16 year-old Joao Vieira has closed the first race of the Italian Championship F.4 powered by Abarth, the new championship strongly wanted by FIA and brought on track by ACI. Coming from the world of Kart, in his debut at the wheel of F4 Tatuus T014, the young Brazilian with Antonelli Motorsport has ended the first of the seven appointments finishing in the Top Ten and scoring his first point of the season.

In a line-up consisting of 22 open-wheel cars, Joao defended himself by closing the two qualifying sessions in the first five rows, rwith the eighth and ninth fastest lap. In the second of the three races he brought his #28 to ninth place, scoring the best result among the Antonelli’s boys.

“I am very pleased with the weekend of Joao. Given the lack of experience, it was a very good weekend. He has made a big leap in quality since the last day of testing, done just in Adria, but unfortunately we paid some electrical problems that caused a lost in power to the engine. Diversely, in Race 3 we could have scored a very good result, considering that before the retirement from the race we were in seventh position, going as fast as the group before us. However, again, a nice weekend and in constant improvement, which bodes well for the next round at Imola, even if we talk about a much harder track which he doesn’t know”, Giovanni Minardi comments.