Home Formula 4Euro 4 Nakamura tops pre-season E4 test as Dupe joins Prema’s line-up

Nakamura tops pre-season E4 test as Dupe joins Prema’s line-up

by Ida Wood

Photo: Prema

Kean Nakamura Berta was fastest in the two-day pre-season test for the E4 (nee Euro 4) championship at Mugello.

He was one of six Prema drivers, with its line-up including new signing Andrea Dupe. He joins for E4 and the remaining Italian Formula 4 rounds.

Dupe began 2025 with AS Motorsport, coming 17th in the Formula Winter Series. Despite also signing to do Italian F4 with the team, the 16-year-old Frenchman instead did the first three rounds with PHM Racing. He is currently 29th in the standings.

“It’s always good when a driver who competed with us in karting steps into one of our cars,” said Prema founder Angelo Rosin.

At Mugello the 47-car entry list was split into two groups, and in the very first session PHM Racing’s Reno Francot initially set the pace with a 1m50.631s. After 16 minutes on top he was bettered by R-ace GP driver Emanuele Olivieri, whose team-mate Alex Powell then went faster by 0.417 seconds with a 1m49.752s on his final lap.

Nakamura set a 1m49.967s to lead a Prema lockout of the top five in group B. The quintet was covered by 0.774s, and did not include Dupe, with Salim Hanna Hernandez 0.24s behind Nakamura as his closest rival.

A 1m49.898s put Powell just 0.024s ahead of US Racing’s Gabriel Gomez and 0.336s clear of Olivieri in session two. Gomez had set a 1m50.341s early on then lowered the pace two times before Powell’s last-lap benchmark came in.

Group B was slower, with Nakamura posting a 1m50.076s to be quickest by 0.273s over team-mate Sasha Bondarev. This time Prema filled the top six spots.

Powell looked to have topped group A’s third session with a 1m50.169s, but later on Olivieri pipped him by 0.085s. Francot was 0.147s behind, and Viola Formula Racing’s Ludovico Busso was fourth.

Wednesday’s testing ended with an unrepresentative pace being set in group B, who got to start Thursday’s action.

Wheldon lowered the pace to 1m49.335s in session four, leading Nakamura by 0.241s and Hanna by 0.624s as a second covered the top 10.

Powell improved his pace to 1m49.735s to top group A, 0.187s ahead of Olivieri and with Niccolo Maccagnani 0.488s back completing an R-ace top three.

Nakamura recorded testing’s fastest lap in session five, a 1m49.225s, and had a 0.369s gap to Wheldon and 0.488s to Bondarev. Wheldon had set a 1m49.594s on his third lap to go fastest, and it was only beaten 25 minutes later.

Another personal best meant Powell led group A again, this time by 0.338s over US’s Luka Sammalisto after setting a 1m49.598s. Olivieri was third.

The same drivers topped the times in session six. Nakamura’s 1m49.726s meant he denied Hanna first place by 0.12s in group B, with Bondarev trailing by 0.372s. Bondarev’s team-mates, and several other drivers, all failed to improve after their third lap while he got close to Nakamura later on. In group A, Powell posted a 1m49.973s to edge Olivieri by 0.175s. Busso was third.

Test results

Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1 Kean Nakamura Berta Prema 1m49.225s 86
2 Sebastian Wheldon Prema +0.110s 89
3 Alex Powell R-ace GP +0.373s 103
4 Salim Hanna Hernandez Prema +0.443s 89
5 Sasha Bondarev Prema +0.488s 84
6 Gabriel Gomez US Racing +0.697s 100
7 Emanuele Olivieri R-ace GP +0.697s 83
8 Luka Sammalisto US Racing +0.711s 90
9 Enea Frey Jenzer Motorsport +0.731s 78
10 Newman Chi Prema +0.739s 88
11 Marcus Saeter Van Amersfoort Racing +0.764s 90
12 Andrea Dupe Prema +0.862s 86
13 Artem Severiukhin Jenzer Motorsport +0.868s 81
14 Maxim Rehm US Racing +0.879s 65
15 Bart Harrison Jenzer Motorsport +0.934s 75
16 Niccolo Maccagnani R-ace GP +0.998s 98
17 Reno Francot PHM Racing +1.006s 49
18 Dante Vinci Van Amersfoort Racing +1.056s 87
19 Teo Schropp Jenzer Motorsport +1.076s 77
20 Ary Bansal US Racing +1.113s 61
21 Maximilian Popov Van Amersfoort Racing +1.133s 74
22 Kabir Anurag US Racing +1.215s 93
23 Guy Albag R-ace GP +1.245s 105
24 Ludovico Busso Viola Formula Racing +1.343s 103
25 Kirill Kutskov Maffi Racing +1.351s 103
26 Bader Al Sulaiti Jenzer Motorsport +1.404s 70
27 Andrija Kostic US Racing +1.416s 90
28 Alexander Ruta Van Amersfoort Racing +1.495s 85
29 Nicolas Cortes Jenzer Motorsport +1.506s 70
30 Alexander Savinkov R-ace GP +1.530s 98
31 Elia Weiss Cram Motorsport +1.540s 90
32 David Cosma Cristofor PHM Racing +1.605s 93
33 Luca Viisoreanu Real Racing Team +1.650s 91
34 Evan Michelini AKM Motorsport +1.682s 88
35 Emily Cotty R-ace GP +1.777s 82
36 David Walther Maffi Racing +1.839s 95
37 Mathilda Paatz AS Motorsport +1.918s 84
38 Vittorio Orsini AKM Motorsport +2.010s 80
39 [TBC: Aston Sharp] Jenzer Motorsport +2.021s 74
40 Arthur Lorimier Viola Formula Racing +2.303s 105
41 Payton Westcott Van Amersfoort Racing +2.343s 84
42 Antonio Errigo Technorace +2.512s 85
43 Nathanael Berreby Maffi Racing +2.602s 80
44 Abdullah Kamel AKM Motorsport +2.668s 85
45 #30 [TBC: Emir Tanju] Viola Formula Racing +3.256s 91
46 Alexandre Louza Resende Cram Motorsport +4.147s 90
47 Kornelia Olkucka Maffi Racing +4.530s 104