Wheldon fastest in Italian F4 practice at Monza

Photo: ACI Sport

Prema’s Sebastian Wheldon was fastest in Italian Formula 4 free practice at Monza on Friday.

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Maximilan Popov was quickest early on in FP1. His team-mate Dante Vinci was first to beat him, setting a 1m54.004s, then Jenzer Motorsport’s Artem Severiukhin brough the pace down into the 1m53s.

A minute later, PHM Racing’s Andrea Dupe posted a 1m53.634s to go fastest but was only on top for a few seconds before US Racing’s Andrija Kostic beat him by 0.065 seconds.

Vinci and team-mate Alexander Ruta lowered the pace on their next laps, then US Racing’s drivers crossed the line and the slipstream effect meant the driver at the back of the train went fastest. Gabriel Gomez was briefly in first place, then Kabir Anurag and Kostic.

The response from Vinci on his next lap was a 1m53.005s, and he provided a slipstream to Popov who recorded the first sub-1m53s lap.

His 1m52.672s benchmark stood for 20 minutes, and he had a gap of a third of a second for most of that.

Vinci eventually usurped him by 0.087s, and not long after US’s Maxim Rehm went quickest by 0.04s and Wheldon jumped up to third. He was 0.098s off the top, and on his next lap set a 1m52.260s to lead PHM’s David Cosma Cristofor by 0.277s.

Anurag improved in sixth with three minutes to go, and on the lap after set a 1m52.079s to top FP1 by 0.181s. Popov was 0.442s behind in third, ahead of Cosma, Rehm and his team-mate Luka Sammalisto. The top 23 were covered by a second, and Alex Powell was the highest placed of R-ace GP’s drivers in 20th.

There was a single red flag stoppage, and two very early ones in FP2 which had far fewer changes at the top of the timesheet.

Rehm laid down a 1m54.823s as the time to beat at first, and AS Motorsport’s Phil Colin Strenge surprised by being the driver to beat it. Red flags waved shortly after, and once the session was restarted Popov went by 0.911s at the top with a 1m53.623s lap.

Prema’s Sasha Bondarev and Salim Hanna Hernandez swiftly bettered him, with Hanna setting a 1m52.748s, and on his next lap Wheldon improved to 1m52.24s.

It was not until 16 minutes later that he was beaten, as Popov posted a 1m51.933s. Wheldon responded, reclaiming first place by 0.278s.

His gap was swiftly cut to 0.127s by Hanna, and behind Popov were Bondarev and Gomez.

Anurag was 1.074s off the pace in 18th, and one of 15 drivers not to improve on their FP1 personal bests. He concluded practice in sixth overall, and R-ace’s pace struggles continued as Emanuele Oliveri ended up as their top driver in 17th.

Maffi Racing’s David Walther set identical personal bests in both sessions.

There were two additions to the grid this weekend, as Jenzer brings Javier Herrera across from its F4 Central European Zone line-up and Cram Motorsport has signed Andre Rodrigues for a part-time campaign.

Free practice results