Nakamura’s defensive masterclass at Vallelunga delivers another win

Photo: ACI Sport

Prema’s Kean Nakamura Berta put in a defensive masterclass to win the Italian Formula 4 heat race for groups A and B at Vallelunga.

The inexperienced David Cosma Cristofor was very slow off the line from pole, and Nakamura immediately took the lead as team-mate Sebastian Wheldon snatched second.

R-ace GP’s Emanuele Olivieri was third by turn one, and soon US Racing’s Gabriel Gomez was ahead too. Olivieri and Wheldon made contact while battling at turn six, and Prema’s Tomass Stolcermanis tried to profit as he had passed Gomez and got alongside Olivieri at turn seven.

The safety car was summoned as they reached turn eight, due to Maffi Racing’s David Walther crashing out at turn two after contact, and it halted Cosma’s decline down the order after already dropping to ninth.

When racing resumed, Stolcermanis made a diving move on Olivieri that sent him off and allowed Gomez through too.

Nakamura had a 0.6-second lead after five laps, with Stolcermanis 1.8s behind in third. Wheldon then set the fastest lap, and on lap seven was stuck to Nakamura’s gearbox through the first seven corners.

The leader defended the inside on the run to turn eight, then when he returned to the racing line Wheldon sold a dummy and dived down the inside. It failed, and Stolcermanis was now on Wheldon’s tail.

Nakamura had to get defensive again on lap 10, with Wheldon feinting a move at turn four and going for the outside of turns seven and eight. The same occurred on lap 13, although Wheldon chose turn 11 rather than eight for his third attack.

They stayed very close together thereon, and it brought Gomez and then Olivieri into the lead train.

On the last lap, Wheldon tried the outside of turn four then locked up at turn seven as Nakamura masterfully went deep to cover an attack from the faster driver. Wheldon’s advantage at turn 10 set him up for a move at the turn 11 hairpin, but he went off and had slight contact, losing out to Stolcermanis.

But Wheldon kept his right foot down as he rejoined and then braked late at the turn 12 hairpin. Stolcermanis ran out of track as he drifted wide to avoid being hit, and when he went off Wheldon and Gomez overtook him.

That meant Nakamura could weave to the finish line unchallenged for his fifth win from five starts in 2025.

“It was really tough. Made a few changes with the car, and really struggled in that one,” he said afterwards.

“I had to defend all the way through the race. Felt closer towards the end. I was already struggling for my life, and there I was really screwed. The last lap, I thought it was good racing, fair racing, especially with the new guidelines.”

R-ace’s Alex Powell went from 11th to eighth on lap one, and finished seventh. Van Amersfoort Racing’s Dante Vinci meanwhile finished 10th after being on the receiving end of bold overtakes from Jenzer Motorsport’s Artem Severiukhin and Prema’s Newman Chi. Cosma came home 12th, outside of the points.

Race results (16 laps)