Photo: FRECA
Franco Colapinto extended his pole position streak to three after going fastest in qualifying for Formula Regional European Championship race one at Valencia Ricardo Tormo.
The MP Motorsport driver set the pace in testing and free practice, and made the most of qualifying’s improving track conditions to set the fastest lap at the very end.
Dilano van’t Hoff was first to go out on a quite slippery track on Saturday morning. The Spanish Formula 4 championship leader driver is making his FREC debut with MP this weekend as a guest driver.
Not long after van’t Hoff went on track, KIC Motorsport’s Nico Gohler lost the rear in the braking zone of turn one and spun into the gravel. Qualifying had to be red-flagged as a result so marshals could recover his car.
The full 34-car field cars headed out on track when the session restarted, as no one had been able to set a representative laptime prior to the red flags.
R-Ace GP pair Hadrien David and Zane Maloney were the first to post sub-1m30s laps, but Prema’s David Vidales quickly bettered their times. He didn’t last long on top either as laptimes continued to improve as the track gripped up.
Michael Belov was the first to break into sub-1m29s territory, the G4 Racing driver moving to the top with five minutes to go after clocking a 1m28.993s. Vidales went quickest again with three minutes to go, but there was still a lot more to come.
Van Amersfoort Racing’s Mari Boya and Belov would improve to 1m28.940s and 1m28.943s respectively, only for Vidales to go back on top with a 1m28.833s.
When it seemed that no one could improve on Vidales’ laptime, Colapinto set a blistering 1m28.769s lap to take pole.
Championship leader Gregoire Saucy endured a difficult session. The ART Grand Prix driver was 10th, four tenths off pole.
Qualifying results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | 1m28.769s | 9 | |
| 2 | David Vidales | Prema | 1m28.833s | +0.064s | 9 |
| 3 | Mari Boya | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m28.940s | +0.171s | 11 |
| 4 | Michael Belov | G4 Racing | 1m28.943s | +0.174s | 10 |
| 5 | Paul Aron | Prema | 1m28.982s | +0.213s | 7 |
| 6 | Alex Quinn | Arden | 1m29.052s | +0.283s | 10 |
| 7 | Isack Hadjar | R-ace GP | 1m29.088s | +0.319s | 9 |
| 8 | Hadrien David | R-ace GP | 1m29.097s | +0.328s | 6 |
| 9 | Gabriel Bortoleto | FA Racing by MP | 1m29.173s | +0.404s | 11 |
| 10 | Gregoire Saucy | ART Grand Prix | 1m29.191s | +0.422s | 9 |
| 11 | Dino Beganovic | Prema | 1m29.265s | +0.496s | 9 |
| 12 | Zane Maloney | R-ace GP | 1m29.273s | +0.504s | 7 |
| 13 | Francesco Pizzi | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m29.282s | +0.513s | 12 |
| 14 | Kas Haverkort | MP Motorsport | 1m29.303s | +0.534s | 9 |
| 15 | Gabriele Mini | ART Grand Prix | 1m29.317s | +0.548s | 8 |
| 16 | Pietro Delli Guanti | Monolite Racing | 1m29.488s | +0.719s | 9 |
| 17 | William Alatalo | Arden | 1m29.502s | +0.733s | 10 |
| 18 | Eduardo Barrichello | JD Motorsport | 1m29.502s | +0.733s | 11 |
| 19 | Dilano van’t Hoff | MP Motorsport | 1m29.514s | +0.745s | 10 |
| 20 | Gianluca Petecof | KIC Motorsport | 1m29.632s | +0.863s | 10 |
| 21 | Lorenzo Fluxa | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m29.761s | +0.992s | 11 |
| 22 | Oliver Goethe | MP Motorsport | 1m29.787s | +1.018s | 10 |
| 23 | Alexandre Bardinon | FA Racing by MP | 1m29.869s | +1.100s | 10 |
| 24 | Andrea Rosso | FA Racing by MP | 1m29.899s | +1.130s | 9 |
| 25 | Patrik Pasma | ART Grand Prix | 1m30.012s | +1.243s | 10 |
| 26 | Tommy Smith | JD Motorsport | 1m30.066s | +1.297s | 9 |
| 27 | Jasin Ferati | Monolite Racing | 1m30.128s | +1.359s | 9 |
| 28 | Jose Garfias | Monolite Racing | 1m30.244s | +1.475s | 10 |
| 29 | Axel Gnos | G4 Racing | 1m30.411s | +1.642s | 10 |
| 30 | Emidio Pesce | DR Formula | 1m30.492s | +1.723s | 8 |
| 31 | Lena Buhler | R-ace GP | 1m30.570s | +1.801s | 9 |
| 32 | Belen Garcia | G4 Racing | 1m30.808s | +2.039s | 10 |
| 33 | Nicola Marinangeli | Arden | 1m33.345s | +4.576s | 8 |
| 34 | Nico Gohler | KIC Motorsport | 1m44.236s | +15.467s | 2 |