Home Formula 4Italian F4 Stroll cruises to victory in race three at Imola

Stroll cruises to victory in race three at Imola

by Aditya Banerjee
Lance Stroll

Photo: ACI Sport

Ferrari Driver Academy star Lance Stroll clinched his second victory of the weekend to extend his Italian F4 championship lead in the third race at Imola.

It was a relaxing Sunday drive for the 15-year-old Canadian for the most part. Having started on pole, Stroll had a good start and was never headed.

His teammate Brandon Maisano started seventh instead of second, after the stewards made a last-minute decision to hand the Frenchman a grid penalty for his clash with Andrea Russo in race two. Maisano had a strong start and moved up to fourth by the end of the first lap. Meanwhile, race two winner Mattia Drudi, promoted to second on the grid, stalled at the start, finishing down in 14th at the flag.

While Stroll pulled away, Maisano passed Russo for third, and soon got past Cairoli for second. Russo meanwhile, began to drop back, losing several positions before calling it quits. An error from Leonardo Pulcini dropped him to fifth behind Euronova teammate Ivan Matveev, the pair keeping their positions to the finish.

Edi Haxhiu took his highest finish in sixth for Cram, ahead of Italian Andrea Fontana. Alain Valente had an eventful race, getting a knock from Maltese driver Keith Camilleri after the latter steered into him when Valente was going past. He managed to recover to eighth, passing Mahaveer Raghunathan towards the end. Jenzer’s Lucas Mauron rounded off the top ten.

Race results
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1 Lance Stroll Prema Powerteam 17 laps in 30:30.139
2 Brandon Maisano Prema Powerteam +3.461
3 Matteo Cairoli Antonelli Motorsport +15.473
4 Ivan Matveev SMP Racing by Euronova +22.250
5 Leonardo Pulcini Euronova Racing by Fortec +30.739
6 Edi Haxhiu Cram Motorsport +39.811
7 Andrea Fontana Euronova Racing by Fortec +48.071
8 Alain Valente Jenzer Motorsport +48.233
9 Mahaveer Raghunathan F & M S.R.L +48.515
10 Lucas Mauron Jenzer Motorsport +50.285
11 Bar Baruch Israel F4 +55.101
12 Joao Vieira Antonelli Motorsport +1:15.434
13 Nico Rindlisbacher Jenzer Motorsport +1:34.189
14 Mattia Drudi F & M S.R.L +1 laps
15 Gustavo Bandeira DAV Racing +6 laps
Not classified
Zackary Dante Malta Formula Racing +7 laps
Jonathan Giudice Antonelli Motorsport +8 laps
Giovanni Altoe F & M S.R.L +8 laps
Andrea Russo Diegi Motorsport +12 laps
Ali Al Khalifa Jenzer Motorsport +15 laps
Takashi Kasai Prema Powerteam +17 laps
Keith Camilleri Malta Formula Racing Excluded