ACI Racing Weekend: Qualifying Updates From Imola
Updated: Sep 5
Qualifying at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari has delivered a busy afternoon of changing fortunes, red flags and last-minute lap times as the ACI Racing Weekend cotninues to Imola.
The seventh ACI Racing Weekend of the 2026 season has brought together the GT4 Italy Series, Campionato Italiano Gran Turismo Endurance, FIA Formula Regional European Championship and Italian F4 Championship. The Imola round is particularly significant for FREC, which is entering the decisive penultimate stage of its inaugural season before next week’s finale at Hockenheim.
Across the sessions, track limits and stoppages have repeatedly disrupted the rhythm, while several drivers produced late-session improvements to transform their positions on the timing screens.
GT4 Italy Series FP2
The second GT4 Italy Series free practice session initially belonged to #16 CASALS Motorsport, which controlled the top of the timing sheets for much of the running.
Behind them, the #68 Gino Scuderia found itself towards the back of the field in a much more discouraging FP2 session. It was a difficult continuation for the Aston Martin outfit, which arrived at Imola with Bastos-Ebrahim among the Pro-Am entries.
The two Lema Racing cars provided a more consistent picture, spending much of the session comfortably in the midfield around 10th and 11th.
There was also encouraging pace from #5 Filippo Zanin, who remained within approximately three-tenths of the benchmark at one stage, suggesting that the MEF Motorsport Porsche will have considerably more to offer over a race distance.
But the biggest change came in the closing stages.
With the chequered flag approaching, #75, Alex Fontana, surged to the top of the timing sheets, overturning the order that had dominated much of the session and providing an early indication of just how closely matched the GT4 field will be over the course of this weekend.
The GT4 Italy Series will be holding its penultimate 2026 round at Imola, with two 50-minute-plus-one-lap races scheduled across Saturday and Sunday.
FREC QP1
FIA Formula Regional European Championship qualifying produced a more turbulent session to keep track of.
Jules Roussel initially showed strong pace, setting the early benchmark before the session began to settle. Lap times varied significantly as drivers built their runs, with first-sector times broadly in the 22–24-second range and second sectors around 56.5–59 seconds.
Once the times began to fall, Emanuele Olivieri emerged, once again, as the driver to beat. The R-ace GP rookie repeatedly found improvements and remained at the head of the timing screens as the session developed. This pace doesn't come as a surprise given Olivieri’s recent form; he is fourth in the championship standings heading into Imola and leads the Rookie classification, while earlier this season he secured his maiden FREC pole position at Monza.
Jules Roussel also remained firmly in contention, staying only a few tenths away from Olivieri. At the other end of the order, Giovanni Maschio, Zhenrui Chi and Yuki Sano struggled to make an impression at the sharp end.
Tomass Štolcermanis topped his qualifying group for the first time with a timing of 1m39.493s, before the session was stopped early due to red flags.
Kabir Anurag produced a substantial improvement in the final minutes, with a lap that placed himsecond, vdropping to P6 in the group after a mistake on his best lap.
For Sano, meanwhile, it was a disappointing session compared with the pace he has demonstrated earlier in the season. His pole position at the Hungaroring showed that the R-ace GP driver is capable of fighting at the front, making his Imola performance one to monitor as the weekend develops.
With the championship fight still tightly balanced — Kean Nakamura-Berta leading Sebastian Wheldon and Rashid Al Dhaheri, with Olivieri now within striking distance — every qualifying position carries added significance here at Imola this weekend.
CIGT Endurance FP2
The second Campionato Italiano Gran Turismo Endurance practice session was considerably more disrupted.
#51 and #434 were among the first cars to leave the pits, but the field was soon faced with uncertainty as the pit lane remained closed and its opening time was repeatedly revised. The expectation was eventually for the pit lane to reopen with roughly 35 minutes remaining, leaving teams with a reduced window in which to complete their programmes.
When the cars were running, #3 Easy Race looked competitive, with the #11 Nova Racing also showing positive pace. By contrast, DL Racing endured a difficult session all-round, with #72 among the cars struggling for performance.
