Arvid Lindblad, Prema Racing Red Bull junior driver, makes it 3 out of 3 at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza and flies high in the standings after collecting a haul of points in the fourth round of the season. Already the Championship leader, the Londoner tightens his grip on the title with 75 points gained in 3 races, bringing his total to 221.5 points, extending his lead to 78.5 points over his closest rival (Ugo Ugochukwu with 143 points). The podium in Race 3 sees a couple of US Racing drivers celebrating alongside him. Kacper Sztuka finished second in the final Sunday race after a great start. At times, he even led the race, with multiple changes in the lead position among the top three drivers who were closely matched. It was then Ugo Ugochukwu, McLaren junior driver for Prema Racing, who led the race for a long time until he was involved in an incident with Lindblad that dropped him to P13, allowing his rival to secure an uncontested victory. It was in this instance that Singaporean driver Akshay Bohra moved up to third, taking advantage of his rival's difficulties after an exceptional race that saw him battling first with Australian James Wharton from the Ferrari Driver Academy and then with Emirati driver Rashid Al Dhaheri. Al Dhaheri, Prema Racing, ended Race 3 in fourth place, while Wharton claimed fifth. Among the top contenders for the podium was also Italian driver Brando Badoer from Van Amersfoort Racing, but he was forced to retire after his car started visibly smoking from the rear. Sixth place in Race 3 went to Zachary David, the Maltese-Filipino driver from US Racing, and seventh place was taken by his Australian teammate Gianmarco Pradel, who had an extremely positive weekend in terms of performance on the track at Monza. After the incident that saw him restart from the back, Ugochukwu did well to make a comeback and secure valuable points, finishing in eighth place. The American driver showed his skill and determination by maneuvering through every available space and displaying his remarkable driving ability while maintaining his lines during the toughest phases of the battle for P1. Pisan driver Nicola Lacorte from Prema Racing finished ninth, after a tough battle with Valentin Kluss from PHM Racing to secure a place in the points zone. The last point up for grabs went to Australian driver Jack Beeton from Van Amersfoort Racing, who claimed 10th place. Raphael Narac, the French driver from R-ace GP, received a 5-second penalty, pushing him down to 11th place and causing the points he earned on the track to slip away. The penalty was given for overtaking outside the track limits and not giving back the position. 

Unfortunate incidents occurred for Tuukka Taponen, Ferrari Driver Academy driver for Prema Racing, who went off at the first chicane after contact with Alfio Spina from BVM Racing. The Finnish driver had secured a podium finish in Saturday's race but was then twice halted by race incidents. The Sicilian driver was also out of contention in Race 3, joining the retirements alongside Badoer and Ariel Elkin from Jenzer Motorsport.

 

The next round of the Italian F.4 Championship will take place on the weekend of July 23rd at Paul Ricard, but there is no need to wait long to see the Italian-made Formula 4 single-seaters in action again. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of ACI Sport and WSK Promotion, the Euro 4 Championship has been created. The first of three rounds for this new series will be held on July 9th at the Mugello Circuit.

 

Arvid Lindblad: “I’m so happy, it was a challenging race, for sure more difficult than the other 2. In the beginning was hard to keep them behind, they were really close. Ugo did a really good move, was really on it at the start, and took the lead. Then I came at it with Kacper, he stayed on track, and I had to come out the throttle, or otherwise within the gravel. I went down to fifth. After that I calmed down. The pace was really strong, I looked forward, I took the lead. After that, I didn’t look back.”  

Kacper Sztuka: “it was a pretty good race, a long one. In the last lap Arvid was a bit too far. I couldn’t get him, I tried my best. I fought with Akshay. I think that was pretty clean, some good racing, all three races. P2, we take it, and we will keep pushing. Escape roads are helpful for safety, but sometimes drivers are using it too much. Stewards, I think, made quite a good job with penalties for that. I think it was a good race weekend for the Championship, I’m happy to finish on podium.”

Akshay Bohra: “It’s a great honor to be on the podium. We had a pretty difficult weekend, with some bad luck, especially in the race this morning, with the engine failure. We bounced back, first overall podium of the year…more to come!”