Maccagnani leads Prema 1-2-3 in Misano Italian F4 opener

Photo: ACI Sport

Niccolo Maccagnani headed his Prema team-mates Alp Aksoy and Sasha Bondarev to win the first race of the Italian Formula 4 season at Misano.

The Ferrari Academy driver, under the watchful gaze of ex-Ferrari Academy boss, Jock Clear, took the lead at the start, as polesitter Aksoy was slow away, and maintained a comfortable lead throughout. The Prema trio gradually pulled a gap on the chasing pack, with US Racing’s Ary Bansal coming out on top of a six-car battle.

With 47 cars qualifying on Friday evening, the field was divided into three groups, with each group racing twice ahead of Sunday evening’s final. With US Racing’s Luka Sammalisto topped the qualifying times, to earn pole position for races two and three, with the second-fastest qualifier, Aksoy taking pole for race one, which pitted Group B against Group C.

After an early safety car following a spin from Prema’s Zheng Kwan Ho, Maccagnani quickly reasserted his lead from Aksoy and Williams junior Bondarev. R-ace GP’s Kenzo Craigie initially headed the pursuers from US Racing’s Oleksandr Savinkov and Jenzer Motorsport’s Bader Al Sulaiti.

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Thomas Bearman had made a storming start, up to eighth from 15th on the grid, and putting pressure on Bansal for seventh, with the Indian driver’s team-mate Arjen Kraeling completing the pack battling for fourth.

Savinkov moved up to fourth, while Bearman dropped to the back of the group. That train ran nose-to-tail throughout, as each looked for a mistake on the tight Misano track. In the closing stages, Craigie got a run on Savinkov into turn one after the Ukrainian ran wide on to the pits straight, allowing Bansal challenging both.

Contact dropped Savinkov back to ninth at the flag, allowing Bansal through to claim fourth, with Bearman completing a solid debut in the series won by his brother Oliver in 2021 to claim seventh.

The other Formula 1 team juniors endured a trying start to their weekends. Mercedes-AMG protege Andy Consani and McLaren’s Christian Costoya were both caught up in the incident that brought out the safety car and pitted at the end of lap one. Costani retired three laps later, while Costoya was able to fight his way back to 15th at the flag. Consani’s fellow Mercedes-AMG junior, Craigie, ran strongly in the chasing group before retiring four laps from the finish after his contact with Savinkov.

Race results (16 laps)