
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 |