PHM’s David Cosma Cristofor sets qualifying pace by 1.5s in Italian F4

Photo: ACI Sport

PHM Racing’s David Cosma Cristofor was quickest overall in Italian Formula 4 qualifying, which took place on a wet but drying track.

Jenzer Motorsport’s Enea Frey went straight to the top in group one, then team-mate Artem Severiukhin and Prema’s Kean Nakamura Berta beat him as they dropped into the 1m52s.

R-ace GP’s Emanuele Olivieri was first into the 1m51s on his second lap, pipping US Racing’s Maxim Rehm to first place.

Gabriel Gomez briefly held third place after setting his third lap, before being demoted by Prema’s Newman Chi. The pace was then lowered by Jenzer’s drivers, with Frey setting a 1m51.92s then Severiukhin posting a 1m51.748s.

Moments later Olivieri smashed them out of the park, lapping in 1m50.908s as team-mate Alex Powell jumped up to second with a 1m51.167s. Rehm improved to fourth, setting a 1m51.886s.

Gomez beat him by 0.088 seconds on his fourth lap to take over the position, then on his fifth set another personal best. His 1m51.012s moved him up to second. Half a minute later he was almost 0.8s off the pace as Nakamura set a 1m50.228s on his fifth lap.

Drivers soon pitted to fit new tyres, or switch around the set they were using, and on a clear track Rehm and then Van Amersfoort Racing’s Maximilian Popov made pace gains to take over fifth place.

Rehm improved again on his ninth lap, a 1m50.459s putting him in second, and Popov climbed to third with a 1m50.763s.

In the final two minutes, Gomez got within 0.07s of Nakamura, and with 50s to go Olivieri was 0.097s off the benchmark with his eighth lap.

The chequered flag waved and Gomez reduced the gap to 0.012s, but Nakamura then eased his wat to a 1m49.658s to grow his advantage to 0.582s.

Olivieri reduced it slightly to 0.537s, Rehm set a 1m50.235s to demote Gomez to fourth, and Popov was a non-improver in fifth. Jenzer’s Teo Schropp was an impressive sixth, despite aborting his final lap, and Severiukhin improved to seventh after the finish.

Nakamura’s odds on being the fastest driver in the 40-car field were slim due to the track getting grippier, and on their very first laps in group two Prema’s Tomass Stolcermanis and Jenzer’s Bart Harrison beat him.

Stolcermanis set a 1m48.341s, then improved to 1m47.426s on his third lap to lead US’s Kabir Anurag and Prema’s Sebastian Wheldon.

VAR’s Marcus Saeter was next to the top, posting a 1m47.274s as team-mate Dante Vinci slotted into third with a 1m47.457s.

On his third lap, Stolcermanis reclaimed provisional pole with a 1m47.059s, and Wheldon got within 0.194s off him on his next attempt.

There were fewer improvements therafter, with Prema’s Salim hanna Hernandez setting a 1m47.296s to go fourth fastest with 10 minutes to go.

A few minutes later, US’s Luka Sammalisto toppled Stolcermanis by 0.346s on what was only his fourth lap, despite the latter improving to 1m47.022s and Wheldon recording a 1m47.031s personal best. Saeter also found more pace, a 1m47.141s putting him fourth.

Entering the final two minutes, Cosma went from outside of the top 10 to pole, setting a 1m45.127s. Before anyone could respond, red flags ended qualifying one-and-a-half minutes early.

Qualifying results