Sauber’s Stanek beats Ferrari’s Petecof in F4 battle at Vallelunga

Roman Stanek snatched victory from Gianluca Petecof on the final lap of the second Italian Formula 4 race at Vallelunga.

Poleman Stanek, inheriting the position from Niklas Krutten, fell backwards on the first lap of racing ? after a safety car start ? but battled his way back to challenge Petecof in the closing stages of the race.

Petecof, who managed a stunning opening lap to climb from fourth to the race lead, defended hard, but Stanek was able to get alongside him and take the race lead just a few corners before the chequered flag. Stanek crossed the line 1.1s ahead of Petecof to take his first win in the series.

Ido Cohen spent much of the race running second but, after Stanek passed the Van Amersfoort driver, came under pressure from Joshua Durksen. Durksen passed Cohen in the closing stages of the race to complete the podium, although Cohen pipped the Mucke Motorsport driver to fastest lap.

Race one runner-up Mikhail Belov completed the top five for Bhaitech.

The first casualty of the race came before the cars took to the track as Gregoire Saucy, who qualified second, failed to take the grid. Next was?Erwin Zanotti, who span and ran wide into the gravel.

A number of cars scrambled to avoid him, but Francesco Simonazzi collided with Zanotti’s rear wing, taking both drivers out of the race and bringing out the safety car.

On the restart, the top five managed to break away from the rest of the field while Prema’s Oliver Rasmussen led the midfield battle. He fell back in the closing stages of the race, promoting William Alatalo to sixth.

Alessandro Famularo had been in the midst of the battle when he made contact with another driver and dropped backwards, eventually coming into the pits to retire five laps before the chequered flag.

Umberto Laganella took seventh, ahead of Dennis Hauger and Krutten, who both managed remarkable climbs up from the tail end of the grid.

Race round-up (15 laps)