The second qualifying session of the weekend opened race day two for the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine at the Red Bull Ring, the seventh of ten rounds this season. This time, Group B was first on track, and it was in this opening session that the pole position was decided. Van Amersfoort Racing’s Pedro Clerot posted the fastest lap with a 1:25.129. The time came right at the chequered flag, following a string of earlier fast laps by the Brazilian, underlining the exceptional pace he showed today. In Group A, Enzo Deligny emerged as the fastest, but his 1:25.142 effort was just 0.013 seconds shy of Clerot’s overall pole.
Group B sets the tone
Unlike day one, a GT session had already run before the single-seaters hit the track, and with no overnight rain the Austrian circuit was already very quick in the morning, despite a cool 16.2°C. Times dropped rapidly. Clerot was among the early leaders before Evan Giltaire of ART Grand Prix and Rashid Al Dhaheri of Prema Racing briefly took over. With two minutes to go, Clerot reclaimed the top spot, improving again on his final lap to secure overall pole.
Al Dhaheri finished second in the group, 0.249 seconds adrift. The battle for third went to the line, with Giltaire beating Prema Racing’s Jack Beeton by just 0.001 seconds. Giltaire ended 0.448 seconds from the top, while Beeton, the Prema Racing driver from the Gold Coast, was fourth at 0.449.
Trident placed two cars in the top six: Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi in fifth at +0.499 and new championship leader after Race 1, Matteo De Palo, in sixth at +0.511. Seventh went to Nikita Bedrin with Saintéloc Racing, 0.522 off pole. G4 Racing’s Edu Robinson was eighth at +0.698, ahead of Japanese driver Kanato Le with ART Grand Prix at +0.712. Closing the top ten was CL Motorsport’s Enea Frey, 0.934 down.
Pedro Clerot: “I’m very happy to finally put a good lap together this weekend. Since we arrived here, I realized we had a lot of pace, and the package was really strong. Yesterday in qualifying I made a mistake that cost the hundredth we needed for pole, and I also made a mistake in the race. Today we bounced back with pole position, a very strong lap, even being in the ‘slower’ group. I just have to thank the team, we’ve done an amazing job all weekend, we were on top of everything we needed to do, and I could deliver in the end. It’s a very high-speed track, with heavy braking zones, and that suits us really well. Like I told the team: when the car is this good, it makes my life a little bit easier. Yesterday I made a small mistake at the start; I learned from that. Matteo had a good start yesterday, so I’m aiming for the same and then to pull away. It won’t be easy, for sure, because everyone has been very quick… let’s see, I’m looking forward to it.”
Group A responds
This time it was Group A running second. Freddie Slater of Prema Racing was among the early leaders, determined to retake the championship lead lost to De Palo after Race 1. But the Stratford-upon-Avon driver saw some of his laps deleted for track limits at Turns 9 and 10. The same fate hit RPM’s Ean Eyckmans, who had also been fighting near the top early on.
In the closing stages, Enzo Deligny emerged in front. On his final run, both Deligny and R-ace GP teammate Jin Nakamura mounted late attacks. Deligny sealed P1 in the group with a 1:25.142, while Nakamura followed in second, 0.104 seconds back. Slater finished third at +0.166. RPM’s Dutch driver Reno Francot was fourth at +0.341, followed by Akshay Bohra with R-ace GP in fifth at +0.544. Just behind came Van Amersfoort Racing’s Japanese driver Hiyu Yamakoshi in sixth at +0.552. His teammate, Indian driver Dion Gowda, was seventh at +0.653.
Eyckmans ended eighth at +0.673, while RPM’s Giovanni Maschio was ninth at +0.827, even facing some troubles with a trip through the gravel at the very end of the session. ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato completed the top ten at +0.842.
Enzo Deligny: “It was a tricky session. The track was a lot faster than yesterday, and everyone improved. On the last lap I did quite a good lap, so I took pole in the group. Missing overall pole by so little is frustrating, but it’s still a good result. This is a track where it’s easy to make mistakes, especially on the braking. Not making mistakes on the last lap was key, and I was happy with it, we were just missing a tiny bit for pole. For sure I’ll try to win the race. We’ll see with the team what the best strategy is, but this is a track where you can overtake, even if it’s not on lap 1. I have strong race pace, and I’m confident we can move forward.”
Up next
Now only Race 2 (30 minutes + 1 lap) remains to close the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine’s seventh round, live 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.
