Teo Borenstein stole the show in a rain-soaked qualifying session for the Italian Formula 4 at Misano. The Jenzer Motorsport driver mastered the wet conditions to secure pole position for the penultimate round of the season.
Borenstein, who sits 36th in the standings, took advantage of a drying track. He led the second session midway through and kept improving. His best lap of 1m54.172s was a massive 0.481s clear of US Racing’s Ary Bansal, who had topped the first session.
The first group faced heavy rain. Van Amersfoort Racing’s Thomas Bearman was among the first to set a competitive time, before Bansal broke into the 1m54s. A close fight ensued between Bansal and McLaren junior Christian Costoya. Costoya went fastest with a 1m54.745s, but Bansal responded on his final lap to snatch back the top spot by 0.047s. Bearman finished third, followed by US Racing’s Noah Killion, Jenzer’s Elia Weiss, and US Racing’s Ludovico Busso.
Mercedes junior Kenzo Craigie had to settle for seventh, 0.843s off the pace. Championship leader Luca Sammalisto (US Racing), who needs just 28 points to wrap up the title this weekend, struggled in 18th, unable to get to grips with the car and the changeable conditions.
The second group ran in slightly drier but still inconsistent conditions. Borenstein immediately established himself at the front and continued to improve as the track gained grip. Trident’s Florentin Hattemer posted three sub-1m55s laps but finished almost half-a-second shy of Borenstein. Prema’s Alp Aksoy took third ahead of US Racing’s Edward Robinson and R-ace GP’s Jensen Burnett.
Sammalisto’s closest challenger, Prema’s David Cosma-Cristofor (99 points behind), also struggled. He only broke into the 1m55s on his final lap and finished 16th in the group. As a result, he will start both heats from the 11th row, one row better than Sammalisto, giving both plenty to do on the tight Adriatic circuit, with sunnier conditions expected over the weekend.
The second Mercedes junior at R-ace GP, Andy Consani, finds himself even further back, having ended the session one-tenth and three places slower than Cosma-Cristofor. Speaking after the session, Borenstein said the conditions required constant adaptation. "Very difficult conditions, the braking zones were challenging. The track was slowly drying up, and I had to adapt every lap." Though he acknowledged that the conditions had played a part, he credited Jenzer’s set-up, adding: "The car was amazing and we managed to put it on pole. I love wet conditions, but even in these conditions, even with the sun, everything worked really well. I’ll do my best. The goal is to maintain the lead into Turn 1."
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