Photo: ACI Sport
Van Amersfoort Racing’s Hiyu Yamakoshi has become an Italian Formula 4 race-winner after Prema’s Freddie Slater was disqualified from victory in today’s race at Imola.
Yamakoshi had started on pole but got overtaken by Slater following a safety car restart and despite repeatedly setting new fastest laps while chasing the leader he was unable to get back past him and finished 0.359 seconds behind.
It was Slater’s fourth successive victory, having won all three races in the opening round at Misano, but post-race there was “an irregularity found with the front wing of his car during technical checks” and so he was disqualified.
Prema has appealed the disqualification, which has significantly reduced Slater’s championship lead from 46 to 18 points as Yamakoshi rises from third to second in the standings by inheriting victory.
“I was very nervous before the start. It was my very first time on pole position. It was my first time starting behind the safety car in P1, and I made a mistake,” said Yamakoshi. “Today the start was quite good, I need to improve on the restart from the safety car, but the pace was quite good.”
Slater’s team-mate Alex Powell slips down to third in the standings, 21 points off the top, and a further nine points behind him is US Racing’s Akshay Bohra who moved up into second place in the race results.
Dion Gowda now completes the race one podium in third, but the Prema driver has no change in his championship position.