Slater follows up non-start with 11th Italian F4 win at Paul Ricard

Photo: ACI Sport

Freddie Slater bounced back from missing race one at Paul Ricard to take his 11th Italian Formula 4 win in race two.

The Prema driver fought his way through from fourth on the grid, passing US Racing’s Akshay Bohra just after half-distance and pulling away for victory.

“Yesterday we just had too many technical issues but that’s motorsport and we can’t do too much about it, but then to bounce back [is great],” Slater told Formula Scout afterwards. “We had the pace, although conditions were quite hard as it was actually raining in sector three, so we were just trying to stay on track rather than go for the win at one point.

“I managed to get the pass done and then to stretch my lead a little bit. A good bounce back and massive thanks to Prema.

“We got the set-up right. We found a really good balance in a race situation and that made me be able to deliver the pace.”

Bohra held off team-mate Jack Beeton for second, with Gustav Jonsson keeping his Van Amersfoort Racing team-mate Hiyu Yamakoshi behind for fourth.

Poleman Bohra made a perfect start but a lock-up from Beeton allowed Yamakoshi up to second before an incident in the midfield brought out the safety car.

When racing resumed on lap four, Beeton sensed an opportunity to regain the place but as he looked to the outside, Slater was able to dive to the inside into turn five, with Beeton heading through the run-off.

Slater was soon onto the tail of Yamakoshi, lining up a move as they moved onto the Mistral straight and sweeping past before braking for the chicane.

Behind them, Gianmarco Pradel was the interloper in a five-car Prema battle which ended as the US Racing driver was pushed wide on the pit straight by Tomass Stolcermanis, who lost his front wing against team-mate Kean Nakamura Berta.

Slater had rapidly closed the gap to Bohra, appearing to have more grip as he held a tighter line though the corners, giving him momentum onto the Mistral straight.

Bohra defended but as they started lap nine, Slater was in his slipstrea, and looked to the outside at turn one, before sailing past on the short run to turn three.

Beeton found his way back onto the tail of Bohra but had to settle for third.

Yamakoshi pressured Jonsson on the final lap, and Prema’s Rashid Al Dhaheri joined their battle. However their positions went unchanged.

Race one update: Yamakoshi was one of seven drivers penalised after race one on Saturday. He dropped from third to sixth after incurring a five-second penalty for cutting turns one and two on lap one and gaining an advantage.

A penalty for Pradel dropped him out of the points, promoting Stolcermanis to 10th.

Race results (14 laps)