The opening day of the 2026 E4 Championship came to a close at the Autodromo Piero Taruffi in Vallelunga, host of the first round of the series' fourth season. Although still a young championship, the E4 Championship has already established itself alongside the Italian F4 Championship as one of the most competitive series in international Formula 4 racing. With only three rounds on the calendar, drivers have a short but intense campaign to fight for the title and add their names to a roll of honour featuring Ugo Ugochukwu, Akshay Bohra and Kean Nakamura-Berta.
The championship battle began at Vallelunga, where a strong start can already prove decisive. Friday's programme featured two Free Practice sessions. After Niccolò Maccagnani topped the morning session, it was Oleksandr Bondarev who set the benchmark in the afternoon.
The Prema Racing driver and Williams Driver Academy member posted the fastest lap of the day in 1’34.655. Finnish driver Luka Sammalisto (US Racing), who currently leads the Italian F4 Championship standings, finished second, 0.144 seconds behind. Third place went to Mercedes Junior Team driver Kenzo Craigie, representing R-ace GP, at 0.
191 off the pace.
Roman Kamyab made it two Prema Racing drivers inside the top four, finishing 0.195 behind Bondarev. His teammate Niccolò Maccagnani, a Ferrari Driver Academy member, completed the top five with a gap of 0.297. Ary Bansal (US Racing) was sixth at 0.313, ahead of Prema Racing's Turkish driver Alp Aksoy, seventh at 0.367.
US Racing drivers Arjen Kraling and Oleksandr Savinkov claimed eighth and ninth places, respectively 0.375 and 0.400 seconds behind the fastest time.
Completing the top ten was Spain's Christian Costoya of Prema Racing, a member of the McLaren Driver Development Programme, exactly 0.500 seconds off the pace.
Action resumes on Saturday 4 July with qualifying. The first session is scheduled from 09:40 to 10:00, followed by the second session from 10:10 to 10:30.
Under the E4 Championship format, all drivers will participate in both qualifying sessions. The results of the first session will determine the grid for Race 1, the second session will set the grid for Race 2, while the starting order for Race 3 will be based on each driver's second-best lap across the two sessions.
Race 1 will get underway on Saturday at 14:40, while Race 2 and Race 3 will be held on Sunday 5 July at 10:00 and 17:00, respectively.
All races will be broadcast live on the championship's social media channels, on ACI Sport TV, and through the international television network that carries both the Italian F4 Championship and the E4 Championship worldwide.