The fifth round of the Italian F.4 Championship has officially begun. The Formula 4 Championship promoted by ACI Sport and WSK Promotion kicked off the 2024 European tour at the Paul Ricard circuit in Le Castellet, France. The cars took to the track early in the morning for the first free practice session, 40 minutes dedicated to fine-tuning the setup for the weekend, with a dry track and an air temperature of 26.1°C, while the track temperature was 28.6°C. Temperatures are expected to rise significantly over the weekend.

After a first part of the session led by Jack Beeton of US Racing, it was the Japanese driver Hiyu Yamakoshi of Van Amersfoort Racing who recorded the fastest lap, with a time of 2’05.198. The Australian Beeton came second, with a gap of 0.119 seconds. Third was Freddie Slater of Prema Racing, the Championship leader after dominating the first part of the season, with a gap of 0.241 seconds from Yamakoshi.

Fourth place went to Indian driver Akshay Bohra of US Racing, with a gap of 0.295 seconds. Fifth place went to Swedish driver Gustav Jonsson of Van Amersfoort, continuing his positive trend from Mugello, where he shone in qualifying and then secured a podium to crown his great weekend. Jonsson registered a gap of 0.334 seconds, ahead of Australian Gianmarco Pradel of US Racing, who finished sixth with a gap of 0.419 seconds.

Seventh and first among the Rookies was the Jamaican-American Alex Powell, Mercedes junior driver for Prema Racing, with his best lap 0.489 seconds behind the leader. Powell was followed by Rashid Al Dhaheri, also of Prema Racing, with a gap of 0.628 seconds. Ninth place went to Indian Dion Gowda, the fourth Prema Racing driver to finish in the top 10, with a gap of 0.632 seconds. Tenth was Brazilian Matheus Ferreira of US Racing, with a gap of 0.739 seconds.

The schedule

Another 40-minute free practice session is scheduled for today, Friday, July 19, from 13:13 to 13:53. Saturday, July 20, will be dedicated to qualifying, with the first session from 10:45 to 11:00, followed by the second session from 11:10 to 11:25. Race 1 is set to start on Saturday evening at 16:35 for 30 minutes + 1 lap. Race 2 and Race 3, both also 30 minutes + 1 lap, will take place on Sunday, July 21, at 11:10 and 17:25, respectively.

The three races of the weekend will be broadcast live on the YouTube and Facebook channels of the Italian F.4 Championship, on ACI Sport TV (Sky channel 228, Tivù Sat channel 52, and streaming on www.acisport.it), as well as on the extensive network of international televisions broadcasting the races of the 2024 Italian F4 Championship, including the DAZN platform.