Camara dominates qualifying for FREC’s second Zandvoort race

Photo: Prema

Prema’s Rafael Camara took pole by over half a second in qualifying for the second Formula Regional European Championship race at Zandvoort.

Camara was part of Group A, which went out after Group B and had a grippier track.

Group B’s running began with Sainteloc Racing’s Theophile Nael initially setting the pace. R-ace GP’s Tuukka Taponen and Trident’s Niko Lacorte spent time at the top before Sainteloc’s Enzo Peugeot set the first lap at a representative pace seven minutes in.

His 1m31.854s put him 0.277 seconds ahead of R-ace’s Zachary David, then shortly after ART Grand Prix’s Alessandro Giusti lowered the pace by 0.022s and his team-mate Evan Giltaire rose to third place.

G4 Racing’s Kanato Le then got himself into fourth, but was shuffled down to fifth 40s later as Taponen set a 1m31.209s to go fastest.

KIC Motorsport’s Alex Sawer then spun, but it did not disrupt the session, and Prema’s Ugo Ugochukwu got within 0.062s of Taponen while Giltaire improved to be 0.146s behind in fourth.

The next change at the top came with just over four minutes remaining, as Giusti pipped Taponen by 0.003s. Peugeot was 0.138s behind in fourth as he set a new personal best.

A minute later Van Amersfoort Racing’s Brando Badoer jumped from first to seventh, edging Giusti by 0.006s.

Badoer’s position at the top of the group was secured when session-ending red flags waved with 110s to go as KIC’s Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi lost his front wing and went into the barriers. Just 0.071s covered the top four, and 0.155s split the top six.

Camara was fastest from the off in Group A, then R-ace’s Enzo Deligny became the driver to beat.

MP Motorsport’s Valerio Rinicella moved to the top approaching the session’s halfway mark, setting a 1m32.253s, with G4 Racing’s Romain Andriolo getting within 0.073s of his benchmark.

VAR’s Pedro Clerot and Race Performance Motorsport’s Noah Stromsted beat Rinicella by 0.198s and 0.139s respectively, and 15s later there was big gains as Deligny set a 1m31.669s and Camara then claimed provisional pole with a 1m30.597s.

That laptime would go unbeaten, with team-mate James Wharton immediately getting within 0.667s of it then reducing the gap to 0.576s but improving no further in the last four minutes.

Sainteloc’s Matteo De Palo, MP’s Nikhil Bohra and Clerot took turns in third place before Stromsted got within 0.665s of the pole time to secure what would be fourth on the grid since an unsafe rejoin the previous day meant Wharton had a three-place grid penalty.

VAR’s Ivan Domingues was fifth fastest in the group, behind Clerot and ahead of Deligny, with G4’s Jesse Carrasquedo and Bohra also within a second of pole.

Qualifying results