F.4 – Great show of Joao Vieira in Monza

Despite the points left behind, Joao Vieira was one of the great protagonists of the second round of the Italian F.4 Championship powered by Abarth in the temple of speed, Monza circuit.

The yellow-gold bearer of Antonelli Motorsport inflamed again the public in the stands managing two great comebacks, recovering more than forty positions in total. Right from the beginning, with a grid of 29 cars, Joao had brought his Tatuus F.4 #50 in the top positions, signing, thanks to the fifth and ninth in the overall standings, the two Qualifying session valid for the 28’+ 1 lap races. Unfortunately, the first round, scheduled for Saturday afternoon, ending in the worst way: the Brazilian had to retire after just a few meters from the start, while he was already in third position. The retirement forced him to start from the bottom (29th position) in the sprint race, scheduled for Sunday morning. Without getting caught up in despair, he acted an incredible recovery: 26 positions in about 18′ of race and Brazilian flag waving on the third step of the podium.

Thanks to this incredible comeback, he was back on the grid for the final appointment of the weekend. The lights went off, but something in the starting procedure did not work and Joao is passed, reaching the 26th place. Despite the entry of the safety car for a contact that involved four cars in the early stages, the bearer of Antonelli Motorsport started overtaking again the rivals, up to the fifth position.

“I’m satisfied only halfway. The incident of race-1 affected the outcome of the sprint race, as I was forced to start from the last position. In race-3 instead, I made a mistake at the start. Luckily, two important recoveries that led me to the podium, scoring important points. The lead from the first driver in ranking is important, but we still have a lot of races. Now, I think about Imola“, the driver of Minardi Management, Joao Vieira, says

“This weekend Joao showed all his value, a real fighter with the talent to spare. Unfortunately we have “given” too many points to our opponents that will not be easy to recover, even though we are only at the second race. We roll up our sleeves and try to race until the end, starting to recover with Imola. I thank all the staff of Marco Antonelli for the excellent work done over the weekend”, the manager Giovanni Minardi analyses.

The second round of the Italian Formula 4 Championship has now ended and next appointment will take place in a month, at the Enzo and Dino Ferrari circuit in Imola.