At the Mugello Circuit, in the final race of the fifth round of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, Andrea Kimi Antonelli dominated from pole position and secured his second victory of the season. The driver from Bologna took home the biggest haul of points from the weekend, with a second-place finish in Race 1 and a win in the final race. Antonelli now has a total of 152 points in the championship jointly managed by Alpine and ACI Sport.
Taking second place is his teammate from Prema Racing, Rafael Camara. Camara challenged Antonelli’s dominance at the start, attempting to immediately take the lead of the race. However, the Italian defended well, and Camara had to chase him throughout the race. The Brazilian finished second under the checkered flag, earning valuable points and securing the Team’s second spot on the podium, capping off a brilliant qualifying session earlier in the day. Crossing the finish line in third place was Martinius Stenshorne. Race 2 ended with the Norwegian driver from R-ace GP involved in a thrilling final lap battle with Santiago Ramos, from RPM, who was attempting to overtake him on the final straight. The two cars make contact, and Stenshorne’s Tatuus car hits the wall. Within moments, both drivers are out of their cars unharmed.
Kas Haverkort, Dutch driver from Van Amersfoort Racing, finished fifth after briefly losing the position to Macéo Capietto, the Frenchman driver from RPM. Haverkort skillfully exploited the right moment to reclaim the position with a textbook overtaking maneuver. Capietto ultimately secured sixth place after a long battle on the track. Tim Tramnitz, the German driver from R-ace GP, closed in seventh after starting from the tenth block on the grid. Owen Tangavelou, the lightning-fast Frenchman from Trident, took eighth place, followed by Michael Belov from G4 Racing. Closing out the top 10 was Levente Revesz (Arden Motorsport), who earned his first point of the season in an exceptional race despite starting from nineteenth.
The race today was filled with excitement, featuring several intense battles that thrilled the spectators. Among them was the clash between Joshua Dufek, the driver from Van Amersfoort Racing, and Lorenzo Fluxà from Prema. The two cars made contact twice, with the first incident causing Fluxà to briefly go off track, while the second incident resulted in Fluxà’s retirement, pushing Dufek to the back of the field. There were also incidents leading to retirements for Niels Koolen from Van Amersfoort Racing and Kirill Smal from Team Monolite. Maya Weug from KIC Motorsport, who had displayed solid performances throughout the weekend, also had her race end in the gravel trap. Roman Bilinski from Trident encountered problems as well, damaging his front wing while battling for positions at the front. Despite making a pit stop, he managed to climb back up the leaderboard and finish in fifteenth place.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli:
“It was a great race, but at the same time challenging due to the high temperatures. Yesterday we did an excellent job that allowed us to have a high-performing car both in qualifying and in the race. For this, I have to thank the team that allowed me to step onto the highest step of the podium, and I am very happy about it. I will approach the remaining races as I always have, with an additional motivation because we are very close to the championship lead”.
The appointment with Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine will be now with round 6 at Paul Ricard on July 21-23.
