Home Formula RegionalFRegional European Championship Colapinto continues his FREC pole streak at Valencia

Colapinto continues his FREC pole streak at Valencia

by Alejandro Alonso Lopez

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