The seventh round of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine truly came alive this morning with the first qualifying session of the weekend. As usual, the drivers were split into two groups, tackling a cold track. Track temperature was recorded at 15°C when cars went out, with 10.8°C in the air. The overall fastest driver was Matteo De Palo, representing Trident, who set a 1:25.709 lap in the second group. With this pole, he now has a prime opportunity to close the gap and fight back for the championship lead. The best performer in the other group, Akshay Bohra with R-ace GP, secured a place on the front row alongside him.
Group A battle
Group A faced the track first thing in the morning, still dealing with tricky grip conditions after overnight rain. Among the first to lower the benchmark was Tim Gerhards with Saintéloc Racing. The fight for the top spot then involved Akshay Bohra, Hiyu Yamakoshi with Van Amersfoort Racing, and Enzo Deligny, representing R-ace GP. These three drivers traded the provisional P1 lap after lap in a highly competitive session that went down to the wire.
In the end, Bohra came out on top with a 1:25.981. Just 0.051 seconds behind was teammate Deligny, followed by Yamakoshi, only 0.059 seconds further back. Fourth and fifth went to RPM drivers: Belgian Ean Eyckmans, 0.380 off the pace, and Dutchman Reno Francot, 0.465 down. Sixth place was claimed by Taito Kato with ART Grand Prix at +0.534, followed by Michael Belov of CL Motorsport at +0.542. Dion Gowda, representing Van Amersfoort Racing, was eighth at +0.620, just ahead of championship leader Freddie Slater with Prema Racing at +0.720. Closing the top ten was Giovanni Maschio, also with RPM, at +0.833.
Akshay Bohra: “Qualifying went well. Grip levels were quite low, so I just tried to adapt as best as I could. The team gave me a strong package. You need to drive right on the limit here. With the long straights there will be a lot of action in the race, so anything can happen. Lap after lap, grip kept improving after last night’s rain. On the final lap I was braking really late into the first three corners, focusing on strong exits to carry as much speed as possible, always right at the edge of rear grip. In the last sector I put it all together in some pretty difficult corners, committing a lot, and crossed the line. For Race 1 the plan is simple: drive as fast as I can and take every chance to overtake.”
Group B showdown
In Group B, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Pedro Clerot was among the early leaders, battling throughout with Matteo De Palo. The decisive moment came when De Palo clocked his 1:25.709 lap, which secured pole despite a final push from Clerot. The Brazilian went purple in the first sector in the dying seconds but couldn’t maintain the pace to the line, ending up second by just 0.010 seconds.
Third place went to another standout, Nikita Bedrin with Saintéloc Racing, only 0.081 seconds behind. Rashid Al Dhaheri of Prema Racing took fourth at +0.387, followed by Edu Robinson with G4 Racing at +0.518. Frenchman Evan Giltaire with ART Grand Prix was sixth at +0.533. Ruiqi Liu gave Trident seventh place at +0.614, just ahead of teammate Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi at +0.630. Closing the top ten were Enea Frey, one of CL Motorsport’s new entries alongside Zenrui Chi, at +0.793, and Prema Racing’s wildcard Alex Powell at +0.832.
Some drivers saw their laps deleted for track limits violations at Turns 9 and 10, including both Clerot and Yamakoshi, who nevertheless managed to climb back into the fight in their respective groups.
Matteo De Palo: “After not the best day yesterday in collective tests, today we managed to put everything together and take pole position. Now we need to finish the job in Race 1, to close the gap with the championship leader and maybe even take the lead back. I think it was a really strong lap, especially because I did it without a tow, which here is very important. Our pitlane position didn’t really help to get a slipstream, so we decided to go alone and in the end it paid off. The second group usually has a small grip advantage, but also in the first group the pace was quick. Today we have a big opportunity, and we will try to make the most of it.”
Up next
Race 1 (30 minutes + 1 lap) goes live today, Saturday 6 September, at 12:55 PM. On Sunday 7 September, Qualifying 2 starts at 9:35 AM, followed by Race 2 (30 minutes + 1 lap) at 3:05 PM.
Click here to download the broadcast list to find out where to watch qualifying and races live on TV worldwide. Live streaming will be available on the official Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine YouTube channel.
