Race 2 at Vallelunga once again ends with the Italian flag waving on the highest step of the podium, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli collecting his 7th victory, the fifth in a row. Starting from pole, the Bolognese of PREMA Racing, builds a gap and manages the race, also looking out for his tyres, in the hottest weekend so far faced by the single-seaters of the Italian F.4 Championship.  P2 for the UK driver of PHM Racing, Taylor Barnard, who gains the position in the first lap: "the first lap was a carnage", commented after the podium, saying he was "lucky" to have been able to gain several positions at the start. Third on the podium was again a PREMA driver, Austrian Charlie Wurz, who thus took back the weekend into his own hands after yesterday's unlucky start. Rafa Camara is out of the race in the early stages, stopped by a puncture, is forced to pit-in. Now the focus of the Brazilian is on the last race (start at 14.00). Antonelli took, therefore, the advantage in the lead.

The race is very exciting in the early stages, with an excellent start by Kacper Sztuka, US Racing, who immediately gets into P2, behind Antonelli (starting on pole position), but is immediately forced to face the assaults of the Polish driver to maintain the lead. At times Sztuka manages to put his nose in front of his rival's car, with the 2 having touching at Campagnano turn. There are no consequences, but Antonelli manages to come out of the corner well and begins to pull away, putting seconds between himself and his pursuers.

 

Behind, however, Sztuka, with Rafa Camara in his slipstream, and Charlie Wurz are very compact. Behind Taylor Barnard squeezes in between the PREMA drivers. Then Camara is stopped by a puncture and is forced to cut a corner. In the confusion Sztuka goes wide and allows Wurz, Barnard and Alexander Dunne (US Racing) to overtake and slips into P5.

In P6 Marcus Amand, US Racing, then Conrad Laursen (PREMA Racing), followed by Martinius Stenshorne (Van Amersfoort Racing) and Nikita Bedrin (PHM Racing).

It was precisely these two who were later involved in a fine battle that put on a spectacular show on the track named after Piero Taruffi. In the end it was Bedrin who got the better of it, with the Norwegian again managing to finish into the points. PREMA Racing's FDA driver James Wharton gained positions from P10 and finished 7th under the chequered flag, completing the trio in red on the Rookie class podium.

At the head of the race, Taylor Barnard took the P2 with an aggressive overtaking move on Wurz, who had to put his wheels on the grass. Antonelli is unstoppable and his dominance remains unchallenged, with a gap that at times even exceeds 6''.

Also offering a good show in the group is PHM Racing driver Victoria Blokhina, who is involved in a good fight with Valerio Rinicella (AKM Motorsport). The Roman driver eventually gets the better of the tussle, but over the weekend at Vallelunga the female driver is offering a spectacle on the track with exciting battles, as already shown in race 1.

The arrival order is: 1. Antonelli; 2. Barnard; 3. Wurz; 4. Dunne; 5. Sztuka; 6. Amand; 7. Wharton; 8. Laursen; 9. Bedrin; 10. Stenshorne.

 

Andrea Kimi Antonelli: "it was a good race. The start was not the best, at Campagnano I made contact with the opponent behind me, then I took advantage of the battle behind and managed to open up a good gap. Then I controlled it a bit, especially the tyres, I must say it was a good race. In the next race we will have four used tyres, but with the pace we have, it won't be a problem."

Taylor Barnard: “the start was very hectic. I managed to get a few places at the start, but it was a very good race, I have great pace. The car was really, really good, hopefully another result in the last race. The whole first lap was just carnage, I just took every opportunity I had.”

Charlie Wurz: “it was a bit unfortunate to stall yesterday, because we had the pace for another podium. In the end I just focused today for both races. Today was better definitely, being on the podium. A bit unfortunate in fighting for P2, I was pushed of track and went on the grass, then after that I couldn’t really catch back up to finish second. P3 is still positive, I can be happy with that.”

Now the wait is for race 3, live at 14.00.