Italian F4: Emily Cotty takes Female Trophy standings lead, Panzeri adds top-20 finish at Vallelunga
- MARCO ALBERTINI
- 2 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Emily Cotty fought through some adversities at Vallelunga, still securing a P16 as best finish and took the lead in the Female Trophy standings during the second round of the Italian F4 Championship.
Ginevra Panzeri continued her recent form with good comeback drives, a top-20 finish and a Female Trophy win in the final race, gaining valuable experience over the Vallelunga weekend.
The second round of the 2026 Italian F4 Championship at Vallelunga proved another challenging but encouraging weekend for the two female drivers on the grid, Emily Cotty and Ginevra Panzeri, who both secured top-20 finishes in highly competitive fields of over 40 entries.
Cotty arrived at Vallelunga following a promising start to her sophomore Italian F4 campaign. The reigning Female Trophy champion had secured a double top-15 finish at the season opener in Misano only a few weeks earlier, scoring points and continuing her development with R-ace GP for her second full-time season in the championship.
Panzeri, meanwhile, entered the weekend carrying strong momentum from an impressive outing in the French F4 Championship, where she twice finished inside the top ten and battled near the front of the field. The Italian driver, contesting her first full-time Italian F4 season with PA Racing alongside a dual-program campaign, continued to show notable progress throughout the Vallelunga weekend.
With 43 entries on the grid, the field was divided into three groups and three preliminary races featuring combined groups A-B, A-C and B-C. Only the top 36 drivers across the heats would advance to the final race. The female entries were reduced to just two drivers this weekend after five women competed at the Misano opener, largely due to a clash with F1 Academy commitments.
Qualifying saw Panzeri compete in the first group, where she recorded a best lap of 1:35.804 to place 21st in her session. Cotty participated in the second group and posted a 1:35.261, securing 18th in her group.
The opening race of the weekend featured Groups B and C, with Cotty lining up 22nd and Panzeri starting from 28th.
Both female drivers made clean starts through the rapid Curvone and Cimini sections. Cotty immediately gained one position, while Panzeri enjoyed a particularly strong getaway to move into 25th.
The race saw an incident at Tornantino, the slowest corner on the circuit, where Pedro Lima and Kenzo Craigie collided. Craigie’s stranded R-ace GP machine spun in the middle of the track but was fortunately avoided by the entire field, allowing the race to continue under green.
Cotty settled into 22nd position directly behind teammate Tamas Gender, while Panzeri began applying pressure to Igor Polak. Early positions stabilized before Zheng dropped down the order following contact with Alex Ruta, who suffered front wing damage and was forced to pit.
The resulting safety car period benefited both female drivers; Panzeri gained several positions, overtaking Diaz, Consani and Severiukhin to climb into 21st, while Cotty avoided trouble to move up to 17th.
However, the restart proved more difficult for Panzeri, who dropped back to 25th while battling recovering driver Andy Consani. Cotty briefly slipped to 18th but remained securely inside the top 20.
Cotty reclaimed 17th on lap 10 by overtaking Ruta and closed to within half a second of Andre Rodriguez ahead. Ruta later fought back on lap 13 to retake the place, leaving Cotty trapped in a long train of battling cars and battling some straight line speed deficit. Nicolas Cortes then dropped down the order, promoting Panzeri to 24th.
Despite competitive pace in the latter stages, Cotty struggled to escape the traffic; Severiukhin eventually passed her as well, dropping the Briton to 19th.
Cotty ultimately crossed the finish line in 19th position, enough to secure the Female Trophy win in Race 1. She was also the highest-placed R-ace GP driver in a difficult race for the squad, which appeared to lack straight-line speed through Vallelunga’s fast opening sector. Panzeri finished 24th after a challenging but productive opening contest.
The second race later on Saturday afternoon featured Groups A and B, leaving Cotty as the sole female representative on the grid. She started from 24th position.
A few drivers stalled at the back of the field at the start, but Cotty avoided the drama and immediately climbed to 23rd. On lap two, David Walther ran wide at Cimini and beached his car through the gravel, allowing Cotty to move up to 22nd before she also overtook Fogaça for 21st.
Cotty began building strong rhythm, regularly lapping in the 1:37s and steadily reducing the gap to the cars ahead while simultaneously opening over a second advantage to the drivers behind. She soon applied pressure to Evan Michelini in the battle for a top-20 finish.
