With a hat-trick at the Mugello Circuit, the balance of the Italian F.4 Championship has shifted in favor of Kacper Sztuka from US Racing. Sztuka now has 7 victories in total, 6 of which are consecutive, placing him just one and a half points ahead of Arvid Lindblad from Prema Racing in the driver standings. The American junior McLaren driver from Prema, Ugo Ugochukwu, also delivered an excellent performance with three second-place finishes at Mugello, making him a key contender in the final battle for the title at Vallelunga in two weeks. Completing the podium in Tuscany was the Australian Ferrari Driver Academy driver James Wharton, also representing Prema Racing.

The final race of the Italian F.4 Championship at the ACI Racing Weekend in Mugello was not easy, starting with an extra formation lap due to Frederik Lund from AKM Motorsport stopping on the track. Problems arose for Nicola Lacorte from PREMA Racing, who lost his front wing, while Sicilian driver Alfio Spina from BVM ended up in the gravel after a incident. There was also a stoppage due to an accident involving Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi from PHM Racing in Thailand. The safety car was deployed, and Sztuka perfectly led the restart, with the two Prema drivers trailing behind. The battle for the fourth position was intense, eventually secured by Akshay Bohra from US Racing, granting him his second Rookie win of the weekend. Among the contenders in the top battle was also the Finnish Prema Racing driver and Ferrari Driver Academy member Tuukka Taponen, who finished the final race of the weekend in fifth place, earning the second spot on the Rookie podium, defending skillfully against the attacks from Brando Badoer. The son of the Italian racing legend, representing Van Amersfoort Racing, finished in sixth place after putting on a thrilling performance throughout the race. Seventh, and the third Rookie in Race 3, was Zachary David, Maltese-Filipino driver from US Racing. Portoguese Ivan Domingues from Van Amersfoort Racing, finished eighth after a long battle with Alpine Academy driver Matheus Ferreira, which included an exchange of overtakes in the early stages of the race. The Brazilian driver representing Van Amersfoort Racing had to settle for the ninth position. Closing out the Top 10 was Red Bull junior driver Arvid Lindblad.

 

The weekend at the Mugello Circuit has completely reshaped the standings, with Kacper Sztuka now leading the Italian F.4 Championship after two perfect rounds in succession, accumulating a total of 258 points. Arvid Lindblad is now in second place, trailing by only 1.5 points with a total of 256.5 points. Ugo Ugochukwu holds the third position, shortening the gap to the top, entering Vallelunga as a contender for the 2023 Italian Champion title, with a total of 240 points.

The next event for the Italian F.4 Championship certified by FIA will take place at the Autodromo Piero Taruffi in Vallelunga in two weeks (October 13-15) for the thrilling grand finale of the 2023 season.

 

Kacper Sztuka: “Great weekend, another hat trick, great pace all the weekend. Three poles, three wins, just perfect. Great job by the Team, and also by me. It wasn’t easy, but just great job and I’m really happy to win. Now the next races. We are fighting, the situation changed now. We will be for sure have a different approach to Vallelunga races, I think we are in a good position to fight for the Championship.”  

Ugo Ugochukwu: "We had already achieved two P2 finishes this weekend, and we were aiming for the victory. Sztuka was exceptionally fast this weekend; I had to settle for P2. Of course, it's not what we want; we always aim for the win. Nevertheless, these are valuable points this weekend. Now, we head to Vallelunga challenging for the title."

James Wharton: “It was quite difficult weekend. From free practices I knew I didn’t quite have the pace and in quali, we qualified where we should have, and was hard in the first two races. I tried to do a little bit of strategy with the tires, but still not fast enough. We will rest and we’ll go for Vallelunga. It is time to get some wins, we were not fast enough here, we need to get some speed.”