Qualifying 1
Hiyu Yamakoshi took pole position in the first qualifying session of the Imola weekend ahead of Freddie Slater and Akshay Bohra, becoming the first Japanese driver to do so in the Italian F4 championship. Dion Gowda also showed a strong qualifying pace by setting a time good enough for the second row alongside Akshay Bohra.
Race 1
In the first lap of the race, multiple contacts were made, causing multiple drivers to retire from the race and the Safety car was out. On the safety car restart, Freddie Slater who had dominated round 1 in Misano, jumped from P2 to take the lead, overtaking poleman Yamakoshi. From there, Slater controlled the race until the end ahead of Hiyu Yamakoshi and Akshay. Unfortunately for Freddie Slater, He was excluded from the race which handed the victory to Hiyu Yamakoshi, Akkshay Bohra was promoted to P2, and Dion Gowda was promoted on the final step of the podium. However, Freddie has appealed the decision that excluded him from Race 1.
Race 2
The second race of the weekend saw Hiyu Yamakoshi, who started on pole position and successfully converted it into a race win and also took the lead in the championship. Australian driver Jack Beeton, who started from P2, initially held his position but was overtaken by his teammate Akshay Bohra. Bohra secured P2, matching his result from the previous day, until the end. The overtaking maneuver was highly spectacular, with Beeton ending up in the gravel but skillfully managing to stay in the race. However, Beeton, in third place, was targeted by Freddie Slater, who engaged in a fierce battle. A contact between the two at Tosa in the final stages once again shook up the race standings. Dion Gowda ultimately crossed the finish line in third. Gowda, incredibly fast throughout the whole weekend, drove an impeccable race, starting from the seventh spot on the grid to secure his second podium of the season.
Qualifying 2
In the second qualifying 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.
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.
Race 3
The final race of Round 2 of the Italian F4 Championship had a threat of heavy rain which prompted Race Control to declare it a ‘wet race’ in advance, Thankfully the track was dry come Sunday afternoon. Race 3 saw the return of Freddie Slater on the top step of the podium after the race leader Hiyu Yamakoshi who led for the majority of the race, damaged his front wing in Variante Alta with just 2 laps to go and was shown the ‘Black and orange’, forcing him to pit and drop down to P27. Jack Beeton finished in P2 ahead of Maxim Rehm who took the final spot on the podium. Akshay Bohra finished the race in P5 after finishing twice on the podium in P2 during the weekend, and ended with a haul of 46 points, securing third place in the drivers’ standings. Although Dion Gowda narrowly missed out on a points finish after finishing P11, He was promoted to P10 after the Dutch driver Reno Francot was penalized for his incident with Rashid Al Dhaheri.
Championship Standings
Freddie Slater has regained the championship lead after Hiyu Yamakoshi failed to achieve a points finish in the final race of the weekend and now dropped to P2 in the standings. After a consistent Round 1 and a strong Round 2 for Akshay Bohra, he now sits P3 in the standing, 27 points a drift from the leader. Thanks to a strong round 2 weekend for Dion Gowda, He is currently P6 in the championship with 38 points.
Up Next:
The Italian F4 Championship will head to Vallelunga Circuit on 14–16 June for Round 3 of the championship
