Photo: ACI Sport
Freddie Slater nabbed top spot with his final lap of free practice for round one of the Italian Formula 4 season at Misano.
His 1m34.490s right at the end of a red-flagged second session was enough to pip the FP1 benchmark set by US Racing’s Akshay Bohra by just 0.012 seconds.
The duo and Slater’s Prema team-mate Alex Powell were consistently at the top in both 40-minute sessions, with Powell ending practice 0.161s behind.
Slater set the early pace under clear blue skies when FP1 got underway, setting four fastest laps on successive tours to lead the way with a 1m34.957s. Powell then moved ahead, before Bohra set a 1m34.502s with just over 10 minutes remaining that would go unbeaten
Dark clouds began to threaten overhead when FP2 began in the afternoon but the session remained dry, the sun breaking through in the latter stages.
Once again Bohra was to the fore, posting the first sub-1m36s lap of the session, before Slater and then Powell moved to the top.
Jenzer Motorsport’s Reno Francot and US Racing’s Gianmarco Pradel briefly took turns in first place before Alpine junior Kean Nakamura Berta set a 1m35.003s.
After a lull as the entire field bar Maffi Racing’s Nathanael Berreby headed to the pits, Powell returned to the top, before being again demoted by Bohra.
However it was Slater who ended as fastest with his last lap before red flags with less than a minute left on the clock as BVM Racing’s Jan Koller had an off.
Van Amersfoort Racing’s Gustav Jonsson was fourth fastest overall thanks to a strong lap in FP1. He was among the 21 drivers who failed to improve their pace in FP2.
Prema’s Tomass Stolcermanis played himself in after languishing in 22nd place in the morning, rising to fifth place with a stronger performance in the second session.
Matheus Ferreira and Jack Beeton completed a strong showing for US Racing in sixth and seventh, with Jenzer Motorsport’s Ethan Ischer in eighth. They too all set personal bests in FP1.
Free practice results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Freddie Slater | Prema | 1m34.490s | 30 | |
| 2 | Akshay Bohra | US Racing | 1m34.502s | +0.012s | 20 |
| 3 | Alex Powell | Prema | 1m34.676s | +0.186s | 30 |
| 4 | Gustav Jonsson | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m34.831s | +0.341s | 26 |
| 5 | Tomass Stolcermanis | Prema | 1m34.851s | +0.361s | 28 |
| 6 | Matheus Ferreira | US Racing | 1m34.887s | +0.397s | 22 |
| 7 | Jack Beeton | US Racing | 1m34.938s | +0.448s | 23 |
| 8 | Ethan Ischer | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m34.945s | +0.455s | 28 |
| 9 | Hiyu Yamakoshi | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m34.961s | +0.471s | 24 |
| 10 | Gianmarco Pradel | US Racing | 1m34.991s | +0.501s | 25 |
| 11 | Rashid Al Dhaheri | Prema | 1m34.997s | +0.507s | 28 |
| 12 | Kean Nakamura Berta | Prema | 1m35.003s | +0.513s | 27 |
| 13 | Reno Francot | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m35.055s | +0.565s | 29 |
| 14 | Davide Larini | PHM Racing | 1m35.056s | +0.566s | 26 |
| 15 | Andrej Petrovic | PHM Racing | 1m35.147s | +0.657s | 29 |
| 16 | Maxim Rehm | US Racing | 1m35.154s | +0.664s | 24 |
| 17 | Enzo Yeh | R-ace GP | 1m35.215s | +0.725s | 34 |
| 18 | Kabir Anurag | US Racing | 1m35.239s | +0.749s | 23 |
| 19 | Maximilian Popov | PHM Racing | 1m35.240s | +0.750s | 22 |
| 20 | Emanuele Olivieri | AKM Motorsport | 1m35.243s | +0.753s | 35 |
| 21 | Shimo Zhang | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m35.245s | +0.755s | 32 |
| 22 | Dion Gowda | Prema | 1m35.311s | +0.821s | 30 |
| 23 | Enea Frey | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m35.326s | +0.836s | 31 |
| 24 | Kamal Mrad | PHM Racing | 1m35.382s | +0.892s | 27 |
| 25 | Lin Hodenius | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m35.502s | +1.012s | 27 |
| 26 | Alvise Rodella | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m35.525s | +1.035s | 26 |
| 27 | Luka Sammalisto | R-ace GP | 1m35.580s | +1.090s | 32 |
| 28 | Andrija Kostic | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m35.687s | +1.197s | 26 |
| 29 | Alexander Savinkov | AKM Motorsport | 1m35.724s | +1.234s | 36 |
| 30 | Kai Daryanani | Cram Motorsport | 1m35.808s | +1.318s | 31 |
| 31 | Luca Viisoreanu | Real Racing Team | 1m35.860s | +1.370s | 35 |
| 32 | Everett Stack | PHM Racing | 1m36.001s | +1.511s | 27 |
| 33 | Edu Robinson | AS Motorsport | 1m36.020s | +1.530s | 35 |
| 34 | Andrei Duna | Real Racing Team | 1m36.407s | +1.917s | 39 |
| 35 | Jan Koller | BVM Racing | 1m36.538s | +2.048s | 34 |
| 36 | Gabriel Holguin | Maffi Racing | 1m37.675s | +3.185s | 32 |
| 37 | Nathanael Berreby | Maffi Racing | 1m39.811s | +5.321s | 34 |