Photo: Sebastiaan Rozendaal / DPPA
Andrea Kimi Antonelli won an incident-riddled second Formula Regional European Championship race of the weekend at Mugello.
The Prema driver managed two safety car restarts on his way to victory ahead of team-mate Rafael Camara.
Championship leader Martinius Stenshorne came third, but collided with Santiago Ramos as they crossed the finish line. Both cars hit the pitwall hard as the rest of the field took the chequered flag, although thankfully Stenshorne and Ramos both managed to climb out of their cars unaided.
It was a simple race for poleman Antonelli compared to most of the field. He held off an early challenge from Camara and built a gap on lap one before the safety car brought the rest of the field back onto his tail on lap two due to Kirill Smal and Niels Koolen colliding then going off track.
Stenhorne and Ramos passed Kas Haverkoort to get into third and fourth prior to the safety car appearing, and on the restart Antonelli got a good getaway to leave Camara battling Stenshorne. There was little overtaking anywhere in the field, though before the safety car came out again following an off for Maya Weug.
Racing resumed with five minutes left of the race. Once again, the two Prema drivers had an uneventful restart. Behind them was a three-car battle for third, with Ramos getting alongside Stenshorne, and just behind that battle Maceo Capietto managed to pass Haverkort after the latter went off-line to try to fight those ahead.
Stenshorne managed to hold off Ramos before the safety car was brought out once again, this time for an incident between Lorenzo Fluxa and Joshua Dufek that left Fluxa in the gravel.
There was time for one more lap when the safety car returned to the pits, and the battles for third and fifth resumed. Haverkoort managed to find a way back past Capietto, while Ramos and Stenshore went side-by-side again. The pair were seperated by just 0.049 seconds as they took the chequered flag, moments before colliding.
Haverkoort had a gap of 0.8s, which allowed him to avoid the incident as he came home fifth, ahead of Capietto and Tim Tramnitz.
Owen Tangavelou, Michael Belov and Levente Revesz completed the top 10.
Joshua Durksen also had a last-lap incident, running into the gravel at the final corner and hitting the barriers.
Race results (15 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Prema | 31m57.208s |
| 2 | Rafael Camara | Prema | +1.373s |
| 3 | Martinius Stenshorne | R-ace GP | +1.755s |
| 4 | Santiago Ramos | R-P-M | +1.804s |
| 5 | Kas Haverkort | Van Amersfoort Racing | +2.654s |
| 6 | Maceo Capietto | R-P-M | +3.125s |
| 7 | Tim Tramnitz | R-ace GP | +3.822s |
| 8 | Owen Tangavelou | Trident | +4.180s |
| 9 | Michael Belov | G4 Racing | +4.767s |
| 10 | Levente Revesz | Arden | +7.582s |
| 11 | Marcus Amand | ART Grand Prix | +8.287s |
| 12 | Alessandro Giusti | G4 Racing | +8.463s |
| 13 | Charlie Wurz | ART Grand Prix | +9.519s |
| 14 | Emmo Fittipaldi | Sainteloc Racing | +9.977s |
| 15 | Roman Bilinski | Trident | +10.669s |
| 16 | Nikhil Bohra | Trident | +10.888s |
| 17 | Tom Lebbon | Arden | +11.210s |
| 18 | Giovanni Maschio | Monolite Racing | +12.611s |
| 19 | Enzo Scionti | Monolite Racing | +13.054s |
| 20 | Konsta Lappalainen | KIC Motorsport | +13.399s |
| 21 | Lucas Medina | Sainteloc Racing | +13.427s |
| 22 | Joshua Duerksen | Arden | +1 lap |
| 23 | Laurens van Hoepen | ART Grand Prix | +1 lap |
| 24 | Matias Zagazeta | R-ace GP | +1 lap |
| 25 | Joshua Dufek | Van Amersfoort Racing | +2 laps |
| Ret | Lorenzo Fluxa | Prema | |
| Ret | Maya Weug | KIC Motorsport | |
| Ret | Kirill Smal | Monolite Racing | |
| Ret | Niels Koolen | Van Amersfoort Racing | |
| Fastest lap: Antonelli, 1m45.664s
Championship standings |
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