Photo: Dutch Photo Agency
Rafael Camara has almost three times as many points as anyone else just four races into the Formula Regional European Championship season after winning race two at Spa-Francorchamps.
Before race two began, stewards penalised his rivals Noah Stromsted, Enzo Peugeot, Alessandro Giusti and Nikhil Bohra two places each in race one, dropping them to fourth, sixth, seventh and 10th respectively.
Giusti was the highest placed of those on the race two grid in fifth, behind Camara, James Wharton, Tuukka Taponen and Ugo Ugochukwu.
At the start Ugochukwu immediately plummeted to last by stalling, and Wharton passed Prema team-mate Camara for the lead at Eau Rouge. Camara got back past halfway down the Kemmel Straight, then R-ace GP’s Taponen came alongside on the outside and passed both into Les Combes.
Wharton had a big front-right lock-up going into La Source on lap two and was gapped by the top two, who went side-by-side all the way through Les Combes but did not change places.
Camara reclaimed the lead down the Kemmel Straight on lap four, and behind there was drama as Trident’s Roman Bilinski went alongside Van Amersfoort Racing’s Ivan Domingues for seventh just as he swept to the right. Bilinski ended up barrelling along the grass before rejoining the track in a spin and then reversing out of the way of the rest of the field.
Race Performance Motorsport’s Noah Stromsted and ART Grand Prix’s Alessandro Giusti ran in fourth and fifth, and on lap five Stromsted went around the outside of Wharton at Les Combes. The safety car was then summoned as at the same corner KIC Motorsport’s Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi had a scary car-wrecking crash after striking G4 Racing’s Romain Andriolo.
Racing resumed on lap eight and Stromsted passed Taponen just before Les Combes. Wharton did the same a lap later, and Giusti too on the 11th and final lap as Camara pulled away to win by 2.491 seconds.
ART GP’s Evan Giltaire watched finished sixth, and Sainteloc Racing’s Theophile Nael passed Domingues late on for seventh. A trip through the gravel limited VAR’s Brando Badoer to 11th, behind R-ace’s Enzo Deligny and Sainteloc’s Enzo Peugeot, and Ugochukwu recovered from 30th to 22nd.
Domingues was later given a 25-second penalty for the moment with Bilinksi, dropping him to 27th.
Race results (11 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rafael Camara | Prema | 29m04.820s |
| 2 | Noah Stromsted | R-P-M | +2.491s |
| 3 | James Wharton | Prema | +4.519s |
| 4 | Alessandro Giusti | ART Grand Prix | +6.244s |
| 5 | Tuukka Taponen | R-ace GP | +6.838s |
| 6 | Evan Giltaire | ART Grand Prix | +7.531s |
| 7 | Theophile Nael | Sainteloc Racing | +7.837s |
| 8 | Enzo Deligny | R-ace GP | +9.758s |
| 9 | Enzo Peugeot | Sainteloc Racing | +12.376s |
| 10 | Brando Badoer | Van Amersfoort Racing | +12.889s |
| 11 | Matteo De Palo | Sainteloc Racing | +12.955s |
| 12 | Valerio Rinicella | MP Motorsport | +14.236s |
| 13 | Zachary David | R-ace GP | +15.166s |
| 14 | Niko Lacorte | Trident | +15.443s |
| 15 | Marta Garcia | Iron Dames | +16.024s |
| 16 | Ruiqi Liu | Trident | +16.463s |
| 17 | Giovanni Maschio | R-P-M | +19.604s |
| 18 | Nikhil Bohra | MP Motorsport | +20.237s |
| 19 | Edgar Pierre | R-P-M | +20.505s |
| 20 | Kanato Le | G4 Racing | +21.394s |
| 21 | Ugo Ugochukwu | Prema | +21.572s |
| 22 | Costa Toparis | KIC Motorsport | +22.637s |
| 23 | Jesse Carrasquedo Jr | G4 Racing | +22.809s |
| 24 | Pedro Clerot | Van Amersfoort Racing | +22.898s |
| 25 | Lena Buhler | ART Grand Prix | +24.525s |
| 26 | Yaroslav Veselaho | ART Grand Prix | +27.923s |
| 27 | Ivan Domingues | Van Amersfoort Racing | +33.287s |
| 28 | Alex Sawer | KIC Motorsport | +1 lap |
| 29 | Roman Bilinski | Trident | +2 laps |
| Ret | Romain Andriolo | G4 Racing | |
| Ret | Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi | KIC Motorsport | |
| Fastest lap: Camara, 2m16.791s
Championship standings |
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