The fourth round of the season is ready to kick off: qualifying on Friday afternoon, on Saturday the spectacular 21-lap Sprint Race and on Sunday the GP. Automobile Club d’Italia and Formula Imola express “great satisfaction” for the organization, the response of the territory and record numbers with almost 130,000 tickets sold
Imola (Italy), April 21, 2022. With almost 130,000 tickets sold, everything is ready at Imola for the Grand Prix of Made in Italy and Emilia Romagna, fourth round of the Formula 1 World Championship to be held in the “heart” of Emilia-Romagna “Motor Valley” from tomorrow Friday 22 to Sunday 24 April.
The Formula 1 schedule is decisive already on Friday: after the first free practice session from 13.30h to 14.30h, green light for the qualifying session from 17.00h to 18.00h. Qualifying will decide the pole sitter and his fastest lap will be worth the first position for Saturday’s “sprint race” grid, when Formula 1 will be back in action for the second free practice session from 12.30h to 13.30h and then for the 21-lap Sprint at 16.30h.
Saturday’s spectacular format (Imola is the first round to adopt it in 2022) will define the starting grid for the Made in Italy and Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. The winner of the Sprint is therefore given the right to line up in first position on Sunday at 15.00h for the start of this year’s 63-lap GP.
Starting from the high satisfaction among the fans and the strong commitment of Automobile Club d’Italia and the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and of Mobility, of ICE, Emilia-Romagna Region, the Municipality of Imola and Con.Ami and Liberty Media, on Thursday the satisfaction for this year’s event is clearly expressed at many levels, starting from the ACI President Angelo Sticchi Damiani: “Great satisfaction but above all the confirmation of what we had expected. The response of the territory, with its incredible vocation for motorsport, and that of all Italian sportspeople confirm that Automobile Club d’Italia’s commitment to confirm the presence of Imola in the Formula 1 calendar, not only for this year but until 2025, has certainly been successful. This explosion of interest and spectators has of course also been encouraged by the great achievements of the Ferraris, which have renewed a passion that has never been lost”.
Sticchi Damiani was followed by Giancarlo Minardi, chairman of the board of Formula Imola, the company that manages the circuit: “We are at the beginning of a weekend that I hope will be amazing for the entire region of Emilia Romagna and for the fans who will attend the event, the first Formula 1 round in Europe in 2022. We are very satisfied, this Grand Prix is an extraordinary result, an organization in record time, also considering that the approval of the agreement until 2025 has just arrived a few weeks ago. We trust that everything will be up to expectations and will be appreciated by all those who will participate in one of the most beautiful GPs”.
This weekend also FIA Formula 2, FIA Formula 3 and the Porsche Supercup, where 3 times MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo will make his debut, will be in action on the 4,909 metres of the “Enzo e Dino Ferrari” circuit. Formula 1 returns to Imola with Ferrari and Charles Leclerc at the top of the Constructors’ and Drivers’ championship respectively. Recalling the previous editions of the Made in Italy and Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes won in 2020, while last year Max Verstappen and Red Bull got the first position ahead of Hamilton and Lando Norris (McLaren), third by a few tenths on the Ferraris of Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. Just on the eve of Imola, today it was announced that Sainz himself renewed his contract with Ferrari until 2024.
