Slater sails away to another Vallelunga victory in Italian F4

Photo: ACI Sport

Prema’s Freddie Slater was victorious again in Italian Formula 4’s second race at Vallelunga.

Slater made a strong start from pole, while Van Amersfoort Racing’s Hiyu Yamakoshi in third had to simultaneously defend from Prema’s Tomass Stolcermanis and US Racing’s Matheus Ferreira through the first sector of lap one.

He managed to keep both behind until the safety car was summoned due to PHM Racing’s Everett Stack and VAR’s Andrija Kostic colliding at turn seven and retiring in the gravel. AKM Motorsport’s Alexander Savinkov had to also go through the gravel to avoid them but managed to rejoin the track and then make a pitstop, while Real Racing Team’s Luca Viisoreanu spun down to 33rd place.

Although the two crashed cars were recovered quickly, racing did not resume until lap five. There was little change in the top 15 on the restart lap, although Prema’s Dion Gowda did lock up at turn seven and that put him under pressure from US’s Gianmarco Pradel, who dived past him at the turn 12 hairpin.

Gowda then had to get defensive against VAR’s Gustav Jonsson and R-ace GP’s Luka Sammalisto through the rest of the lap, and kept ninth place while Sammalisto passed Jonsson.

Sammalisto’s progress was short-lived as on the next lap he checked up at turn seven to avoid running into the car in front and ended up get rearended himself. He spun onto the grass, and was able to rejoin at the back of the pack.

Meanwhile up front Slater was setting the pace, with three fastest laps in a row putting him 2.373 seconds clear of team-mate Alex Powell by the end of lap eight. He continued to grow his lead, and finished the 18-lap race 5.264s ahead.

Powell was shown a black-and-a-white warning flag as he was gapped by Slater, and he came home a second ahead of Yamakoshi who made several lock-ups while being pressured by Stolcermanis and Ferreira.

Jenzer Motorsport’s Ethan Ischer held off US’s Akshay Bohra for sixth, with Pradel, Gowda and Jonsson completing the top 10. There was late drama in the battle for 11th, as Prema’s Kean Nakamura Berta and US’s Jack Beeton banged rear wheels and Nakamura’s car was briefly sent into the air, but it did not lead to him losing the position.

Rashid Al Dhaheri joined the retiree list mid-race after losing half of his front wing while running in 14th, having made contact with US’s Maxim Rehm, and Savinkov recovered to 25th despite a clash late in the race.

Race results (18 laps)