Nakamura pips Popov to top spot in Italian F4’s Barcelona practice

Photo: ACI Sport

Kean Nakamura Berta pipped Maximilan Popov to top spot in Italian Formula 4 free practice at Barcelona.

Viola Formula Racing was absent from the paddock, with one of its former drivers Ludovico Busso instead driving for US Racing. Last weekend he was part of the team’s line-up in E4 at Mugello, while French F4 regular Andy Consani was with R-ace GP there and has remained with the team for this weekend.

Alexander Savinkov is absent from R-ace’s line-up, and joining it is Luca Viisoreanu. He is currently 20th in the standings, and was previously representing Real Racing Team.

The two drivers immediately ahead of him, US’s Maxim Rehm and Jenzer Motorsport’s Enea Frey, are not racing this weekend, and Technorace is not present either.

Mathilda Paatz has joined the grid in an AS Motorsport-supported entry, and Andre Rodriguez is back in action with Cram Motorsport.

US’s Gabriel Gomez was first to set a flying lap in FP1, with R-ace’s Alex Powell bringing the pace into the 1m46s and then 1m45s in successive laps. His team-mate Emanuele Olivieri usurped him, setting a 1m43.466s, which Powell was able to beat by 0.063 seconds on his next lap.

But Olivieri was also improving, swiftly reclaing top spot by 0.364s. Gomez bettered both of them 14 minutes in, but his 1m42.888s was then beaten by 0.287s when Olivieri crossed the line.

Olivieri’s benchmark stood for 21 minutes, with Gomez narrowly beating it by 0.002s.

Nakamura and US’s Andrija Kostic were only 0.023s and 0.037s off the top in third and fourth, and Consani was 0.104s slower than Gomez in fifth.

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Popov reached his pace peak early yet was still only 0.118s shy of the benchmark pace, and Prema’s Sebastian Wheldon similarly set his personal best early in his run plan and was seventh.

Busso was 11th and the last driver within half a second of Gomez, 0.361s off the pace and a time which he would not improve upon in FP2. A second covered the top 22.

Maffi Racing’s Kirill Kutskov and David Walther set the early pace in FP2, then Gomez and Popov traded top spot in successive laps. Consani bettered both with a 1m43.693s, then US’s Luka Sammalisto went to the top with a 1m43.542s.

Nakamura beat Sammalisto, who responded with a 1m43.314s that stood as the time to beat until Gomez broke into the 1m42s. He then improved two more times, and it took 10 minutes for his 1m42.112s benchmark to be toppled by Nakamura. The Prema driver set a 1m41.774s, and on his next lap a rapid 1m41.507s.

Popov got within 0.089s of that, Wheldon was a further 0.1s off, and Olivieri also beat a distant Gomez.

Free practice results