The drivers contesting the second round of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine hit the track for the first time this morning at 9 AM, in the first of three collective pre-event test sessions scheduled for the day. It is a prelude to the race weekend on May 18, set to unfold at the iconic Belgian circuit and shape the standings in the early stages of a season that began at Misano World Circuit in early May.
In stark contrast to the warmth of the Romagna Riviera, the drivers were greeted by stable but very cold weather this morning, with air temperature at 9.4°C and the track at 16.9°C.
Under these conditions, it was R-ace GP’s Japanese driver Jin Nakamura who obtained the fastest lap, stopping the clock at 2’11.998. His teammate at the French team, Akshay Bohra, followed in second place, 0.262 seconds behind.
Third fastest was Prema Racing’s Freddie Slater, just over half a second back (0.506), closely followed by Van Amersfoort Racing’s Dion Gowda, who was 0.528 behind the session leader. Just one thousandth of a second behind Gowda, 0.529 off Nakamura’s pace, was R-ace GP’s French representative Enzo Deligny.
Van Amersfoort Racing’s Hiyu Yamakoshi placed sixth with a gap of 0.980, the last driver to stay within one second of the top time. Behind him came Saintéloc Racing’s Nikita Bedrin at 1.125, followed by Prema Racing’s two Mercedes junior drivers: Rashid Al Dhaheri and Doriane Pin, trailing by 1.189 and 1.223 respectively. Completing the top ten was another Japanese driver, Kanato Le of ART Grand Prix, with a gap of 1.259.
The morning session, which lasted 1 hour and 50 minutes, was the longest of the day. Two more sessions are scheduled for today, each 1 hour and 5 minutes long, starting at 2:10 PM and again at 4:05 PM.
Weekend Schedule
Track action officially begins on Thursday, May 15, with three pre-event collective test sessions, offering drivers and teams valuable running time on the iconic Belgian circuit. The first session will take place from 9:00 AM to 10:50 AM, followed by the second from 2:10 PM to 3:15 PM, and the third from 4:05 PM to 5:10 PM.
Friday, May 16, will host the two collective tests for the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine. The first will begin at 9:49 AM and run for 50 minutes, with the second session scheduled for 2:29 PM, also lasting 50 minutes.
Saturday’s schedule opens with the first qualifying session divided into two groups: Group A at 10:20 AM and Group B at 10:40 AM. Race 1 is set to start in the afternoon, with lights out at 2:20 PM for 30 minutes plus one lap of action.
Sunday, May 18, features the second qualifying session beginning with Group B at 9:30 AM, followed by Group A at 9:50 AM. The weekend concludes with Race 2 at 4:15 PM.
As always, both qualifying sessions and races will be streamed live on the official YouTube channel of the championship and broadcast by all media partners airing the series live, including ACI Sport TV.
