Camara starts FREC season with victory at Hockenheim

Photo: FRECA

Rafael Camara held off a late challenge from Prema team-mate James Wharton to win Formula Regional Europe’s opening race at Hockenheim.

The Ferrari junior had to recover from a poor start which dropped him from pole to third into the first corner but was back in front by the end of lap one.

Wharton had moved through the field, and although a late safety car period gave him the opportunity to close onto Camara’s tail he was unable to find a way through.

R-ace GP’s Tuukka Taponen finished third, ahead of Van Amersfoort Racing’s Brando Badoer who drove a storming race after a mistake in qualifying left him 12th on the grid. He snatched fourth place from his team-mate Ivan Domingues after a thrilling duel.

As the lights went out, Camara got too much wheelspin, leaving thick black marks on the asphalt as he fought to hold off fellow front row starter Enzo Deligny. The R-ace driver however then had to defend from a fast-starting Taponen into the first corner.

As Deligny closed the door to the inside, Taponen had to back off and that allowed Camara to repass him on the exit, before then coming under pressure from the third R-ace car of Zachary David who misjudged his move and spun into retirement.

Camara put Deligny under pressure into turn eight, taking the lead at the exit. Deligny then came under pressure from ART Grand Prix’s Evan Giltaire, before a problem caused him to lock up and run wide in the hairpin, retiring in the pits at the end of lap two.

Having already found a way past Giltaire, Wharton was up to third and lapping quicker than the top two, with Deligny holding the gap to Camara.

On lap seven, Wharton made a move on Deligny into the hairpin before pulling off the pass into turn eight. He now had two seconds to make up on Camara.

Deligny was not able to match Prema’s pace, and on lap nine Taponen executed a mirror image of Wharton’s pass, attacking into the hairpin before switching back to take the inside through turn seven.

Just after Domingues dived to the inside of Prema’s Ugo Ugochukwu into turn eight, the safety car was deployed due to the car of Sainteloc Racing’s Theophile Nael being stranded on the inside of turn 12. Domingues resumed his battling for position once the restart occurred on lap 13, forcing his way past Deligny into turn eight and with Badoer and Ugochukwu following him through.

Badoer eventually found a way past his team-mate at turn eight too, with Domingues being forced wide but the two avoiding contact.

Another driver on a charge through the field was MP Motorsport’s Nikita Bedrin. Having disposed of ART GP’s Alessandro Giusti and Deligny, he pulled off an outstanding move on Ugochukwu around the outside of the Sachskurve in the stadium section on the penultimate lap to finish sixth.

Update: Several hours after the race, stewards penalised Wharton one position for being off-track when he completed his move on Taponen, meaning the latter inherited second place.

Race results (18 laps)