This weekend, on September 9 and 10, the engines of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine will roar back to life after the summer break. Hosting the series for the seventh out of ten rounds this season will be the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Styria. The series, co-managed by Alpine and ACI Sport, will see Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the Bolognese driver representing PREMA Racing, starting as the Championship leader. His advantage, 6 points over the closest pursuer (Martinius Stenshorne, R-ace GP), was secured in the last race at Paul Ricard, allowing Antonelli to enjoy the summer with the series lead in his pocket.
Norwegian driver Stenshorne, with 4 wins in the first part of the season, is the driver who has stood on the top step of the podium the most, demonstrating his strong potential to compete for the title, as soon as his Rookie season. All eyes are also on Tim Tramnitz of R-ace GP, Dutch driver Kas Haverkort representing Van Amersfoort Racing, and Brazilian driver Rafael Camara of Prema Racing. This trio, in this order, makes up the top 5 in the standings and consists of drivers who have already tasted victory, promising potential surprises on the track.
In the Austrian paddock debuts and a great return.
There will be 33 drivers on the track during the weekend at the Red Bull Ring, including some newcomers compared to previous race events. The seventh round of the season will mark the debut in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine for Jesse Carrasquedo, Mexican driver racing for Van Amersfoort Racing. Having already made a positive impression on the Team in his Formula 4 previous campaign, Carrasquedo will now race alongside Haverkort and Niels Koolen for the next 2 rounds. Also making their debuts at the Red Bull Ring will be the Rookie drivers Bruno Del Pino and William Karlsson. Del Pino, who also represented Spain in the latest FIA Motorsport Games, will be bearing the MP Motorsport flag together with Sami Meguetounif and Victor Bernier; while Sweden Karlsson will be racing under the KIC Motorsport insignia flanking Maya Weug and Ivan Klymenko. Making is comeback to the track is the French driver Hadrien David, who has signed with Monolite Racing to represent the Italian Team alongside Enzo Scionti and Giovanni Maschio for the remainder of the season.
The weekend’s schedule:
The weekend’s program starts with the first contact with the track on Thursday, September 7, with a long session of pre-event collective tests from 13:35 to 16:27. On Friday, September 8, there will be the first collective test session from 10:20 to 11:10, followed by a second session from 15:17 to 16:07. Saturday, September 9, marks the first race day, with qualifying sessions starting at 10:50 and running until 11:25, followed by Race 1, starting at 17:05 for 30 minutes + 1 lap. On Sunday, September 10, the second qualifying session will begin at 9:10 and run until 9:45, and then the lights will go out for the last race of the weekend at 15:15, again running for 30 minutes + 1 lap.
Both the qualifying and race sessions will be live-streamed on the official YouTube page @formularegionaleubyalpine.
