Camara and Antonelli take 1-2 for Prema in first FREC qualifying of 2023

Photo: FRECA

Prema duo Rafael Camara and Andrea Kimi Antonelli locked out the front row in qualifying for the opening race of the Formula Regional European Championship season at Imola.

In perfect conditions, Camara set the fastest time of the split qualifying session to ensure pole position, with Antonelli, fastest in group B, starting alongside him for Saturday’s first race.

Camara emerged on top of a thrilling 15-minute session for Group A, edging R-ace GP’s impressive Martinius Stenshorne by just 0.003 seconds with his final lap.

The early pace was set by Stenshorne and his team-mate Tim Tramnitz, but times improved on each successive lap. Camara moved to the top with five minutes remaining, just 0.005s ahead of Trident’s Roman Bilinski, before Tramnitz reasserted himself by 0.004s on his sixth lap.

Camara was on a flyer, and crossed the line in 1m39.253s to put himself almost 0.4s clear. Stenshorne moved up to second before going top in the closing seconds with a 1m39.133s.

Tramnitz was unable to match his team-mates’ pace at the end of the session, ending up a disappointed fourth behind Prema’s Lorenzo Fluxa, who held onto third despite spinning backwards into the gravel at Tamburello in the final minute.

However, there was one last twist remaining as on his final lap Camara pipped Stenshorne to guarantee a front-row grid spot.

G4 Racing’s Alessandro Giusti took a deserved fifth, ahead of MP Motorsport’s Sami Meguetounif and Bilinski, who dropped back as others improved at the end.

At the end of a very tight group session, just 0.75s separated Camara down to Arden’s Joshua Duerksen in 10th.

Race Performance Motorsport’s Santiago Ramos was the first driver to break the 1m40s barrier in Group B’s session, followed immediately by Antonelli. On his fifth lap, the Prema driver was 0.339s behind the Mexican driver but improved next time around to move to the top with a 1m39.303s.

The Van Amersfoort Racing pair of Joshua Dufek and Kas Haverkort moved into the top four, ahead of Trident’s Nikhil Bohra.

With just over a minute remaining, Antonelli lowered his best time by 0.01s but it wasn’t enough to beat Camara’s Group A benchmark.

Haverkort was the only driver to improve on his final lap, jumping to third in the session ahead of Bohra, with Dufek back in fifth having got held up by Antonelli on his final lap.

Qualifying results