Photo: ACI Sport
US Racing’s Luka Sammalisto was fastest in both practice sessions for the Italian Formula 4 finale at Misano.
The track was very busy, with 44 drivers taking part. New GB4 champion Ary Bansal was debuting with US Racing, despite the Indian signing up to race in Saudi Arabian F4 this weekend, while Reno Francot (PHM Racing), Alexander Savinkov (R-ace GP) and Francesco Coppola (Technorace) returned to the paddock after missing rounds.
Also debuting this weekend are Oscar Repetto (Cram Motorsport), Nicolas Cortes and Florentin Hattemer (both Jenzer Motorsport) and Niccolo Maccagnani. The future Ferrari junior, who turned 15 in August, will be driving for BVM Racing which was last on the grid a year ago.
R-ace’s Andy Consani and Emanuele Olivieri were fastest at first in FP1, but the first sub-1m40s laptime did not appear until US’s Andrija Kostic set a 1m30.639s 11 minutes in.
Sammalisto was then briefly ahead before Olivieri returned to top spot, then US team-mates Kabir Anurag and Gabriel Gomez lowered the pace.
A 1m37.100s put Sammalisto back into first place, before Van Amersfoort Racing’s Maximilian Popov went on a run that included three new benchmark laptimes.
Sammalisto beat him by 0.196 seconds with seven-and-a-half minutes to go of the 44-minute session, then Gomez edged ahead by 0.006s. First place was reclaimed by Sammalisto by the same margin, with Anurag and Prema’s Sebastian Wheldon also within 0.1s of his pace.
Jenzer’s Artem Severiukhin was sixth, and Prema’s points leader Kean Nakamura Berta was 0.538s off Sammalisto in 15th. A second covered the top 22, and 88 laptimes were deleted due to track limits abuse.
Everyone set personal bests in FP2. Maffi Racing’s Kirill Kutskov was first to the top, then VAR’s Dante Vinci led the way. Sammalisto was first into the 1m37s, with VAR’s Alexander Ruta and Anurag bettering him slightly in the next two minutes.
Gomez set two laps in the 1m36s, and later Wheldon lowered the pace to 1m36.284s. His team-mate Salim Hanna Hernandez beat that by 0.01s, and seven seconds later Newman Chi went quicker than him by 0.009s to complete a Prema 1-2-3.
Wheldon went fastest by 0.227s on his next lap, and later in the session Chi set a 1m35.939s to move back ahead. He was toppled three minutes from the end, with Sammalisto going quickest by 0.242s.
Popov and Wheldon were within 0.35s of the pace, and Prema’s Andrea Dupe pipped Gomez to fifth. Kostic and Vinci were closely matched behind, but over half a second off.
There was a second between first and 22nd place again, with Maccagnani completing that group after missing FP1, and 62 laps were lost to track limits offences.
Free practice results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luka Sammalisto | US Racing | 1m35.697s | 35 | |
| 2 | Newman Chi | Prema | 1m35.939s | +0.242s | 33 |
| 3 | Maximilian Popov | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m36.021s | +0.324s | 33 |
| 4 | Sebastian Wheldon | Prema | 1m36.038s | +0.341s | 29 |
| 5 | Andrea Dupe | Prema | 1m36.180s | +0.483s | 32 |
| 6 | Gabriel Gomez | US Racing | 1m36.184s | +0.487s | 27 |
| 7 | Andrija Kostic | US Racing | 1m36.228s | +0.531s | 34 |
| 8 | Dante Vinci | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m36.258s | +0.561s | 36 |
| 9 | Sasha Bondarev | Prema | 1m36.269s | +0.572s | 33 |
| 10 | Salim Hanna Hernandez | Prema | 1m36.274s | +0.577s | 29 |
| 11 | Bart Harrison | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m36.368s | +0.671s | 29 |
| 12 | Artem Severiukhin | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m36.373s | +0.676s | 33 |
| 13 | Kean Nakamaura Berta | Prema | 1m36.383s | +0.686s | 33 |
| 14 | Emanuele Olivieri | R-ace GP | 1m36.392s | +0.695s | 33 |
| 15 | Jan Koller | US Racing | 1m36.415s | +0.718s | 29 |
| 16 | Alexander Ruta | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m36.417s | +0.720s | 32 |
| 17 | Reno Francot | PHM Racing | 1m36.438s | +0.741s | 30 |
| 18 | Marcus Saeter | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m36.462s | +0.765s | 34 |
| 19 | Kabir Anurag | US Racing | 1m36.532s | +0.835s | 34 |
| 20 | David Cosma Cristofor | PHM Racing | 1m36.589s | +0.892s | 31 |
| 21 | Andy Consani | R-ace GP | 1m36.678s | +0.981s | 32 |
| 22 | Niccolo Maccagnani | BVM Racing | 1m36.678s | +0.981s | 19 |
| 23 | Payton Westcott | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m36.718s | +1.021s | 33 |
| 24 | Kirill Kutskov | Maffi Racing | 1m36.729s | +1.032s | 36 |
| 25 | Teo Schropp | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m36.822s | +1.125s | 32 |
| 26 | Alex Powell | R-ace GP | 1m36.853s | +1.156s | 30 |
| 27 | Elia Weiss | Cram Motorsport | 1m36.873s | +1.176s | 33 |
| 28 | Ary Bansal | US Racing | 1m36.892s | +1.195s | 34 |
| 29 | Ludovico Busso | US Racing | 1m36.903s | +1.206s | 33 |
| 30 | Alexander Savinkov | R-ace GP | 1m37.009s | +1.312s | 30 |
| 31 | Phil Colin Strenge | AS Motorsport | 1m37.134s | +1.437s | 35 |
| 32 | Nicolas Cortes | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m37.267s | +1.570s | 33 |
| 33 | Emily Cotty | R-ace GP | 1m37.301s | +1.604s | 30 |
| 34 | Florentin Hattemer | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m37.345s | +1.648s | 32 |
| 35 | David Walther | Maffi Racing | 1m37.395s | +1.698s | 32 |
| 36 | Mathilda Paatz | AS Motorsport | 1m37.428s | +1.731s | 35 |
| 37 | Andre Rodriguez | Cram Motorsport | 1m37.435s | +1.738s | 35 |
| 38 | Oscar Repetto | Cram Motorsport | 1m37.485s | +1.788s | 33 |
| 39 | Francesco Coppola | Technorace | 1m37.644s | +1.947s | 35 |
| 40 | Bader Al Sulaiti | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m37.710s | +2.013s | 31 |
| 41 | Antonio Errigo | Technorace | 1m37.841s | +2.144s | 36 |
| 42 | Guy Albag | R-ace GP | 1m37.854s | +2.157s | 31 |
| 43 | Nathanael Berreby | Maffi Racing | 1m38.599s | +2.902s | 32 |
| 44 | Kornelia Olkucka | Maffi Racing | 1m39.045s | +3.348s | 33 |