Photo: ACI Sport
Prema’s Gabriele Mini extended his Italian Formula 4 points lead with victory in race three at Mugello.
Mini overtook team-mate and poleman Gabriel Bortoleto on the run to the first corner, where Jenzer Motorsport’s Filip Ugran went off at speed into the gravel but managed to return to track by staying on the throttle.
Bortoleto didn’t try coming back at Mini in the first few laps, but got handed an opportunity to reclaim the lead when the safety car was called out due to a crash between old karting team-mates Cenyu Han and Lorenzo Patrese.
Mini made a strong restart, and Bortoleto was immediately exposed to Van Amersfoort Racing’s Jonny Edgar behind. The Red Bull junior tried going around the outside of the first corner, but ended up being pushed down the order as Bortoleto got loose under braking and careered into him.
The top two positions therefore remained unchanged, but Mini was clear and he led his team-mate home to take his third win of the season. Dino Beganovic finished third on the road to make it an all-Prema podium, and was promoted to second when Bortoleto was handed a five-second penalty.
Cram Motorsport’s Andrea Rosso finished fourth, and spent the second half of the race mostly under pressure from VAR trio Jak Crawford, Francesco Pizzi and Edgar. Pizzi started 16th on the grid and made a lot of early progress, but could not find a way past Crawford.
When he eventually did at Turn 15 with a few laps to go, he quickly closed in on Rosso and finished just behind his championship rival.
Edgar went for a move on fellow Red Bull junior Crawford at Turn 3 on the penultimate lap, but when he got ahead Crawford misjudged the distance between the pair and broke his front wing on one of Edgar’s tyres. Both sank down the order, with Bhaitech’s Zdenek Chovanec ending up holding off Prema’s Sebastian Montoya to finish sixth.
Jesse Salmenautio beat Francesco Simonazzi to eighth, while Ugran recovered impressively to 11th.
Race results (16 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gabriele Mini | Prema | 32m58.776s |
| 2 | Dino Beganovic | Prema | +1.194s |
| 3 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Prema | +5.647s |
| 4 | Andrea Rosso | Cram Motorsport | +7.871s |
| 5 | Francesco Pizzi | Van Amersfoort Racing | +8.145s |
| 6 | Zdenek Chovanec | Bhaitech | +14.538s |
| 7 | Sebastian Montoya | Prema | +14.792s |
| 8 | Jesse Salmenautio | Bhaitech | +15.700s |
| 9 | Francesco Simonazzi | BVM Racing | +16.794s |
| 10 | Santiago Ramos | Jenzer Motorsport | +18.860s |
| 11 | Filip Ugran | Jenzer Motorsport | +18.887s |
| 12 | Pietro Delli Guanti | BVM Racing | +18.913s |
| 13 | Axel Gnos | G4 Racing | +20.119s |
| 14 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Iron Lynx | +20.539s |
| 15 | Sebastian Ogaard | Bhaitech | +20.594s |
| 16 | Francesco Braschi | Jenzer Motorsport | +21.243s |
| 17 | Kirill Smal | Prema | +22.547s |
| 18 | Jak Crawford | Van Amersfoort Racing | +25.178s |
| 19 | Piotr Wisnicki | Jenzer Motorsport | +26.314s |
| 20 | Jasin Ferati | Jenzer Motorsport | +27.131s |
| 21 | Sebastian Freymuth | AS Motorsport | +27.410s |
| 22 | Dexter Patterson | Bhaitech | +28.156s |
| 23 | Hamda Al Qubaisi | Abu Dhabi Racing | +28.638s |
| 24 | Taylor Barnard | AKM Motorsport | +20.526s |
| 25 | Bence Valint | Van Amersfoort Racing | +50.731s |
| 26 | Jonny Edgar | Van Amersfoort Racing | |
| Ret | Cenyu Han | AKM Motorsport | |
| Ret | Lorenzo Patrese | AKM Motorsport | |
| Ret | Vittorio Catino | Cram Motorsport | |
| Fastest lap: Mini, 1m48.125s
Championship Standings |
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