Home Featured David dominates to head R-ace GP 1-2-3 in FREC race one at Monza

David dominates to head R-ace GP 1-2-3 in FREC race one at Monza

by Roger Gascoigne

Photo: FRECA

Hadrien David took a lights-to-flag victory in the penultimate Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine race of the season at Monza, his second win of the year.

His R-ace GP team-mates Isack Hadjar and Zane Maloney took the other two podium positions, having fought their way through from seventh and fifth respectively on the grid, to give the team the perfect result.

David, whose only previous win had come at Paul Ricard in May, had started from pole and was never seriously threatened. David had been confident for the race, telling Formula Scout after qualifying that “if I get a good start then it will be OK because the pace is very strong”.

It was Franco Colapinto for MP Motorsport who started the strongest from third on the grid, passing Gregoire Saucy of ART Grand Prix into the first chicane on lap 1, as the top three began to ease away from their pursuers.

Hadjar had been particularly disappointed with his qualifying performance, feeling he was losing all his time under braking for the first chicane, but had been confident that a podium place was attainable.

In the early laps, he and Maloney were making strong progress up the order, and on lap 4 Maloney passed his team-mate into the Roggia chicane with Hadjar taking to the escape road but rejoining still ahead.

Saucy passed Colapinto around the outside on the entry to Parabolica to move up to second. Colapinto ran wide at Lesmo on the following lap to let Hadjar past, and then dropped steadily backwards to finish eighth.

Behind David, Saucy and Hadjar joined battle and the two touched into the first chicane on lap 13 with Hadjar needing to use the escape road once more.

With some breathing space behind, Saucy caught up to David’s tail, the Frenchman weaving on the back straight to try to break the tow. However, into the first chicane on lap 15 Saucy made a mistake under braking which allowed Hadjar to move up to second.

The positions seemed to be set but Maloney managed to attack Saucy into the first chicane on the last lap and, despite a response by Saucy into Roggia, was able to hold on to give R-ace GP a clean sweep of the podium positions.

Saucy came home fourth, ahead of Dino Beganovic for Prema Powerteam. Beganovic had made quick progress from 11th on the grid to attach himself to the leading pack, where he ran for most of the race without being able to challenge for one of the top positions.

Beganovic was followed home by Prema team-mates David Vidales and Paul Aron who enjoyed a number of dices as they came through the midfield.

Andrea Rosso was forced to retire after contact on the first lap, and fellow Italian Gabriele Mini also dropped out in the early stages to continue his recent struggles.

Race results (18 laps)
Pos Driver Team Gap
1 Hadrien David R-ace GP 32m25.497s
2 Isack Hadjar R-ace GP +1.159s
3 Zane Maloney R-ace GP +2.149s
4 Gregoire Saucy ART Grand Prix +2.561s
5 Dino Beganovic Prema Powerteam +2.847s
6 David Vidales Prema Powerteam +3.446s
7 Paul Aron Prema Powerteam +4.672s
8 Franco Colapinto MP Motorsport +6.334s
9 Gabriel Bortoleto FA Racing +6.443s
10 Michael Belov G4 Racing +7.856s
11 Kas Haverkort MP Motorsport +13.223s
12 Francesco Pizzi Van Amersfoort Racing +13.869s
13 Alex Quinn Arden +16.674s
14 William Alatalo Arden +16.881s
15 Sami Meguetounif R-ace GP +17.010s
16 Patrik Pasma ART Grand Prix +17.751s
17 Nicola Marinangeli Arden +23.414s
18 Pietro Delli Guanti Monolite Racing +25.587s
19 Nico Gohler Kic Motorsport +26.135s
20 Alexandre Bardinon FA Racing +26.253s
21 Gianluca Petecof KIC Motorsport +27.026s
22 Callum Hedge G4 Racing +27.241s
23 Lorenzo Fluxa Van Amersfoort Racing +27.580s
24 Dilano Van’t Hoff MP Motorsport +28.955s
25 Ido Cohen JD Motorsport +31.299s
26 Oliver Goethe MP Motorsport +34.176s
27 Emidio Pesce DR Formula +36.663s
28 Tommy Smith JD Motorsport +38.347s
29 Axel Gnos G4 Racing +41.224s
30 Lena Buhler R-ace GP +42.298s
31 Eduardo Barrichello JD Motorsport +1 lap
Ret Konsta Lappalainen KIC Motorsport
Ret Mari Boya Van Amersfoort Racing
Ret Gabriele Mini ART Grand Prix
Ret Andrea Rosso FA Racing
Fastest lap: Hadjar, 1m47.236s

Championship standings
1
 Saucy 276   2 David 194   3 Aron 177   4 Maloney 164   5 Hadjar 141   6 Colapinto 130   7 Mini 112   8 Belov 111   9 Vidales 109   10 Quinn 104