Academy Report: Podium start for Sasha in Italian F4
Oleksandr’s Italian F4 season gets off to a strong start at Misano, plus more from our karting trio at Round 2 of the European Championship
Published
11 MAY 2026
Est. reading time
3 min
Header imagery: @pilot.bondarev
Oleksandr Bondarev secured a podium finish during the opening round of the 2026 Italian F4 campaign at Misano.
Meanwhile, our trio of Academy karters were back in action at the second round of the FIA Karting European Championship in Valencia, delivering strong performances across both the OK and Junior categories.
Keep reading to find out how our young racers fared.
Oleksandr Bondarev
Italian F4
Oleksandr Bondarev made an encouraging start to his 2026 Italian F4 campaign, securing a podium finish during the opening round at Misano.
The Ukrainian showed competitive pace from the outset, qualifying P6 in his group to line up P7 for the opening race of the weekend.
A clean start and strong opening lap saw Sasha move into the leading group after avoiding incidents ahead before an early safety car neutralised the race. Running comfortably inside the podium places throughout, he crossed the line P3 before a post-race penalty for another driver elevated him to P2.
Race 2 brought another strong recovery drive. After holding position during the opening phase, Sasha capitalised immediately following a safety car restart, making successive overtakes to climb from P7 to P5 with a series of confident moves.
Starting the final race from P4, changing conditions and a wide moment following an early restart dropped him down the order, with Sasha ultimately recovering to finish P9.
The weekend leaves Oleksandr P6 in the championship standings on 54 points, already over halfway towards his total points tally from the entire 2025 season after just one round.
Round 2 of the Italian F4 Championship takes place at Vallelunga on 22–24 May.
Dean Hoogendoorn
FIA Karting European Championship – OK
Dean Hoogendoorn delivered another strong recovery drive in the OK category to secure a top-10 finish in Valencia.
After beginning the weekend with encouraging pace in practice, qualifying practice proved more difficult, leaving Dean P37 and with significant work to do across the heats.
The Dutch racer responded strongly, climbing through the order across the qualifying heats before adding another solid result in Super Heat B to improve his starting position for the Final.
Starting from P20, Dean continued his charge forward in the decisive race, gaining 11 positions to finish P9 and secure valuable championship points.
Following two rounds, Dean sits P3 in the standings on 95 points.
Will Green
FIA Karting European Championship – Junior
Will Green continued his impressive start to the 2026 season with another podium finish in the Junior category.
The Brit showed strong pace from the get-go in Valencia, finishing P2 in practice before carrying that momentum into qualifying, where he again placed P2. Consistent performances across the heats elevated him to the top of the Intermediate Classification heading into Sunday.
Will strengthened his position with victory in Super Heat A, securing pole position for the Final and maintaining control of the championship fight.
In the final, he initially led the field before becoming embroiled in a tightly contested battle at the front. Despite multiple lead changes and pressure from behind, Will fought hard throughout to secure P3 at the chequered flag.
The result means Will leaves Valencia leading the championship standings after two rounds on 182 points.
Lucas Palacio
FIA Karting European Championship – Junior
Lucas Palacio showed encouraging pace throughout the weekend in the Junior category.
After placing inside the top 10 in practice, Lucas steadily built momentum across qualifying and the heats, moving into the top 10 of the Intermediate Classification by Sunday morning.
A strong drive to P5 in Super Heat B further strengthened his position heading into the Final, where he lined up P9 on the grid.
In a tightly contested race, Lucas battled within a large midfield group before ultimately finishing P20 at the flag.
He leaves Valencia P21 in the championship standings as the European campaign heads towards Round 3.
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