Michael Belov took part in the fourth round of the Italian Formula 4 Championship

16 July 2019/ smp

SMP Racing junior driver Michael Belov participated in the fourth round of the Italian Formula 4 Championship, which took place on July 13-14 at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.

In the first qualifying session, Michael was 13th fastest with a lap of 1: 31.372, being just a second away from the polesitter – the results were very close. In the second qualifying session, Belov was classified 10th with a 0.4s gap from the leader.

In the first race, Belov started from 13th place, managed to gain four positions and continued to fight with rivals. However, on the second lap, three cars collided, including a Russian car, and Michael was forced off the track.

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In the second race, the SMP Racing junior driver started from tenth place and finished eleventh. Belov started Race 3 from twelfth position, overtook some rivals ahead and finish tenth.

“The weekend was difficult. In the qualifying sessions, we were only 13th and 10th fastest, as I made some mistakes,” Michael Belov said. “I had a very good start in the first race, I gained several positions at once. On the first lap, we had a great fight with my rivals and one of them hit my car from behind. The suspension was bent a little, but despite this, I still had a good pace and continued to race. Unfortunately, there was another contact later and I had to retire. In the second race, it started to rain a little, and it was not easy on the track. At the start I did not manage to gain places, and after a few laps I was off the track in the last turn and lost another position. In the third race, we had a good pace, but due to tyre degradation, there were some difficulties in right-hand turns, and it became hard to fight for higher positions. I want to thank the team for the good preparation of the car and my SMP Racing coaches for their guidance and support.”

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The fifth round of the Italian Formula 4 Championship will take place on August 30 - September 1 at Imola, Italy.
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