A thrilling and action-packed season finale unfolded at Monza in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, during the last round of the series organized by ACI Sport and Alpine Racing.

This morning, the Temple of Speed hosted the final qualifying session of the year, which was claimed for the first time by Saintéloc Racing and their driver Theophile Naël. The Frenchman delivered a flawless session, snatching pole position from reigning champion Rafael Camara (Prema Racing) in the final moments with a best time of 1’55″302, edging out the Brazilian ace by just six thousandths of a second after Camara had dominated much of the session in Group A.

As per the championship format, Group B took to the track first, where Nikita Bedrin caught the spotlight. The MP Motorsport driver, in an attempt to improve his time, ended up in the gravel at the entry to Parabolica, forcing race control to display the red flag, which prematurely ended the session. This opened the door for Alessandro Giusti (ART Grand Prix) to take the top spot in Group B, narrowly ahead of yesterday’s Race 1 winner Ugo Ugochukwu (Prema Racing), who will start from the second row. His teammate James Wharton also performed well, finishing ahead of Matteo De Palo (Saintéloc Racing) and Zachary David (R-ace GP).

In Group A, alongside the duel between Naël and Camara, Enzo Peugeot (Saintéloc Racing) emerged as a key player and will start from the third row alongside Wharton. Just behind them, from seventh on the grid, will be Tuukka Taponen (R-ace GP), who had been among the fastest in his group in the early stages. The fifth row will feature rookie Pedro Clerot (Van Amersfoort Racing) alongside David.

All eyes are now on the final race, scheduled for this afternoon at 14:55. Race 2 will be broadcast live on the championship’s official YouTube page and through the TV broadcasters covering the series.

Theophile Naël – Sainteloc Racing

“Wow, first position ever for the team, for me also, so yeah I’m super happy! The car was mega, the team did an amazing job yesterday! Our pace in Race 1 was also really good, I had the second fastest lap so it meant our pace in the wet is good. I just tried to put everything together today and keep a close gap with Camara and yeah it’s pole position so yeah I’m super happy and it’s amazing for the last race of the season!”

Alessandro Giusti – ART Grand Prix

“It was a tricky session, I thought the track was going to be dryer, but we still managed to put it in pole. I think Nikita was a bit faster than me, but he made a mistake in the last corner. So we are our P2 overall, front row is good for the race in Monza, we know that we can overtake, so we will see what happens in the race now.”