Photo: ACI Sport
Kean Nakamura-Berta withstood race-long pressure from Prema team-mate Sebastian Wheldon to take his second Italian Formula 4 heat win of the weekend at Misano.
Pole-sitter Nakamura-Berta got the jump at the lights to hold onto the lead into the first corner with Wheldon holding off Van Amersfoort Racing’s Maximilian Popov for second.
US Racing’s Kabir Anurag made the best start of all, leaping into fourth from seventh on the grid, with the Prema pair of Newman Chi and Sasha Bondarev also losing out to R-ace GP’s Emanuele Olivieri as the 27-car field funnelled through the chicane.
Nakamura-Berta and Wheldon immediately began to pull away from the following group, the pair running in close company for the full 17-lap race distance, with Wheldon never quite in range to attempt a move for the lead.
Wheldon kept pushing to the end, setting the fastest lap of the race on the final tour, but had to settle for second, 0.638 seconds behind his team-mate.
Olivieri was the driver looking to make ground behind them, taking advantage of the restart after a brief safety car period caused by Payton Westcott’s sidelined car, to get the jump on Anurag.
He sat on Popov’s tail as the two circulated in isolation, before managing to take the final podium place five laps from the finish.
Anurag was clearly holding up the pack behind him, with Bondarev, Chi, US Racing’s Maxim Rehm and R-ace GP’s Alex Powell jostling for position.
Bondarev had a run on Anurag along the back straight on lap nine but was unable to make the move stick and lost out to Chi in the process. The Williams junior was soon able to reclaim his position but was unable to find a way past Anurag.
Powell finally managed to get ahead of Rehm into turn 8 on lap 15 to take eighth, with Jenzer Motorsport’s Bart Harrison completing the top 10.
Nakamura-Berta and Wheldon will start the fourth and final race of the weekend from the front row, courtesy of their results in the three split heats.
Race results (17 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kean Nakamura-Berta | Prema Racing | 28m09.315s |
| 2 | Sebastian Wheldon | Prema Racing | +0.638s |
| 3 | Emanuele Olivieri | R-ace GP | +7.822s |
| 4 | Maximilian Popov | Van Amersfoort Racing | +9.138s |
| 5 | Kabir Anurag | US Racing | +15.272s |
| 6 | Oleksandr Bondarev | Prema Racing | +15.780s |
| 7 | Newman Chi | Prema Racing | +16.111s |
| 8 | Alex Powell | R-ace GP | +16.481s |
| 9 | Maxim Rehm | US Racing | +18.873s |
| 10 | Bart Harrison | Jenzer Motorsport | +19.969s |
| 11 | Andrija Kostic | US Racing | +21.193s |
| 12 | Dante Vinci | Van Amersfoort Racing | +22.769s |
| 13 | Aleksander Ruta | Van Amersfoort Racing | +23.541s |
| 14 | Teo Schropp | Jenzer Motorsport | +27.676s |
| 15 | Marcus Saeter | Van Amersfoort Racing | +28.369s |
| 16 | David Cosma Cristofor | PHM Racing | +28.899s |
| 17 | Andrea Dupe | PHM Racing | +29.244s |
| 18 | Ludovico Busso | Viola Formula Racing | +31.208s |
| 19 | Francesco Coppola | Tecnorace Competition | +31.350s |
| 20 | Nathanael Berreby | Maffi Racing | +35.928s |
| 21 | Kirill Kutskov | Maffi Racing | +36.019s |
| 22 | Emir Tanju | Viola Formula Racing | +37.305s |
| 23 | Andrei Duna | Real Racing | +37.683s |
| 24 | Arthur Lorimier | Viola Formula Racing | +44.782s |
| 25 | Jan Koller | US Racing | +56.064s |
| 26 | Kornelia Olkucka | Maffi Racing | +1m15.941s |
| Ret | Payton Westcott | Van Amersfoort Racing | |
| Fastest lap: Wheldon, 1m35.366s
Championship standings |
|||