Everything is ready for the start of the ACI Racing Weekend Imola, the second round of the Italian F.4 Championship, which opens this morning with the first free practice session for 38 Tatuus cars sharing the track at the Santerno circuit. After yesterday's collective tests, today there are two 40-minute free practice sessions. The first session began with a damp track, but without rain, and the track gradually dried up. Confirming yesterday's result, it was the Brazilian driver from US Racing, Matheus Ferreira, who completed the fastest lap at 1'45.339. Ferreira set the time about 10 minutes before the end, taking the top position in the session from Hiyu Yamakoshi, the Japanese driver from Van Amersfoort Racing, who had until then maintained the lead, improving his lap time continuously. Only 0.002 seconds separated the two drivers at the top of the session. Third was Freddie Slater, the British driver from Prema Racing, who completed his best lap in the final minutes, finishing 0.075 seconds behind Ferreira.

The top 3 of the first free practice session, with drivers from 3 different teams all within a tenth of a second of each other, suggests an extremely competitive second round from the very first moments. 

In fourth place was Alex Powell, the Jamaican Mercedes junior with Prema Racing colors, who recorded a gap of 0.107. Following him was Latvian Tomass Stolcermanis, with a gap of 0.213, the third Prema driver in the top 5. Sixth was Australian driver Jack Beeton, with a gap of 0.221, closely followed by German Maxim Rehm with 0.288, and then American Akshay Bohra with 0.297, all representing US Racing. Rounding out the top 10 were PHM AIX Racing driver Maksimilian Popov, and Finnish R-ace GP driver Luka Sammalisto, with gaps from Ferreira of 0.447 and 0.469 respectively.

 

Another 40-minute free practice session today, Friday, May 31, starting at 14:30. Qualifying will take place on Saturday morning, June 1, in two 15-minute sessions starting at 10:40 and 11:05, followed by Race 1 (30 minutes + 1 lap) in the evening at 17:30. Sunday, June 2, will feature Race 2 (30 minutes + 1 lap) at 9:00 and Race 3 (30 minutes + 1 lap) at 15:30. The 3 weekend races will be broadcast live with Italian commentary on ACI Sport TV, channel 228 on Sky, channel 52 on Tivù Sat, and www.acisport.it, and with English commentary on the official YouTube and Facebook pages of the Italian F.4 Championship, as well as across the Championship's extensive international network.