Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine Round 6 Recap
Race 1 starts with slightly wet track conditions and some teams and drivers trying a gamble with slick tyres, but the choice does not help and the race is held under pouring rain. In the first row Michael Belov (G4 Racing) is in pole position, and by his side is the Rookie, Red Bull Junior Team driver, Isack Hadjar (R-ace GP). On the second row, Hadrien David (R-ace GP) and Dino Beganovic (Prema Powerteam).
Belov makes a good start while Hadjar stalls and loses many positions, just as Franco Colapinto (MP Motorsport), starting from seventh position. Behind, Hadrien David is really quick and manages to almost overtake the Russian driver with an amazing drive along the straight, putting two wheels on the grass, and actually gaining the position for a moment. Belov is fought well and gained it back taking advantage of the French driver going slightly wide. David is then blocked and Zane Maloney is excellent in conquering P2.
After 5 minutes, Grégoire Saucy has already recovered 14 positions, from 24th to 10th, while in a few laps Belov is already more than 5 seconds away from the driver of Barbados.
23 minutes to the end of the race, unfortunately, David Vidales (Prema Powerteam) spins and damages his rear wing. He stops and requires a the safety car. The group is packed together and Belov needs to do the job all over again. The safety car is on track for quite some time to allow the recovery of the car. The race restarts with 6’50 left, and Belov is perfect behind the safety car, gaining immediately good distance from Maloney and David. The Russian of G4 Racing will also set the best lap time of the race (2:34.930).
Track conditions worsen a lot, and rain is pouring down heavily, with very poor visibility for drivers following each other. Saucy tries to attack Hadjar, who himself is very close to Gabriele Minì (ART Grand Prix), but finally these battles do not lead to overtakes, still showing great driving with control of the car to the limit.
With two laps to go a mistake by Maloney, who raced an amazing race until that moment, allows David to overtake and conquer the second position.
Finally, Belov wins with more than 9 seconds over David. Third is Maloney, fourth is a fantastic Beganovic, first of the Rookies, fifth a very good Patrick Pasma in his first race with ART Grand Prix, sixth is Minì, who holds to his position with his teeth, seventh is Hadjar and eighth, recovering finally 16 positions from 24th on the grid, is the championship leader Saucy, who manages to limit the loss of points on his first opponent in the championship, David.
Race 2 starting grid sees poleman Grègoire Saucy (ART Grand Prix), at his side his teammate Gabriele Minì, in second row David Vidales (Prema Powerteam) and Hadrien David (R-ace GP). In third row we have Zane Maloney (R-ace GP) and Kas Haverkort (MP Motorsport).
At the start Saucy is fast, but behind him Minì makes the best of the slipstream and overtakes his teammate, while Vidales is close to the first two. In the meantime, the track confirms it is good for overtaking, with Maloney taking the fourth position on David who has a weak start, while a furious Hadjar conquers the 11th position from Belov.
The battle is amazing between Minì and Saucy, trying many times to reconquer the first position, but with the Italian battling for every inch and every corner to keep hold of the lead. In the meantime, Maloney overtakes Vidales, while Belov is faster than Hadjar and overtakes the French back. Finally, Saucy is back in the lead leaving Minì in second position, and Maloney taking advantage of the battle between the first two to close the gap on them.
Franco Colapinto (MP Motorsport) is also doing a great race moving up 5 positions from 10th at the start and actually manages to overtake Vidales. Also, Gabriel Bortoleto (FA RAcing) is really effective in the first laps and gains six positions from 20th to 14th.
19 minutes to the end of the race and Pietro Delli Guanti (Monolite Motorsport) collides with Tommy Smith (JD Motorsport), so their race ends and the safety car enters the track. At the restart, Saucy nails the restart, while Minì is immediately attacked by Maloney, and moves to protect the position, the Italian is also passed by David in an amazing show of battles and overtakes. Behind them, another group of drivers close to one another trying to conquer the fifth position: Colapinto, Vidales and Havenkort.
Maloney manages to get close to Saucy at a certain moment, by the Swiss is apparently only cooling down his tyres and soon increases his advantage on the strong driver from Barbados.
At 9’40” to the end of the race a great move from Vidales permits him to overtake Colapinto. Unfortunately, Vidales is involved soon after in an accident with his teammate Paul Aron (Prema Powerteam) and is out of the race, while the Estonian driver loses some positions falling down to 10th. But he manages to continue his race and actually gain back the ninth position overtaking Hadjar, who had just conquered the position from Dexter Patterson (Monolite Motorsport), the British driver obtaining a great performance despite almost zero experience in this series.
Another battle sees William Alatalo (Arden Motorsport) conquer the 10th position from Hadjar, but the battle does not end as the two drivers are involved in a continuous challenge also with Havenkort. At this point, the three drivers who have been gaining more positions since the start are Hadjar and Alatalo, up 7, and Belov, up 6.
The race ends with Saucy conquering another win, finally losing only 4 points of advantage on his first follower in the championship, David, finally third in race 2 behind Maloney. Minì will be fourth and first of the Rookies, after a great race and really strong character in the battles at the front, but somehow paying more than deserved his weak restart behind the safety car.
After the meeting in Spa-Francorchamps Grègoire Saucy leads with 189 points, ahead of Hadrien David with 129 points, and Zane Maloney who reaches 124 points. In the Rookies, Gabriele Minì leads with 109 points, ahead of Isack Hadjar with 101 and Mari Boya far back with 29 points. Finally, in the teams’ standings, Art Grand Prix leads with 320 points, but R-ace GP is just behind with 317 points, ahead of Prema Powerteam with 166 points.
Due to the flood disaster in the Eifel and the surrounding regions, the Nürburgring and its infrastructure will continue to be used by rescue services as a headquarters for coordinating relief efforts in the region until 8th August at the earliest. Under these circumstances, the Nürburgring is no longer to hold the seventh race weekend of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, originally planned on the 7th and 8th of August. An alternative weekend or venue are currently being assessed and will be announced in the following weeks.