Aaron Debattista won the second F4 round of the Malta National Sim Racing Championships 2026 by one point, while Jake Sammut’s feature-race victory moved him to the top of the season standings.
Debattista won the 15-minute sprint from pole and finished second in the 20-minute feature. Sammut reversed those results, placing second in the sprint before winning the feature from fourth on the grid.
The official standings credit Debattista with 46 points from the round and Sammut with 45. Their Imola scores changed the championship order, however. Sammut now leads Debattista 79-77 after two of five rounds.
Debattista adds F4 pole to his GT3 win
The Formula 4 session began shortly after Debattista had won the GT3 race at the same circuit. He carried that form into qualifying and took pole by 0.17 seconds from Ilan Dimech Ghirxi.
Sammut qualified third, followed by Brandon Bonello, Steve Axisa Farrell and Craig Caruana. Championship leader Shawn Cassar started seventh after entering the day one point ahead of Mikhail Mercieca.
Imola’s high kerbs and strict track limits shaped the session. Several quick laps were invalidated, and Bonello spun at Tamburello shortly after setting a time good enough for the front row.
Sprint battle gives Debattista room to escape
Debattista led into Tamburello at the start, with Dimech Ghirxi and Sammut forming an early three-car breakaway. The race changed when Dimech Ghirxi slid over the kerbs at Variante Alta.
Sammut drew alongside and completed an outside pass at Tamburello after light wheel contact. Axisa Farrell passed Dimech Ghirxi one lap later, leaving Debattista more than three seconds clear while the group behind fought over second.
Joshua Cauchi Savona spun at Villeneuve on the opening lap. Ayrton Tonna had nowhere to go, clipped the rotating car and rolled before returning to the pits for repairs.
Automatic incident penalties then changed the lower half of the order. Dimech Ghirxi, Cassar and Tonna were sent through the pits. Dimech Ghirxi later retired, while Cassar recovered to seventh.
Axisa Farrell remained close to Sammut until a spin at Rivazza on the final lap triggered another penalty. He had been in position to finish third but was classified eighth, promoting Mercieca to the final podium place and Caruana to fourth.
Debattista crossed the line 2.249 seconds ahead of Sammut. Mercieca completed the podium from eighth on the grid, 4.749 seconds behind the winner.
Sammut works through the reverse grid
The feature reversed the first eight sprint finishers, putting Bonello on pole and Caruana alongside him. Mercieca started third, Sammut fourth and Debattista fifth.
Bonello led the opening corners, but Caruana passed him at Rivazza near the end of lap one. Caruana then ran beyond the track at Tamburello and had to slow, allowing the order to change again.
Sammut used the tow to attack Bonello and moved into the lead during the opening laps. Behind him, the fight for second produced several changes in less than five minutes.
Mercieca spun after riding the Tamburello kerb while fighting Caruana and collected Cassar. Cassar, who had started the day leading the championship, retired after three laps and scored only four points across the round.
Caruana and Axisa Farrell continued their fight through Tosa and Piratella before contact at Acque Minerali sent Caruana around. Race control gave Axisa Farrell a drive-through penalty, moving Debattista and Dimech Ghirxi into second and third.
Bonello also spun after running onto the grass at Villeneuve but avoided the barriers. He recovered to fifth behind Caruana.
Sammut controls the final laps
Debattista reduced Sammut’s lead through the closing laps, taking about six tenths out of the gap on one tour. The extra lap created by the timed-race finish gave him another opportunity, but Sammut kept the lead at 1.619 seconds at the flag.
Dimech Ghirxi completed the feature podium after starting 10th. His climb of seven places was the largest gain in either F4 race at Imola. Caruana finished fourth despite the rear-end contact, with Bonello fifth and Tonna sixth.
Sammut’s three sessions formed a clean progression: third in qualifying, second in the sprint and first in the feature. Debattista still took the round by one point and called it “the round that I needed” after falling seven points short of the championship lead at Spa.
Debattista was also voted Driver of the Day, taking four of the six fan votes.
Cassar’s four-point Imola score dropped him from first to sixth in the standings. Mercieca remains third on 55, while Caruana moved two positions to fourth on 49 and Dimech Ghirxi rose to fifth on 45.
Round three at the Red Bull Ring on Sept. 19 gives Sammut only a two-point margin to protect. Debattista has three race wins from six starts across the GT3 and F4 championships this season, but Sammut now holds the number that matters most in F4: 79 points.
