindblad around outside into corner, but carrying too much speed was unable to make the corner.

Badoer was launched over the kerbs, flying across the gravel and fortunate to be able to continue having lost just one place to team-mate Domingues when he rejoined the track.

Behind the front five, a separate race-long battle between PHM Racing’s Valentin Kluss and R-ace GP’s Matteo De Palo went Kluss’s way, although they were 5.6s adrift of Wharton at the finish.

The first start had been aborted after a horrific accident as Prema’s Ugochukwu stalled on the grid with a clutch issue and was collected by BVM Racing’s Andrea Frassineti.

Starting back on the 11th row, Frassineti was left unsighted by Davide Larini’s AKM Motorsport-run car directly in front of him, and he struck the back of Ugochukwu’s car with force, flipping onto the roll hoop and skating down the track before coming to a stop on its side. The race was immediately red flagged, and both drivers appeared to escape injury.

After a 25-minute delay, and with the race shortened by five minutes, the cars reassembled for a second standing start and an interruption-free race.

Race result (13 laps)