HOT NEWS - TKART - FORMULA 4 (VALLELUNGA) - In the end victory goes to Lance Stroll: a triple win in the 3 races of the Vallelunga weekend and the overall victory of the Italian F4 Championship by Abarth. The Prema Power Team driver becomes virtual champion with two rounds left to go, Monza on September 28 and Imola on October 19. Turning back to this past weekend, the show that went down in the circuit close to Rome was a true act of "Stroll domination".

In Race 1 the first driver across the finishline is Brandon Maisano (Prema Power Team); but since he competes in the “over 18” Italian F4 Trophy, the win  goes to  Stroll. “Nailing the bull’s eye is key”, says the Canadian. “My main goal is to win the Championship and Brandon’s main goal is to conquer F4 Trophy. Yet, I had a really good time dueling with my teammate.” By the way, Stroll and Brandon are well on the way of reaching their objective at this point. For the record, the Race 1 podium was completed by Takashi Kasai (Prema Power Team) and Mattia Drudi (Adriaraceway by Malta).

Moving on to Race 2, Keith Camilleri (Malta Formula Racing) was unable to improve on his Race 1 result (P10), despite sitting in the pole position by regulations. In fact, Camilleri had an unfortunate start and  fell back to the end of the formation. The ones who took advantage were first Edi Haxhiu (Cram Motorsport), then Andrea Fontana (Euronova Racing by Fortec), who took turns at the lead. The “fireworks” continued after the first laps, when Leonardo Pulcini (Euronova Racing by Fortec) got ahead of his teammate Fontana and took control of the race. The race was breathtaking the whole time, with Fontana sizing up Pulcini for a possible attack in the final phases. The battle was relentless also in the positions to follow: the Prema Power Team duo of Stroll and Maisano were caught up in a serious duel with Brazilian driver Joao Vieira (Antonelli Motorsport). The first out of the mix was Stroll, who took off behind Fontana and Pulcini, at that point running again 1-2. Beating the leading duo was the Canadian’s last effort, making for a thrilling end of the race packed with determined passes. The provisional championship leader thus achieves another, hard-earned, victory. The one who follows behind him is not Pulcini. In fact, after a contact with Fontana that ruined his aerodynamics,  the Roman driver fell back behind Fontana (second) Alain Valente (Jenzer Motorsport) and ended the race off the podium.

Paradoxically, Race 3 looks like the toughest one for Lance Stroll (Prema Power Team). He loses several positions at the start, then recovers them by the end of lap one, sending up in smoke the hopes of hard- charging Pulcini (Eurnova Racing by Fortec). The latter, in fact, started off in the stream of Maisano (Prema Power Team) with Mattia Drudi (Adriaraceway by Malta) in tow. By lap 2, the race turned into a Maisano-Stroll duel that leaves room for Pulcini and Drudi, the latter working hard to find the opportunity to attack. The four kart battle, which was then joined by Takashi Kasai (Prema Power Team), was one of the most thrilling moments of the Vallelunga weekend. In the end, it is Stroll who takes the lead from Maisano, precisely while Drudi and Kasai manage to get ahead of Pulcini and round off the Race 3 podium. Stroll takes yet another win, his third of the day, and with it also seals his victory of the premiere edition of the F4 Championship by Abarth two rounds before the end.

For standings, results, and next rounds, please visit the competition's official website