Race 1 at Monza is the triumph of Charlie Wurz. The Prema Racing driver brings home his first win of the year after taking his first pole in the Italian F.4 2022 this morning. The Austrian succeeds in the feat precisely at Monza, in the round that sees 44 cars on track at the same time, an unprecedented record race weekend. He finds the space this morning to place the best lap in quali, then in the race he is forced to always look in the mirrors, on a track with constant pressure from rivals taking the slipstream, but he remains first from start to finish, despite the numerous Safety Cars that forced him to face numerous restarts. Particularly risky for his win could have been the restart on the final lap, but the Austrian keeps his cool and brings home the result without any particular problems.

Charlie Wurz's is an already well-known name, not only for his victory in the UAE series at the beginning of this year and having already stepped on the Italian F4 podium, overall and Rookie class, numerous times during the season. Already in 2020 his talent had been noticed by the professionals of the ACI Sport Federal School, who invited him to taking part in the Supercorso Federale, where he achieved excellent results, taking home the victory among Karting drivers.

With him on the podium are two US Racing drivers: Alexander Dunne and Kacper Sztuka. The Irishman, still fighting for the title, gains points on Antonelli (out of the points zone following the front wing breakage) and overtakes Camara gaining P2 also in the overall standings. He slips in P6 on the first lap due to a small mistake, but manages to recover and get back to the front. Also for Pole Sztuka the podium in race 1 at Monza is a return to success, already winner of two races this year (at Imola and in Austria), he returns to show his great speed, with excellent auspices foreseeing tomorrow's double race. The Brazilian of PREMA Racing closes in P4, thus slipping third in the overall standings, however, he is second on the class podium behind Wurz. He fights wheel-to-wheel with Dunne for a long time, but is passed, losing ground in a race that was certainly not easy to face.

 

Fifth place to Mozambique driver Pedro Perino (US Racing), followed by the British driver of Van Amersfoort Racing Arvid Lindblad. Lindblad also takes P3 in the Rookie podium. P8 to Jenzer Motorsport's Rookie, Valentin Kluss, a driver on the rise in the competitive Italian series, with consistently convincing performances. Closing ninth is the Brazilian driver of Van Amersfoort Racing team, Emerson Fittipaldi Jr, who in the Cathedral of Speed also returns to points in the overall standings. Jonas Ried, German of PHM Racing, rounds the top 10. Good  comeback by Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who ends in P11 after being forced to pit in to fix his car, which loses its front wing due to a contact in the group after just a few seconds from the start, at the entrance of Turn 1. The Bolognese driver restarts from the back and climbs back up until he’s back to the edge of the points zone.

Also out shortly after are Hadrien David (R-ace GP), who spins out and is hit by Chinese driver Liu Qi Rui (AKM Motorsport), both in their debut race in the Italian F.4 Championship 2022. There also came a early stop for Giovanni Maschio (AS Motorsport), Oleksander Partyshev (Jenzer Motorsport), Nicola Lacorte (Iron Lynx) and Brando Badoer (Van Amersfoort Racing). Particularly impressive then is the accident involving Valerio Rinicella (AKM Motorsport), Maya Weug (Iron Dames) and Ivan Franco Domingues (Iron Lynx), but the safety devices of the new Tatuus T421s respond to perfection, with the drivers stopping at the end of the race, without reporting injuries.

 

Now it's the turn of race 2, Sunday, October 9, at 10:10; then the last of the weekend, race 3 at the start at 17:10. Both races will be broadcast live on ACI Sport Tv, Motorsport.tv and the Facebook and Youtube channels of the Italian F.4 Championship.

 

Charlie Wurz: “It was not an easy race, it was really challenging, but it was really fun at the same time. Every lap we are fighting, lot of side by side action, in the end we fought hard and we came out on top. I am so happy and thankful to the team. First pole position and first win in the same weekend, a track like Monza which is so historic is really cool. I really have to thank the team and I’m really happy. I can’t wait for tomorrow.”

Alexander Dunne: “I am really happy, coming into this race I knew it was gonna be more about race craft than speed, especially with the nature of slipstream here in Monza. Race craft is something I’ve been really good at all year and that’s really helped me at all of my races. I really played my favourite today, after lap one I dropped back to six, coming back to second was a really good result. The Championship is looking good and every time we are catching them bit by bit, I am really happy.”

Kacper Sztuka: “the race was pretty good, the start was very fast. I got into P3 then I got some racing with Marcus [Amand], that was pretty difficult and Alex got me, but I’m pretty happy overall with the race and I think we had a good fight for the win.”

 

Several drivers received 10 seconds penalty after the race, Conrad Laursen lost 3 positions in race 2 grid. The detail in the attached standings.