US Racing’s Kacper Sztuka fastest on day one of 66-car F4 test at Spa

Photo: Formula Winter Series

Teams from the Italian and Spanish Formula 4 championships started a two-day test at Spa-Francorchamps today.

US Racing’s Kacper Sztuka topped the first session for Italian F4 teams, setting a 2m24.018s to go fastest by 0.127 seconds over BVM Racing’s Alfio Spina.

Prema’s James Wharton was 0.386s behind in third, with team-mate Ugo Ugochukwu and US’s Zachary David being the only other drivers within a second of the pace.

Campos Racing’s Enzo Deligny was fastest when the Spanish F4 teams took to track for the first time, and his fastest lap was a 2m23.557s.

Just 0.094s slower than him was team-mate Jesse Carrasqueo Jr, and 0.152s behind was Matteo de Palo to make a Campos 1-2-3.

Sainteloc Racing’s Theophile Nael was 0.319s back in fourth, with Andres Cardenas, Christian Ho (both Campos), Valerio Rinicella (MP Motorsport) and Ricardo Gracia (Monlau Motorsport) all within a tenth of him.

De Palo lowered the pace in session two to 2m23.440s, with Noah Stromsted, Ho and Cardenas completing a Campos lockout of the top four. Rinicella, MP’s Pedro Clerot and Gracia were the only drivers to get within a second of de Palo, while Deligny failed to set a flying lap.

Prema’s Arvid Lindblad led the way for most of the second Italian F4 session, with his 2m23.335s benchmark only being beaten nine minutes from the end as Van Amersfoort Racing’s Brando Badoer set two laps good enough for first place.

He finished 0.225s clear of Lindblad, with David a further 0.015s back. Prema’s Tuukka Taponen and late improver Spina completed the top five. This time the top 19’s pace was covered by a second.

The Spanish F4 contingent returned to track in the afternoon, and initially Ho set the pace. He and de Palo were first in session three to lap in the 2m24s, but had been shuffled to third and fourth by the time the session was cut short by red flags caused by Maxi Restrepo as Carrasquedo had set a 2m23.860s and Stromsted had gone second fastest with a 2m24.141s. Only three drivers bettered their morning pace.

Ivan Domongues, Lindblad and Valentin Kluss each spent time at the top in the third Italian F4 session, before Badoer went fastest with 10 minutes to go. He was usurped at the very end by Sztuka, to the tune of 0.280s.

Nael and Stromsted traded fastest laps in the fourth Spanish F4 session, although Ho led the way at the halfway point before everyone headed to the pits.

Rinicella went fastest with 10 minutes left on the clock, setting a 2m22.876s. Ho joined him in going sub-2m23s, then went to the top before Pablo Sarrazin brought out red flags. All but four of the drivers set their fastest lap in session four.

The day ended with Sztuka topping the final Italian F4 session. A 2m22.293s lap put him 0.073 seconds clear of David, with Ugochukwu 0.177s behind in third. Sztuka’s session three best ended up being the fastest lap of the day.

Day one results