Prema’s Slater sets the pace in Italian F4 pre-season testing at Misano

Photo: ACI Sport

Freddie Slater was fastest in Italian Formula 4 pre-season testing at Misano this week.

The 34-car entry list was split into two groups – which alternated being on track – with four sessions each per day. Group A was first out in the morning on Tuesday, then Group B headed out first on Wednesday.

Jenzer Motorsport’s Reno Francot topped the very first session, a 1m36.114s putting him 0.081 seconds ahead of Van Amersfoort Racing’s Gustav Jonsson and 0.089s up on R-ace GP’s Enzo Yeh. Hiyu Yamakoshi (VAR) was 0.388s back in fourth, with Enea Frey (Jenzer) 0.465s behind in fifth and Emanuele Olivieri (AKM Motorsport) 0.472s off the pace in sixth. The top 13 were covered by 0.88s.

Five drivers beat Francot’s benchmark when Group B headed out, with Matheus Ferreira leading a US Racing lockout of the top four places. He set a 1m35.855s to lead Akshay Bohra by 0.012s, with Gianmarco Pradel, Kabir Anurag and Prema’s Slater all within 0.1s of him.

Francot found more pace when Group A returned to track, setting a 1m35.448s to pip Yeh to top spot by 0.033s. Olivieri was 0.118s behind in third, and Jonsson also bettered Ferreira. This time 0.893s split the top 14 on pace.

The peak track conditions came as the afternoon began, and Slater set a new 1m35.154s benchmark in Group B. He was fastest by 0.206s, and there was 0.075s between second and sixth place (all beating Francot). Rashid Al Dhaheri, Tomass Stolcermanis and Kean Nakamura Berta completed an all-Prema top four, Ferreira was fifth and Prema’s Alex Powell was sixth.

Tuesday’s remaining sessions were slower. Olivieri was fastest by 0.726s over PHM Racing’s Maximilian Popov with a 1m36.669s in Group A’s third session, with VAR’s Andrija Kostic absent, and Powell set a 1m51.125 to top Group B.

Olivieri and Powell were fastest in the fourth sessions too. A 1m44.185s meant Olivieri edged Jonsson to top spot by 0.068s, and a 1m55.496s put Powell 0.082s ahead of Slater. Anurag and AS’s drivers skipped that session. The day ended with the top 22 covered by 0.947s in the combined timesheet.

Prema started Wednesday on top, with Slater setting a 1m36.834s to pip Nakamura by 0.004s, Stolcermanis by 0.098s and Powell by 0.157s.

Group A had a grippier track for its fifth session and Yamakoshi was fastest with a 1m35.179s. Olivieri and Jonsson were his closest rivals.

The pace was lowered to 1m35.085s by Slater in the next session, and he was only 0.016s faster than Nakamura. Stolcermanis and Powell were 0.128s and 0.131s behind, with Bohra fifth fastest.

Yamakoshi and Jonsson were split by 0.066s at the top in their group, but were slower than before as the former set a 1m35.343s to top the session.

Conditions worsened thereafter and laptimes were initially 17s slower, with Slater topping both Group B sessions while Yeh and Kosstic split Group A honours. Al Dhaheri missed the last session.

Test results