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Pizzi handed Italian F4 win after Mini penalised for illegal pass

by Ida Wood

Photo: ACI Sport

Francesco Pizzi has been declared winner of the first Italian Formula 4 race of the weekend at Monza, as Gabriele Mini has been handed a post-race penalty.

Prema’s Mini beat Van Amersfoort Racing’s Pizzi to the finish line in the 14-lap race by just 0.015 seconds in a photo finish.

The pass for the lead from Mini came on the very last corner of the last lap, taking the outside line of Parabolica to draw alongside Pizzi and then drag his way past his title rival as they met the chequered flag.

However Mini was deemed to have crossed the white line on the outside of the corner that marked the legal limit of the track, meaning Mini’s move actually occurred while he was off-track according to the stewards.

The resultant five-second penalty drops points leader Mini down to 10th in the final race classification, with the field closely packed after a safety car period.

Pizzi inherits his second win of the season ahead of Cram Motorsport’s Andrea Rosso and Jenzer Motorsport’s Filip Ugran, and passes Rosso for second in the points as a result.

Below is the updated race result and championship standings:

Race results (14 laps)
Pos Driver Team Time
1 Francesco Pizzi Van Amersfoort Racing 32m48.947s
2 Andrea Rosso Cram Motorsport +1.723s
3 Filip Ugran Jenzer Motorsport +1.763
4 Leonardo Fornaroli Iron Lynx +1.817s
5 Sebastian Montoya Prema +3.575s
6 Bence Valint Van Amersfoort Racing +3.710s
7 Sebastian Ogaard Bhaitech +4.200s
8 Piotr Wisnicki Jenzer Motorsport +4.392s
9 Santiago Ramos Jenzer Motorsport +4.799s
10 Gabriele Mini Prema +4.985s
11 Francesco Simonazzi BVM Racing +5.192s
12 Dexter Patterson Bhaitech +6.299s
13 Cenyu Han Van Amersfoort Racing +10.232s
14 Zdenek Chovanec Bhaitech +10.631s
15 Sebastian Freymuth AS Motorsport +10.794s
16 Georgios Markogiannis Cram Motorsport +11.245s
17 Dino Beganovic Prema +19.539s
18 Gabriel Bortoleto Prema +1 lap
19 Lorenzo Fluxa AKM Motorsport +1 lap
20 Jesse Salmenautio Bhaitech +4 laps
21 Taylor Barnard AKM Motorsport +4 laps
22 Pietro Delli Guanti BVM Racing +5 laps
Ret Lorenzo Patrese AKM Motorsport
Ret Hamda Al Qubaisi Abu Dhabi Racing
Ret Axel Gnos G4 Racing
Fastest lap: Montoya, 1m54.193s

Championship Standings
1 Mini 197   2 Pizzi 142   3 Rosso 139   4 Ugran 116   5 Jonny Edgar 107   6 Beganovic 104   7 Bortoleto 92   8 Jak Crawford 85   9 Montoya 55   10 Fornaroli 47