Home Formula RegionalFRegional European Championship Beganovic fastest as Prema strikes back in qualifying for FREC finale

Beganovic fastest as Prema strikes back in qualifying for FREC finale

by Roger Gascoigne

Photo: FRECA

Dino Beganovic took pole for the final Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine race of the season at Monza in a Prema 1-2-3 in qualifying on a damp but drying track.

With times tumbling in the final minutes, getting a clear run on the last timed lap would be critical, and it was Beganovic, the very last car to take the chequered flag, who timed his run and the traffic perfectly to snatch pole from team-mate David Vidales by 0.351s.

Vidales, who was one of the few not to improve on their final lap, had still seemed set to hold on to pole with his penultimate lap. Nevertheless, second marked a significant improvement over his 14th place in qualifying for race one.

To complete the perfect qualifyin g for Prema Powerteam, Paul Aron also jumped up the order at the close to lock out the first three positions for the Italian team, after a disappointing qualifying for the first race of the weekend on Saturday. However, Aron takes a two-place grid penalty for contact in race one.

Speaking to Formula Scout before the start of qualifying, team manager Ralf Aron had been confident that “the pace was there, the potential was there and in the race we were really fast”. Track positioning was key to a good time and the Prema drivers managed the traffic and the advantage of a good slipstream to perfection.

R-ace GP’s Isack Hadjar, newly-crowned as rookie champion for 2021 after his second place in the first race of the weekend, had topped the times with two minutes remaining and, although he also improved his time on his last lap, had to settle for fourth.

Gabriele Mini for ART Grand Prix had a better qualifying session than the day before and was topping the timesheets when qualifying was red-flagged with just over six minutes remaining to recover the Tatuus of Pietro Delli Guanti which was beached on the kerbs at Roggia after a spin.

Mini improved his time by a second on his last tour but his lap was only good enough for seventh, one place ahead of team-mate, Gregoire Saucy.

Race one winner and polesitter, Hadrien David, was unable to match his performance from Saturday and will start from seventh on the grid alongside Kas Haverkort from MP Motorsport.

Qualifying result
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Dino Beganovic Prema Powerteam 1m57.054s 10
2 David Vidales Prema Powerteam 1m57.405s +0.351s 10
3 Paul Aron Prema Powerteam 1m57.431s +0.377s 10
4 Isack Hadjar R-ace GP 1m57.664s +0.610s 10
5 Gabriele Mini ART Grand Prix 1m57.747s +0.693s 10
6 Gregoire Saucy ART Grand Prix 1m57.820s +0.766s 10
7 Hadrien David R-ace GP 1m57.894s +0.840s 10
8 Kas Haverkort MP Motorsport 1m57.960s +0.906s 9
9 Patrik Pasma ART Grand Prix 1m58.014s +0.960s 10
10 Zane Maloney R-ace GP 1m58.018s +0.964s 10
11 Alex Quinn Arden 1m58.698s +1.644s 8
12 Mari Boya Van Amersfoort Racing 1m58.714s +1.660s 9
13 Franco Colapinto MP Motorsport 1m58.877s +1.823s 9
14 William Alatalo Arden 1m58.935s +1.881s 9
15 Sami Meguetounif R-ace GP 1m58.960s +1.906s 10
16 Konsta Lappalainen Kic Motorsport 1m59.258s +2.204s 9
17 Andrea Rosso FA Racing 1m59.353s +2.299s 9
18 Ido Cohen JD Motorsport 1m59.526s +2.472s 7
19 Dilano Van’t Hoff MP Motorsport 1m59.660s +2.606s 9
20 Gianluca Petecof Kic Motorsport 1m59.859s +2.805s 8
21 Eduardo Barrichello JD Motorsport 1m59.977s +2.923s 9
22 Gabriel Bortoleto FA Racing 2m00.050s +2.996s 9
23 Nicola Marinangeli Arden 2m00.111s +3.057s 8
24 Tommy Smith JD Motorsport 2m00.117s +3.063s 8
25 Francesco Pizzi Van Amersfoort Racing 2m00.119s +3.065s 9
26 Axel Gnos G4 Racing 2m00.310s +3.256s 8
27 Lorenzo Fluxa Van Amersfoort Racing 2m00.593s +3.539s 9
28 Oliver Goethe MP Motorsport 2m00.668s +3.614s 9
29 Callum Hedge G4 Racing 2m01.489s +4.435s 9
30 Emidio Pesce DR Formula 2m01.541s +4.487s 8
31 Nico Gohler Kic Motorsport 2m02.153s +5.099s 9
32 Pietro Delli Guanti Monolite Racing 2m02.399s +5.345s 4
33 Michael Belov G4 Racing 2m02.425s +5.371s 9
34 Alexandre Bardinon FA Racing 2m02.507s +5.453s 8
35 Lena Buhler R-ace GP 2m03.120s +6.066s 9