Sebastian Wheldon wins debut Italian F4 race at Misano

Photo: ACI Sport

Prema’s Sebastian Wheldon took a comfortable victory in the opening race of the Italian Formula 4 championship at Misano on his European racing debut.

The Anglo-American, son of double Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon and supported by Andretti Global, had to fight his way past polesitter Salim Hanna as well as on-the-road leader Maxim Rehm, but once in front at one-third distance, he was able to control the race without threat from his pursuers.

With 41 entries, the field had been divided into three groups after qualifying, with each group to race against the other two in separate heats. The first race of the weekend thus saw groups B and C on track, with group A, headed by fastest qualifier Kean Nakamura-Berta sitting it out.

US Racing’s Rehm was one of four drivers to jump the start, sprinting into the lead into the first corner from the fourth row of the grid. Indeed, so egregious was his move that he was ahead of the front row starters almost before they had had time to react to the red lights going out.

Rehm, who would unsurprisingly incur a 10-second penalty for his move, held the lead for the first five laps as Hanna and Wheldon trailed him, with his US Racing team-mate Luka Sammalisto in fourth.

The leading quartet soon built up a gap to Gabriel Gomez in fifth, as the third US Racing driver fought to hold off the Prema trio of Sasha Bondarev, Newman Chi and Tomass Stolcermanis.

At the front, Wheldon got a run on Hanna – the Colombian being supported by compatriot Sebastian Montoya trackside – past the pits as they started lap four, moving ahead into the chicane and setting after Rehm.

Two laps later he dragged past the German into Turn 13 to take the lead on the road. Rehm would drop back down the field, finishing sixth on the road, although his penalty dropped him to tenth in the final classification.

The order at the front remained stable with neither Hanna nor Sammalisto able to make any inroads into the gap to Wheldon.

Gomez held onto fourth, with Stolcermanis coming out on top of the internal Prema contest behind him. Bondarev was forced to pit, rejoining at the tail of the field and subsequently enduring a lonely run to 22nd.

Race result (17 laps)