Nakamura-Berta tops FP1

One of the top contenders to win the first-ever FIA F4 World Cup, Kean Nakamura-Berta has shown why he is highly regarded, leading the classification in Free Practice 1 (FP1) held yesterday morning. Nakamura-Berta recorded his best lap around the Guia circuit in 2:27.776.

A bit more surprising was the performance of Emanuele Olivieri and Gino Trappa, who secured, respectively, the second and third positions on the leaderboards.

Olivieri posted his best lap in 2:28.601, 0.825 seconds behind Nakamura-Berta, who was the only racer to lap in the second 27.

Finishing right behind Olivieri was Trappa, who clocked his best lap in 2:28.883.

Another surprise on the first day of F4 competition came from the strong performance of Hong Kong driver Shimo Zhang, who finished fourth just 0.011 seconds behind Trappa. Sebastian Wheldon completed the Top 5.

After the first practice, except for Nakamura-Berta, who has a slight lead in first place, all the other racers, down to the seventh place of Alexandre Munoz, are separated by thin margins, indicating that the qualifying positions can easily change during today’s 40-minute FP2 session. 

The FIA F4 World Cup cars will hit the track at 9:15 a.m. and return later in the day at 1:30 p.m. for the 40-minute qualifying session that will set the grid for Saturday’s Qualification race. RM