Niccolò Maccagnani set the pace in the first race of the season of the Italian Formula 4, held in Misano, where he led a spectacular 1-2-3 for his team, Prema Racing.
The Ferrari Academy driver, under the watchful eye of former academy director Jock Clear, gained the lead at the start, taking advantage of a mistake by poleman Alp Aksoy, who did not start the race with the expected speed. Maccagnani maintained a comfortable distance throughout the race while his teammates, Aksoy and Sasha Bondarev, took second and third positions, respectively.
With a total of 47 vehicles qualified on Friday night, the grid was divided into three groups, each competing twice before the final race on Sunday. The US Racing driver, Luka Sammalisto, secured pole for races two and three, while Aksoy was the fastest in the initial qualifying, which pitted Group B against Group C.
After an accident that brought out the safety car, Maccagnani quickly reaffirmed his advantage over Aksoy and Bondarev. The R-ace GP driver, Kenzo Craigie, initially led the chasing group, followed by Oleksandr Savinkov and Bader Al Sulaiti from Jenzer Motorsport.
Thomas Bearman from Van Amersfoort Racing made a spectacular start, rising from **15th** to **8th** position, pressuring Bansal for seventh place, while Arjen Kraeling from the same team sought to secure fourth place. The battle in this group remained intense, with all drivers trying to capitalize on strategy on the challenging Misano track.
In the closing laps, Craigie managed to overtake Savinkov at the first corner, after the Ukrainian driver went off track, allowing Bansal to take advantage of the situation. A subsequent contact caused Savinkov to drop to **new** position, while Bansal solidified fourth place and Bearman finished with a respectable **seventh** in his debut in the series.
Other drivers linked to Formula 1 teams had a difficult start. Andy Consani, a protégé of Mercedes-AMG, and Christian Costoya from McLaren were involved in the incident that brought out the safety car, with Consani retiring shortly thereafter. Costoya, despite the challenges, fought up to **15th** position in the final classification.
Race Results (16 laps)
Position | Driver | Team | Time
1 | Niccolò Maccagnani | Prema Racing | 27m52.600s
2 | Alp Aksoy | Prema Racing | +1.170s
3 | Sasha Bondarev | Prema Racing | +3.324s
4 | Ary Bansal | US Racing | +9.509s
5 | Arjen Kraeling | US Racing | +10.199s
6 | Bader Al Sulaiti | Jenzer Motorsport | +11.473s
7 | Thomas Bearman | Van Amersfoort Racing | +12.947s
8 | Florentin Hattemer | Trident Motorsport | +16.373s
9 | Oleksandr Savinkov | US Racing | +21.970s
10 | Knud Nielsen | Real Racing | +23.180s
Pole position: Aksoy, 1m35.637s
Fastest lap: Aksoy, 1m35.907s
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
