Clerot clinches FREC race two pole ahead of Deligny at Red Bull Ring

Photo: ACI Sport

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Pedro Clerot narrowly claimed pole for Formula Regional European Championship race two at the Red Bull Ring.

He was in group B, which headed out first in Sunday morning’s qualifying session. The first flying laps came in on drivers’ fourth laps, and Clerot led the way with a 1m26.347s.

ART Grand Prix’s Evan Giltaire and Kanato Le were second and third, with Prema’s Rashid Al Dhaheri was the only other driver in the 1m26s.

Next time by Giltaire set a 1m25.831s to pip Clerot by 0.152 seconds, and Al Dhaheri also broke the 1m26s barrier.

Al Dhaheri was next to the top, posting a 1m25.456s to lead Giltaire by 0.121s. Trident’s points leader Matteo De Palo went third fastest, and Clerot improved to 1m25.921s in fourth.

De Palo got within 0.184s of Al Dhaheri’s benchmark and Sainteloc Racing’s Nikita Bedrin set a 1m25.918s in fourth with theie seventh laps, then Clerot went fastest by 0.038s next time by. Trident’s Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi now occupied fourth with a 1m25.628s and Bedrin improved but was sixth.

There was time for two more laps, and on his penultimate effort Clerot lowered the pace to 1m25.212s. Al Dhaheri was 0.166s back, and Prema’s Jack Beeton was 0.366s behind in fourth.

Giltaire’s final-lap improvement was deleted for track limits abuse but he remained third, as Clerot found a further 0.083s to claim provisional pole. Le and G4 Racing’s Saqer Al Maosherji were the only other improvers in ninth and 13th, and De Palo ended the group in sixth.

There was a pitlane incident involving CL Motorsport’s Newman Chi and Sainteloc’s Tim Gerhards at the start of group A, and Sainteloc’s Yaroslav Veselaho was the pacesetter after the first flying laps as he ran in clear air ahead of everyone else.

Many drivers had laptimes deleted for track limits abuse through the final two corners, a recurring offence for Prema’s title contender Freddie Slater.

After five laps were in, Enzo Deligny and Akshay Bohra were the only drivers in the 1m25s and Jin Nakamura completed an R-ace GP 1-2-3. Race Performance Motorsport’s Reno Francot was fourth, and Slater was 12th.

Deligny improved to 1m25.309s on his sixth lap, leading Nakamura by 0.318s and Bohra by 0.607s. VAR’s Hiyu Yamakoshi got into fourth, just ahead of Francot.

Slater’s seventh lap did count, and his 1m25.308s sent him from last to first. Nakamura and Bohra improved to 1m25.511s and 1m25.787s in third and fourth, and R-P-M’s Ean Eyckmans was fifth.

Few set personal bests on their eighth lap, but Bohra, Yamakoshi and team-mate Dion Gowda did in fourth, fifth and sixth.

Slater’s next laps were deleted, as Francot returned to the top six. Eyckmans briefly got back ahead before his laptime was deleted, and there was change at the top after the chequered flag. Nakamura set a 1m25.246s to go fastest, which Deligny beat by 0.104s. However it was 0.013s shy of Clerot’s benchmark, so he held on to pole.

Francot set a 1m25.483s to end the group in fourth, and Yamakoshi’s 1m25.694s put him sixth and alongside De Palo in 12th on the grid. Slater will start sixth.

Qualifying results