Photo: ACI Sport
The new Euro 4 championship for Formula 4 cars, created by Italian F4’s administrator ACI Sport and pomoter WSK Promotion, has officially got underway.
Two 40-minute practice sessions took place on Friday at Mugello for the inaugural round, and the first ever qualifying sessions will also take place later today.
FP1 began early in the morning and US Racing’s Kacper Sztuka was fastest nine minutes in with a 1m50.222s laptime, and a minute later BVM Racing’s Alfio Spina set a 1m49.977s with only five drivers having set flying laps.
It was not until after 28 minutes that the vast majority of drivers lapped at a representative pace, with Sztuka leading the way again with a 1m48.750s. His team-mate Akshay Bohra was 0.332 seconds back in second place, with Prema’s Ugo Ugochukwu a further 0.002s behind in third. In total 15 drivers had lapped sub-1m50s, and there was not too much change before the end of the session.
Sztuka improved to 1m48.698s at the top, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Brando Badoer and Prema’s Tuukka Taponen went fifth and sixth fastest. The top 14 were covered by a second, with AKM Motorsport’s Davide Larini in 26th and last place 2.275s off the pace.
FP2 took place in the afternoon, and Bohra set the pace at first. He was usurped after 14 minutes by Ugochukwu, who set a 1m50.432s, then after that Prema duo Arvid Lindblad and James Wharton went one-two before a full course yellow period.
Bohra brought the pace down into the 1m49s following that, with Sztuka getting within 0.076s of him 28 minutes into the session.
Other drivers did not lap sub-1m50s until the final 10 minutes, which began with Sztuka, Ugochukwu and Taponen all lapping in the 1m48s.
Sztuka set a 1m48.650s that stood as the fastest time through to the finish, with Lindblad getting closest with a 1m48.903s. Ugochukwu and Taponen set identical laptimes in third and fourth, and Wharton and Bohra’s earlier efforts left them fifth and sixth in the session classification.
Free practice results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kacper Sztuka | US Racing | 1m48.650s | 28 | |
| 2 | Arvid Lindblad | Prema | 1m48.903s | +0.253s | 27 |
| 3 | Tuukka Taponen | Prema | 1m48.972s | +0.322s | 26 |
| 4 | Ugo Ugochukwu | Prema | 1m48.972s | +0.322s | 28 |
| 5 | Akshay Bohra | US Racing | 1m49.082s | +0.432s | 27 |
| 6 | Zachary David | US Racing | 1m49.097s | +0.447s | 28 |
| 7 | James Wharton | Prema | 1m49.139s | +0.489s | 29 |
| 8 | Brando Badoer | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m49.185s | +0.535s | 28 |
| 9 | Raphael Narac | R-ace GP | 1m49.280s | +0.630s | 30 |
| 10 | Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi | PHM Racing | 1m49.317s | +0.667s | 34 |
| 11 | Niko Lacorte | Prema | 1m49.405s | +0.755s | 26 |
| 12 | Ruiqi Liu | US Racing | 1m49.436s | +0.786s | 24 |
| 13 | Gianmarco Pradel | US Racing | 1m49.460s | +0.810s | 26 |
| 14 | Ivan Domingues | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m49.467s | +0.817s | 32 |
| 15 | Rashid Al Dhaheri | Prema | 1m49.502s | +0.852s | 29 |
| 16 | Alfio Spina | BVM Racing | 1m49.696s | +1.046s | 32 |
| 17 | Frederik Lund | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m49.840s | +1.190s | 26 |
| 18 | Jack Beeton | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m50.057s | +1.407s | 29 |
| 19 | Pablo Sarrazin | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m50.147s | +1.497s | 28 |
| 20 | Matteo Quintarelli | R-ace GP | 1m50.150s | +1.500s | 29 |
| 21 | Aurelia Nobels | Prema | 1m50.351s | +1.701s | 27 |
| 22 | Tina Hausmann | AKM Motorsport | 1m50.377s | +1.727s | 35 |
| 23 | Griffin Peebles | BVM Racing | 1m50.588s | +1.938s | 35 |
| 24 | Ismail Akhmed | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m50.685s | +2.035s | 33 |
| 25 | Davide Larini | AKM Motorsport | 1m50.832s | +2.182s | 29 |
| 26 | Diego de la Torre | AKM Motorsport | 1m50.876s | +2.226s | 23 |