When everyone expected Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s third consecutive success at Misano, Rafael Camara arrived to ruin the Bolognese driver’s plans.
To tell the truth, Kimi also managed to dominate the third race of the weekend until the safety car, called into question to allow the commissioners to remove the cars of Julian Castro and Kim Hwarang, did not cancel the immense advantage that the driver of the Mercedes nursery could boast about the Brazilian FDA.
At the start Antonelli was perfect at the start, unlike what he saw in both Race 1 and Race 2, and he immediately maintained command of operations and then took off to the sound of fast laps on Camara.
It seemed that nothing could prevent Kimi from finishing the Misano weekend perfectly but, as anticipated, the neutralization with the safety car messed up Antonelli’s plans.
At the restart, Antonelli, with tires now at the end of his life, suffered from keeping Camara behind him and the Brazilian pushed himself into the first chicane, allowing Alex Dunne to enter the fight.
The Irishman, however, perhaps dared too much by touching Antonelli’s rear right with the front wing and then losing the aerodynamic component and thus relegating to the last positions of the top 10.
On the last lap, there was a moment of tension when Maya Weug was hit by Ischer’s car. The Ferrari Driver Academy driver, now out of control of her car, crossed the track only to be overwhelmed by the Blokhina car.
The dynamics were objectively impressive and the race direction immediately displayed the red flag preventing the drivers from passing under the checkered flag to re-enter the pit lane.
Fortunately, all the protagonists of the accident came out of the wreckage of their respective cars on their legs, making the spectators breathe a sigh of relief.
The red flag froze the positions on the lap before the accident and this allowed Maya Weug, who remained on the track without a front wing, to close the race in eighth position.
Camara thus obtained the maximum result by taking advantage of the events, while Antonelli had to chew bitter after seeing a victory slip out of his hands that did not seem at all in question.
For the Bolognese rider, however, the Misano weekend represented the redemption after the bad luck he suffered at Imola and by continuing at this pace he will be able to quickly recover the gap in the standings that separates him from the top positions.
Behind the PREMA duo, a Marcus Armand, good at taking advantage of the final chaos, climbed on the third step of the podium, while behind the Frenchman we find an always solid Kacper Sztuka.
The top 10 was completed with the fifth place of Conrad Laursen, who appeared tarnished compared to the PREMA quartet made up of Antonelli, Camara, Wurz and Wharton, ahead of Martinius Stenshorne, Alex Dunne, Maya Weug, Taylor Barnard and Deukmedjian.
At the end of the Misano round, Camara leads the drivers’ standings with 102 points followed by Dunne at 79 points, while Antonelli, thanks to two wins and second place today, moved up to third place with 69 points.
The next round of the Italian Formula 4 will be in two weeks on the splendid track of Spa-Francorchamps.
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