Antonelli bounces back at Monza with FREC race two pole

Photo: Prema

Andrea Kimi Antonelli bounced back from the disappointment of losing his race one victory to a penalty by storming to pole for Formula Regional European Championship race two at Monza.

With one sector to go of his final qualifying lap the Prema driver looked like he would have to settle for second in his group as he trailed R-ace GP’s Tim Tramnitz by 0.125 seconds.

But Antonelli put in a stunning final sector to overhaul Tramnitz, crossing the line with an advantage of 0.238s.

Race Performance Motorsport’s Santiago Ramos topped the slower Group B to join Antonelli on the front row, with Prema’s Rafael Camara lining up behind him on the second row.

Ramos sat out the first half of the earlier session for the Group B drivers, only emerging from the pitlane with less than eight minutes to go. He was immediately on the pace, going fourth with his first flying lap, before jumping to the top next time around with a 1m48.447s.

However, Ramos still had a final improvement in hand, posting a 1m48.420s on his final lap to ensure a front row start.

After a period of jostling for position on track, Monolite Racing’s Hadrien David shot to the top of the times, the first driver of the day to set a sub-1m49s lap, with Prema’s Rafael Camara slotting into second.

Camara continued to improve but his final 1m48.464s effort still left him adrift of Ramos.

R-P-M’s new driver Noah Stromsted went third fastest on his final lap, and Prema’s Lorenzo Fluxa also managed to get ahead of David. R-ace’s title contender Martinius Stenshorne was sixth, relegating him to a starting spot outside the top 10.

G4 Racing’s Alessandro Giusti, who won race one, and Michael Belov set the early pace but ended up ninth and 13th in Group B.

ART Grand Prix’s Laurens van Hoepen was at the top of the timesheet when the later session for Group A was stopped with just under eight minutes remaining after Van Amersfoort Racing’s Niels Koolen lost his front wing at Parabolica.

Prior to that, Sainteloc Racing’s Tymek Kucharczyk had come to a halt on the exit of Parabolica but managed to get going without outside assistance.

When the session restarted, Antonelli posted a 1m49.077s laptime, putting him 0.341s ahead of MP Motorsport’s Sami Meguetounif in second, before going over a second faster on his next lap.

Tramnitz then leapt to the top as he set the first sub-1m48s lap with less than two minutes to go. Though he went 0.2s faster on his final lap, it was no match for the laptime Antonelli produced. The top 10 all beat Group B’s benchmark pace.

Qualifying results