Nakamura-Berta wins again in second E4 race at Monza

Photo: ACI Sport

Kean Nakamura-Berta took another step towards the E4 title with his second victory of the weekend at Monza as Gabriel Gomez kept his title chances alive with second.

The Prema driver’s third E4 win of the season leaves him just one point shy of adding the title to that of the Italian F4 championship.

While Nakamura-Berta asserted himself at the front, the battle for second place generated the principal excitement of the race.

A four-car fight, involving PHM Racing’s Reno Francot, US Racing’s Gomez and the Prema pair of Newman Chi and Sebastian Wheldon raged throughout.

With Nakamura-Berta heading for victory and 25 points, Gomez knew that only second would be enough to continue the title fight into the final round. In a dramatic finale, he was able to regain the position from Wheldon just before the safety car brought an end to green flag running.

Francot made the best start from the front row, drawing alongside Nakamura-Berta into the Rettifilo chicane but could not slow down enough to make the apex, cutting the corner and ceding the position to the Prema man on the run to Roggia.

US Racing’s Ary Bansal, an impressive third in qualifying, was an early spinner, rejoining at the back of the field.

Chi slotted into second place with Francot in third ahead of Gomez and Wheldon.

US Racing’s Arjen Kraling and Van Amersfoort Racing’s Alexander Ruta came together at Turn 1, but fortunately managed to get themselves going before a safety car was necessary.

Into the first chicane on lap four, Francot again locked up, this time taking to the full escape road and allowing Gomez to make a move into Parabolica for third, with Wheldon following him by into the second chicane on the next lap.

Gomez was on a charge as he looked to chase after Nakamura-Berta, sailing past Chi on the pit straight at the end of the sixth lap, with Wheldon also slipping through into the Rettifilo. Gomez started to gradually chip away at the two second gap to the leader.

Bansal completed a miserable race with contact with R-ace GP’s Oleksandr Savinkov at the same corner, bringing out the safety car.

At the restart, Gomez had a look to the outside of Nakamura-Berta into the first chicane but had to back out, losing momentum and allowing Wheldon to get back in front at the Roggia.

The safety car was back out after Jenzer Motorsport’s Andre Rodriguez and Savinkov both spun wildly on the exit of Ascari after contact.

As Gomez again challenged Nakamura-Berta at the restart he lost ground, allowing Francot to draw alongside on the exit. Three abreast on the run through Curva Grande, Gomez just managed to squeeze past Francot into the second chicane to regain second.

Just in time, as it turned out, as behind them Prema’s Andre Dupe and VAR’s Dante Vinci had collided at Turn 1, blocking the track, and ensuring that the last lap would run under yellows.

Francot held onto third ahead of Wheldon and Chi. The US Racing pair of Andrija Kostic and Kabir Anurag took sixth and seventh respectively, ahead of VAR’s Maksimilian Popov, Prema’s Salim Hanna – supported here at Monza by Juan Pablo Montoya – with AMG-Mercedes junior Andy Consani taking 10th for R-ace GP.

Race results (15 laps)