VAR’s Yamakoshi tops Italian F4 practice at Mugello

Photo: ACI Sport

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Hiyu Yamakoshi was fastest in Italian Formula 4 practice at Mugello on Friday morning.

There were two 40-minute sessions, and US Racing’s Matheus Ferreira started FP1 on top as one of the first drivers to set a flying lap eight minutes in. His team-mate Akshay Bohra then lowered the pace slightly, before another improvement which made him the first person to lap sub-1m50s.

AKM motorsport’s Emanuele Oliveri was briefly second, but over a second slower than Bohra. After 14 minutes there were seven drivers who had lapped in the 1m49s, with US’s Gianmarco Pradel in second but trailing Bohra by 0.386 seconds.

Ferreira returned to the top with a 1m48.637s, with Yamakoshi also beating bohra with a 1m49.138s laptime. But Bohra responded with a 1m48.359s to reclaim top spot, and Prema’s Kean Nakamura Berta became his closest rival by setting a 1m48.426s.

US’s Jack Beeton was the next driver to occupy first place, setting a 1m48.305s 17 minutes in. Prema’s points leader Freddie Slater got within 0.002s of him, and Nakamura improved to 1m48.468s in fourth.

Although the track remained busy thereon, there was still a handful of drivers yet to go on a flying lap and improvements appeared less often. Prema’s Alex Powell went 29th fastest with 18 minutes to go, and four minutes rose to eighth place behind his team-mate Rashid Al Dhaheri.

There was then a change for 10th place with less than a minute left on the clock, as VAR’s Gustav Jonsson moved ahead of Jenzer Motorsport’s Enea Frey. Yamakoshi ended the session in 12th despite improving at the end, 0.621s off Beeton’s pace.

There were 13 drivers who failed to improve in FP2, including R-ace GP’s Luka Sammalisto who skipped the session entirely.

US’s Maxim Rehm was the pacesetter early on, then Nakamura came to the fore with a 1m49.597s lap. He bettered that by 0.067s to stay on top until with 15 minutes to go Olivieri set a 1m49.451s. Real Racing Team’s Luca Viisoreanu then shuffled Nakamura down to third, and an improvement to 1m48.175s kept him in that position as he was then beaten by Beeton and Slater.

Beeton set a 1m48.047s, with Slater just 0.023s slower, then with four minutes to go Yamakoshi lowered the pace to 1m47.985s.

Bohra was fifth fastest, although did not beat his personal best from FP1, and next up were Al Dhaheri and Powell.

Free practice results