Improving further, Cotty lowered her personal best to a 1:36.1 and remained tucked within half a second of Michelini. A collision between Costoya and Killion on lap six eliminated both drivers and promoted Cotty into the top 20.
The race remained green, allowing Cotty to continue her forward charge as she overtook Michelini. More drama followed when Lima and Toniolo collided, finally bringing out the safety car with 13 minutes remaining.
During the neutralization, Cotty was struck from behind by another car that briefly went airborne. Fortunately, her R-ace GP machine escaped major damage and she was able to continue.
The race resumed with four minutes remaining. Cotty restarted 18th, but recovering driver Walther found a way past while Kuklane also slipped through. Cotty nevertheless held 19th after Maccagnani suffered damage and pitted. Simek then flew through the gravel from the top ten, nearly launching over a kerb.
Cotty settled into 18th with comfortable margins ahead and behind entering the final lap and took the chequered flag there after another solid performance. Post-race penalties later promoted her to 16th position, completing back-to-back top-20 finishes at Vallelunga.
Sunday morning’s third race featured Groups A and C, with Panzeri the only woman on the grid. Starting 27th, she aimed to continue her upward trajectory.
Panzeri made an excellent launch and immediately avoided a slow-starting car ahead. Further chaos erupted when Maccagnani and Kamyab collided, forcing several drivers off track. Panzeri skillfully avoided the incidents and surged up to 22nd before the safety car was deployed, gaining five positions on the opening lap alone.
The race restarted at the end of lap four with Panzeri now in contention for a top-20 finish. She battled Maffi Racing’s Igor Polak while Andre Rodriguez loomed directly behind. Rodriguez eventually overtook Panzeri on lap seven, though both drivers simultaneously gained another position after Kraling dropped down the order, elevating Panzeri to 21st and keeping her in the thick of the fight.
Another accident involving Toniolo and Kuklane on lap 10 triggered a second safety car. By this stage Panzeri had climbed to 19th while remaining glued to Rodriguez’s slipstream.
The race ultimately finished under safety car conditions, with Panzeri securing an impressive 19th-place finish after gaining eight positions from the grid. The strong recovery kept alive her hopes of qualifying for the weekend finale.
Both female drivers successfully qualified for the fourth and final race of the weekend, with only the top 36 drivers from the 43-car entry earning a spot on the grid. Cotty qualified 33rd, while Panzeri secured the final position in 36th. Several notable drivers failed to qualify following the hectic preliminary heats.
Panzeri once again enjoyed a strong launch and gained positions immediately off the line. Cotty, however, found a stalled car directly ahead and had to take evasive action, costing her momentum.
Panzeri then ran deep into Curvone and went off through the gravel trap at high speed before rejoining. More incidents unfolded through the following corners as chaos swept through the field.
Despite the difficult circumstances, Cotty produced a remarkable opening lap recovery to climb into 25th, gaining eight positions in the opening corners alone.
The safety car was soon deployed after Weiss, Al Sulaiti, Michelini, Bondarev, Severiukhin and Diaz were involved in three separate crashes. Panzeri recovered from her off-track excursion to run 30th when the race was neutralized.
Racing resumed at the end of lap four with 14 minutes remaining: Cotty immediately joined a fierce battle involving Andre Rodriguez, teammate Tamas Gender and Alex Ruta. However, she later slipped behind both Ruta and Bernoldi to fall to 27th before overtaking Gender to reclaim 26th.
Panzeri demonstrated increasingly competitive pace, lapping in the 1:36.7 range while pressuring Kuklane, who was himself directly behind Igor Polak. The Italian consistently ran several tenths quicker than the cars ahead and steadily closed the gap.
Disaster struck for Cotty on lap 12 when a puncture forced her into the pits and dropped her down to 30th.
The incident promoted Panzeri to 28th. She remained within one second of Polak throughout the closing stages while continuing to display competitive pace. The Italian eventually crossed the line in 28th position, claiming the Female Trophy win in the final race of the weekend. Her personal best lap of 1:36.142 was especially encouraging, with her pace in the final laps comparable to drivers inside the top 15.
Cotty’s unfortunate late-race puncture left her classified 30th after what had otherwise been another determined recovery drive.
Emily Cotty now leads the Female Trophy standings with 168 points to her name, followed by Ginevra Panzeri at 128 points.
Italian Formula 4 is now set to return to the track on 19.21 June at Autodromo Nazionale di Monza for the third round of the 2026 season.