The situation became even more complicated when all recorded times were deleted, triggering another red flag and effectively resetting the session. The field eventually returned to the circuit with only around six minutes remaining, turning the closing laps into a frantic dash.
By the chequered flag, #50 Spirit of Racing and #25 Dragon Racing had moved to the top of the order.
Nevertheless, this result should be treated with some caution given the heavily disrupted running. AKM Motorsport also showed signs of improvement and will hope to prove stronger over a full race distance, where consistency and tyre management become increasingly important.
The Endurance field will contest its three-hour race on Sunday, with the official qualifying sessions scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.
Italian F4 Qualifying
Today's Italian F4 qualifying provided another dose of uncertainty for viewers.
An early benchmark was established before the field began to build its pace, with Bearman among the drivers showing positive lap times during the initial phase.
As the session progressed, drivers returned to the pits before making their final runs with approximately 10 minutes remaining. The fight for the fastest lap then became increasingly volatile, with the lead changing hands several times.
Track limits once again played a significant role. At Turn 19, multiple laps were deleted for exceeding the limits, removing potentially competitive times from the classification.
With seven minutes remaining, another red flag brought the session to a halt.
The qualifying run was set to resume with only five minutes left, creating a sprint to the chequered flag. Killion remained one of the stronger performers throughout the session, but it was Robinson who ultimately emerged at the top of the timing sheets.
The Italian F4 Championship is following a particularly demanding Imola schedule, with qualifying sessions on Friday setting the order for the weekend’s group races before Sunday’s final.
GT4 qualifying
Personally, the GT4 qualifying sessions provided some of the most intense on-track action of the day.
The first qualifying session featured speeds reaching approximately 257 km/h, while Turn 14 remained a recurring problem as drivers pushed the limits and repeatedly had laps deleted for track-limit infringements.
The session was ultimately stopped by a red flag and did not restart.
This created a particularly dramatic situation for #17 Lema Racing, with Zak Simunovic’s two best laps deleted after the incident that caused the stoppage. As a result, the Audi was classified at the back of the order despite having shown considerably more potential before the deletions.
At the front, #5 Filippo Zanin delivered the benchmark for MEF Motorsport with a 1:51.330, putting him first. #11 Filippo Fant followed in second, with #3 Andrea Frizza third.
This result continued the positive signs from Zanin’s earlier free-practice performance, where he had already been running close to the front.
The second qualifying session brought the driver changes and another opportunity to establish the starting order. All teams executed rapid pit stops before sending their cars back onto the circuit, and the pace immediately increased.
#75 Alex Fontana was particularly impressive again, while #76 Noah Massa demonstrated serious straight-line speed, reaching approximately 260 km/h.
It was a difficult session for #17 Simunovic, who remained towards the back and spent time in the pits. #3 Rocca also encountered difficulties, preventing the V-Action-PB Racing Lotus from fighting at the sharp end.
At the conclusion of the session, Fontana sat at the top of the timing sheets, followed by #11 Tocci and #68 Abraham. Simunovic ended the session last.
There was also post-session attention for cars #3, #5 and #68, which were requested to report to the timekeeping room.
The qualifying sessions from today therefore leave the GT4 field with a fascinating mix of established front-runners and drivers recovering from disrupted sessions. With the two GT4 races still to come, Friday’s qualifying order may prove to be only the opening chapter.
This Weekend
From the single-seater battles of FREC and Italian F4 to the tightly fought GT4 field and the endurance machinery, Friday at Imola delivered exactly the kind of unpredictability expected from one of the biggest weekends on the Italian motorsport calendar.
For FREC in particular, the stakes could hardly be higher, with Imola serving as the penultimate round of the season, with Hockenheim following just one week later, while Nakamura-Berta, Wheldon, Al Dhaheri and Olivieri remain separated by a relatively small margin in the championship fight.
And after a Friday marked by red flags, deleted laps and late improvements, one thing is already clear: there is little room for error when the racing begins tomorrow at Imola.
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