Tramnitz on FREC pole at Imola as Antonelli fails to set flying lap

Photo: Diederik van der Laan / Dutch Photo Agency

Tim Tramnitz took his maiden Formula Regional European Championship pole position in qualifying for the second race at Imola to continue R-ace GP’s strong weekend.

The German headed the times in the faster second group, ahead of Prema’s Rafael Camara, as a late red flag prevented last-minute improvements.

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Kas Haverkort will start alongside Tramnitz on the front row, having pipped his team-mate Joshua Dufek in a thrilling climax to the first session.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli was unable to complete a representative lap with technical issues, relegating him to the back for Sunday afternoon’s race.

In the first group on track, times tumbled over the closing minutes, with Haverkort among the last to take the chequered flag to edge out Dufek by just 0.020 seconds with his final lap.

The VAR pair had been trading fastest times with Trident’s Nikhil Bohra throughout the session. Bohra sat on top of the times as he took the flag but, as Dufek and then Haverkort improved, dropped to third in the group.

A strong final lap from Trident team-mate Owen Tangavelou moved him up to fourth, with G4 Racing’s Michael Belov in sixth, having been one of the few not to improve at the close.

Antonelli was forced to sit out most of the session as the Prema mechanics worked desperately on his car. Though he did get on track in the final three minutes, he came straight back into the pits without setting a competitive time, leaving him in 15th place in the group.

Although Antonelli’s time was outside the 110% of the fastest time, meaning that technically he failed to qualify, the stewards are certain to permit him to take the start, although he will struggle to make much progress from the back.

In the second group, the R-ace duo of Tramnitz and race one winner Martinius Stenshorne were immediately on the pace, jumping to the top of the times.

Both G4 Racing’s Alessandro Giusti and MP Motorsport’s Victor Bernier briefly assumed first place before Tramnitz moved back ahead with a 1m39.515s with five minutes remaining.

Tramnitz improved by 0.46s on the next lap, and Camara took second from Stenshorne.

While both Tramnitz and Camara on course to improve again, a spin from Giovanni Maschio on the exit of Acque Minerali brought the session to a halt with three minutes remaining.

Maschio was able to get going with no damage caused, other than the deletion of his best laptime for causing red flags.

Qualifying was able to resume but there were no improvements at the front of the field, meaning Tramnitz took pole.

Prema’s Lorenzo Fluxa was fourth fastest in the session and Bernier was fifth.

Qualifying results