Photo: ACI Sport
Rashid Al Dhaheri picked up pole for the Formula Regional Europe race at Spa-Francorchamps in a dramatic qualifying on Sunday morning.
Group B headed out first, and G4 Racing’s Edouard Borgna spun at Raidillon on his outlap. Later in the lap, team-mate Arthur Aegerter also spun on a cold and slightly moist track.
Race Performance Motorsport’s Giovanni Maschio was next to make a big error, flying through the gravel but rejoining, and it began to get wet at Raidillon.
R-ace GP’s Enzo Deligny was the driver to beat, despite having to pass team-mate Akshay Bohra on a flying lap, and with four-and-a-half minutes to go was fastest by 0.562 seconds over Borgna. CL Motorsport’s Maceo Capietto was 1.1s behind in third.
Maschio lowered the pace to 2m15.987s with just under two-and-a-half minutes remaining, but was swiftly beaten by Deligny and then Bohra who broke into the 2m14s. Van Amersfoort Racing’s Hiyu Yamakoshi got within 0.185s of his benchmark.
Borgna had another off, and with a minute to go title contenders Freddie Slater (Prema) and Matteo De Palo (Trident) were 10th and 11th. They improved to fourth and sixth with 20s to go, but were over 1.2s off the pace.
Deligny reclaimed top spot with a 2m13.767s just before the end, then Yamakoshi beat him by 0.085s. Bohra was 0.104s off Yamakoshi in third, and R-P-M’s Enzo Peugeot went fourth fastest before the chequered flag waved.
An off at Les Combes prevented Deligny’s final lap from counting, Slater aborted his effort and several drivers got held up by Sainteloc’s Nikita Bedrin.
Maschio improved to fourth, 1.554s slower than Yamakoshi, and in seventh and eighth were Slater and De Palo, both over 2.5s slower than Yamakoshi.
Group A had foggier conditions, and drivers weaved around in a train trying to warm their tyres early on. Trident’s Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi and ART Grand Prix’s title contender Evan Giltaire sought clean air, and Giltaire was briefly fastest.
In rapid succession, team-mates Taito Kato and Kanato Le, Dion Gowda (VAR), Al Dhaheri and Jack Beeton (Prema) then lowered the pace and with seven minutes remaining R-ace’s Jin Nakamura went 0.741s faster than Beeton.
Red flags waved with five-and-a-half minutes to go as Giltaire, VAR’s Pedro Clerot and then Bhirombhakdi individually crashed at Stavelot. As a punishments for causing the stoppage, their sole push laps were deleted and Giltaire will therefore start outside of the top 20.
Drivers were more spread out when they returned to track, and CL Motorsport’s Michael Belov took provisional pole with a minute to go by setting a 2m12.929s. He was only on top for 15s before Kato set a 2m12.436s, then 10s after that Al Dhaheri posted a 2m11.436s.
Nakamura got into second, 0.612s behind, then locked up into La Source. He was still able to improve after the chequered flag, but so did everyone else.
Kato got within 0.285s of Al Dhaheri, then Le moved ahead by 0.09s before Al Dhaheri snatched back pole with a 2m10.987s.
Nakamura went third fastest, 0.638s off Al Dhaheri, and Gowda and Beeton completed the top six.
Qualifying results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Group B | Group A | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rashid Al Dhaheri | Prema | 2m10.987s | 7 | |
| 2 | Hiyu Yamakoshi | Van Amersfoort Racing | 2m13.682s | 7 | |
| 3 | Kanato Le | ART Grand Prix | 2m11.346s | 7 | |
| 4 | Enzo Deligny | R-ace GP | 2m13.767s | 7 | |
| 5 | Jin Nakamura | R-ace GP | 2m11.625s | 7 | |
| 6 | Akshay Bohra | R-ace GP | 2m13.786s | 7 | |
| 7 | Taito Kato | ART Grand Prix | 2m11.721s | 7 | |
| 8 | Giovanni Maschio | R-P-M | 2m15.236s | 7 | |
| 9 | Dion Gowda | Van Amersfoort Racing | 2m11.969s | 7 | |
| 10 | Enzo Peugeot | R-P-M | 2m15.501s | 7 | |
| 11 | Jack Beeton | Prema | 2m12.106s | 7 | |
| 12 | Tim Gerhards | Sainteloc Racing | 2m15.820s | 6 | |
| 13 | Doriane Pin | Prema | 2m12.150s | 7 | |
| 14 | Freddie Slater | Prema | 2m16.209s | 7 | |
| 15 | Michael Belov | CL Motorsport | 2m12.199s | 7 | |
| 16 | Matteo De Palo | Trident | 2m16.523s | 7 | |
| 17 | Aditya Kulkarni | Akcel GP | 2m13.016s | 7 | |
| 18 | Ruiqi Liu | Trident | 2m16.603s | 7 | |
| 19 | Enzo Yeh | R-P-M | 2m13.310s | 7 | |
| 20 | Nikita Bedrin | Sainteloc Racing | 2m16.658s | 7 | |
| 21 | Saqer Al Maosherji | Akcel GP | 2m13.877s | 7 | |
| 22 | Edouard Borgna | G4 Racing | 2m17.547s | 6 | |
| 23 | Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi | Trident | no time | 3 | |
| 24 | Maceo Capietto | CL Motorsport | 2m18.087s | 6 | |
| 25 | Evan Giltaire | ART Grand Prix | no time | 3 | |
| 26 | Yaroslav Veselaho | Sainteloc Racing | 2m20.339s | 6 | |
| 27 | Pedro Clerot | Van Amersfoort Racing | no time | 3 | |
| 28 | Arthur Aegerter | G4 Racing | 2m29.024s | 5 |