New championship, same dominant force. Luka Sammalisto continued the outstanding form that saw him dominate the last two rounds of the Italian F4 Championship by opening the 2026 E4 Championship with victory at Vallelunga.
The US Racing driver claimed Race 1 despite starting from the third row after a difficult first qualifying session. Pole-sitter Niccolò Maccagnani immediately came under pressure from the two US Racing drivers, Sammalisto and Oleksandr Savinkov, and the flying Finn wasted no time, taking the race lead during the opening lap before pulling away with consistently impressive pace.
Maccagnani successfully defended second place and initially remained within striking distance of the leader, hoping to challenge for victory at his home circuit. As the race progressed, however, Sammalisto gradually built a comfortable gap, leaving the Ferrari Driver Academy driver to secure second place and valuable championship points ahead of Sunday's remaining two races.
Third place went to Oleksandr Savinkov, who enjoyed an aggressive opening stint before tyre degradation began to affect his pace in the closing laps. The Ukrainian had to withstand a determined attack from teammate Arjen Kraling on the penultimate lap but successfully held onto the final podium position, completing a double podium for the Kerpen-based team.
Despite a late challenge and a subsequent mistake that launched his Tatuus over the kerbs, Kraling managed to keep the car under control and crossed the line in fourth.
Fifth place went to Oleksandr Bondarev, the Williams Driver Academy representative racing for Prema Racing. Sixth overall and first among the Rookies was Kenzo Craigie, representing R-ace GP and the Mercedes Junior Team. Australian driver Noah Killion finished seventh after starting from seventh on the grid, having dropped two places because of a grid penalty.
Alp Aksoy (Prema Racing) claimed eighth overall and second place in the Rookie classification, ahead of fellow Mercedes Junior Team driver Andy Consani (R-ace GP) in ninth. Completing the top ten was Roman Kamyab (Prema Racing), who also secured the final Rookie podium position. The British rookie started from the front row and fought with the US Racing drivers in the early laps before a mistake cost him several positions and ended his hopes of an overall podium.
Edward Robinson (US Racing) finished eleventh, ahead of Augustus Toniolo (Trident Motorsport) and George Proudford Nalder (AKM Motorsport). The final points-paying positions went to Knud Nielsen (Real Racing) and Kwan Zheng (Prema Racing).
Race 1 provided plenty of action despite running uninterrupted from start to finish without any neutralisations. Several hard-fought battles entertained the spectators, most notably the early fight involving Kamyab that dropped him down the order. There were also fierce battles between George Zasov (Prema Racing) and Lyuboslav Ruykov (Trident Motorsport), while Zasov also traded paint with Jacopo Martinese (PHM Racing, ACI Team Italia). In the midfield, Canadian driver Alexander Chartier (PHM Racing) was involved in successive battles with Bernardo Bernoldi (Trident Motorsport) and Alex Ruta (Van Amersfoort Racing).
The results remain provisional pending the completion of technical and sporting checks.
Luka Sammalisto: "We qualified sixth and started fifth because of the grid penalty for the car ahead. In the end we won the race, and I think everything went really well on our side. The start was super good, the pace was really consistent, and I'm really happy about it. Tomorrow we'll start even further up the grid, so hopefully the result can be the same as today. I'm really happy."
Niccolò Maccagnani: "I think we've been struggling a bit with our race pace this weekend. US Racing seems to have something extra. I gave everything I had, but unfortunately it wasn't enough. We'll come back stronger. We'll work on tyre management and also on my driving to try and find a little bit more."
Oleksandr Savinkov: "I spent most of the race behind Nico, so I damaged the tyres a bit running in dirty air. Later in the race I started to lose some pace and made a few mistakes. I still tried to stay with them, but I was a bit too far back and maybe a bit too optimistic with some moves before the race settled down. I think we have a really strong package here. Maybe we're not as dominant as we were during the Italian F4 round, but we can definitely fight for the win. At Vallelunga the start is really important. Luka is still a little bit quicker over one lap, and that's something I can improve. Around here, if you're leading after the opening lap and have a small gap, it's quite manageable to stay there because of the dirty air and the characteristics of the circuit."
Track action resumes on Sunday 5 July with Race 2 at 10:00 and Race 3 at 17:00.
All races are broadcast live on the championship's social media channels, on ACI Sport TV, and through the international television network carrying both the Italian F4 Championship and the E4 Championship worldwide.