Photo: ACI Sport
Pedro Clerot led lights to flag to claim his maiden Formula Regional Europe victory in race two at Zandvoort.
The Van Amersfoort Racing driver had to withstand race-long pressure from team-mate Hiyu Yamakoshi and Prema’s Freddie Slater, and his victory capped of VAR’s weekend of celebrations on home soil of its 50th year in motorsport.
As in race one, Slater made a flying start from the second row but there was no gap between poleman Clerot and fellow front row starter Yamakoshi.
Slater looked to the low line in the banked turn three hairpin, but his strategy almost backfired as he lost ground to Enzo Deligny. However the R-ace GP driver had to cede ground after running slightly wide on the exit.
On lap three, Slater had a run on Yamakoshi on the fast run uphill to turn seven but had to back off as the safety car was deployed. The cause was Sainteloc Racing’s Tim Gerhards pulling off onto the grass on the run down from Turn 10.
The VAR pair mastered the restart, and Slater came under attack from Deligny but successfully defended his position.
R-ace’s Jin Nakamura was the big winner from the restart, rising to fifth by passing team-mate Akshay Bohra and Trident’s Matteo De Palo.
Clerot was unable to distance himself from Yamakoshi, locking up as he tried to maintain his gap. After dropping back while defending, Slater soon closed back onto the tail of the top two but was unable to challenge. Behind him, R-ace’s drivers ran in formation.
De Palo took seventh after a lonely race spent adrift of the leading group, relinquishing his points lead to Slater as a result.
ART Grand Prix’s Evan Giltaire provided most of the race’s overtaking action. After stalling on the grid, he was forced to start from the pitlane after the rest of the field had completed a second formation lap. He then went on a charge, aided by the two laps behind the safety car allowing him to close up to the pack, and finished 16th.
On the safety car restart, Prema’s Doriane Pin picked up front wing damage and after pitting was consigned to 24th place.
Race results (19 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pedro Clerot | Van Amersfoort Racing | 30m38.192s |
| 2 | Hiyu Yamakoshi | Van Amersfoort Racing | +0.264s |
| 3 | Freddie Slater | Prema | +1.005s |
| 4 | Enzo Deligny | R-ace GP | +1.331s |
| 5 | Jin Nakamura | R-ace GP | +2.357s |
| 6 | Akshay Bohra | R-ace GP | +2.929s |
| 7 | Matteo De Palo | Trident | +6.393s |
| 8 | Dion Gowda | Van Amersfoort Racing | +7.173s |
| 9 | Taito Kato | ART Grand Prix | +7.472s |
| 10 | Nikita Bedrin | Sainteloc Racing | +10.308s |
| 11 | Enzo Peugeot | R-P-M | +12.605s |
| 12 | Kanato Le | ART Grand Prix | +13.435s |
| 13 | Rashid Al Dhaheri | Prema | +13.707s |
| 14 | Nandavud Bhirombhakdi | Trident | +14.195s |
| 15 | Ruiqi Liu | Trident | +17.394s |
| 16 | Evan Giltaire | ART Grand Prix | +17.503s |
| 17 | Jack Beeton | Prema | +19.805s |
| 18 | Enzo Yeh | R-P-M | +20.072s |
| 19 | Saqer Al Maosherji | Akcel GP | +33.097s |
| 20 | Michael Belov | CL Motorsport | +33.259s |
| 21 | Aditya Kulkarni | Akcel GP | +37.936s |
| 22 | Edouard Borgna | G4 Racing | +38.752s |
| 23 | Yaroslav Veselaho | Sainteloc Racing | +43.042s |
| 24 | Doriane Pin | Prema | +1m19.426s |
| 25 | Giovanni Maschio | R-P-M | +1 lap |
| Ret | Tim Gerhards | Sainteloc Racing | |
| Fastest lap: Nakamura, 1m31.847s
Championship standings |
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