Hiyu Yamakoshi is the first Japanese driver in the history of the Italian F.4 Championship to take pole position, but the Van Amersfoort Racing ace didn't settle for just one P1: he swept the board in qualifying, gaining the advantage for the start in all three races of the second round of the Italian F.4 Championship. 

The first qualifying session at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola saw the pace interrupted twice by full course yellow flags due to cars ending up in the gravel, with the action coming alive only in the final moments. The first drivers to lower the times were Akshay Bohra, a New York driver for US Racing, followed by Matheus Ferreira (US Racing) and Gustav Jonsson (Van Amersfoort Racing). But everything changed in the final minutes, with Yamakoshi setting the fastest time on the penultimate lap, stopping the clock 1'45.253. Second, with a very close margin, was the British dominator of the first round at Misano, Freddie Slater. The Prema Racing driver set a gap of 0.038, registering his time at the checkered flag. Following him was Bohra, third by only 0.059, then Prema's Indian driver Dion Gowda, fourth and the last driver within a tenth of a second gap (0.096). P5 went to Latvian Tomass Stolcermanis of Prema Racing, with a margin of 0.191 seconds, followed by Dutchman Reno Francot of Jenzer Motorsport at 0.198. Seventh place went to Australian Jack Beeton (US Racing) with 0.205, followed by Swedish Jonsson at 0.232. Rounding out the top 10 were two Prema drivers, Japanese Kean Nakamura Berta (with a gap of 0.235) and Jamaican Alex Powell (with a gap of 0.237). 

In the second session, Yamakoshi put on a show by stringing together perfect laps that earned him the remaining two pole positions available. The Japanese driver, with 1'44.831, was the only driver to lap under 1 minute and 45 seconds. Over 3 tenths separated him from P2, Australian Beeton with a gap of 0.346, who will join him on the front row. Third was Akshay Bohra, with a gap of 0.353 (only 7 thousandths from Beeton), in a qualifying session that, apart from Yamakoshi's exceptional performance, saw all the other drivers vying for positions by mere thousandths. P4 went to Alex Powell with a gap of 0.364, followed by teammate Slater at 0.381. Sixth was US Racing's Australian Gianmarco Pradel with a gap of 0.436, followed by Gowda at 0.443. Eighth place went to Nakamura Berta with a gap of 0.474 from the fastest lap, followed by Stolcermanis at 0.489 and German US Racing driver Maxim Rehm at 0.490.

The grid for Race 3 was thus decided by the second-best time set by the drivers over the two sessions. Once again, the advantage was taken once again by Yamakoshi, who lapped at 1'45.125 in the second qualifying session. He will again be joined on the front row by Beeton at 0.077. Starting behind them will be Freddie Slater at 0.094 and Rehm at 0.219. Fifth place went to Nakamura Berta with a gap of 0.236, followed by Powell at 0.237, then Bohra at 0.253. The eighth-best second lap was set by Stolcermanis at 0.262, followed by Francot at 0.314, while Ferreira rounded out the top 10 with 0.349.

 

Hiyu Yamakoshi: "it's an amazing day, a great start for the race weekend. Actually, I crashed yesterday in FP2, but the team did a very good job to repair the car. Q1 was not so great for us, we had some frustration for the full course yellow, but I got the P1 and I'm very happy. In Q2 I think I was 3 tenths faster than P2, it was amazing, amazing really! Imola is my most favorite track in Europe, and getting the pole position here is a special feeling."

The wait now begins for Race 1 (30 minutes + 1 lap) this evening, Saturday, June 1st, scheduled to start at 17:30. Sunday, June 2nd, will see Race 2 (30 minutes + 1 lap) at 9:00 and Race 3 (30 minutes + 1 lap) at 15:30. 

The 3 races of the weekend will be broadcast live with commentary in Italian on ACI Sport TV, Sky channel 228, Tivù Sat channel 52, and www.acisport.it, and with commentary in English on the official YouTube and Facebook pages of the Italian F.4 Championship, as well as within the championship's vast international network.