Photo: ACI Sport
Enzo Deligny delivered victory to R-ace GP in the second Formula Regional European Championship race at Spa-Francorchamps.
Prema’s Rashid Al Dhaheri started on pole, and into the opening corner had Deligny and ART Grand Prix’s Kanato Le either side of him.
Further back, Prema’s Freddie Slater and Doriane Pin collided with CL Motorsport’s Michael Belov, leading to the safety car being summoned.
Before racing was neutralised on lap one, Deligny took the lead down the Kemmel Straight and R-ace’s Jin Nakamura overtook Le for third.
The restart took place on lap four, and Al Dhaheri tried reclaiming the lead at Les Combes but Deligny locked up on the inside of him and sent both off. Al Dhaheri rejoined ahead, despite his own lock-up at Bruxelles, and a few corners later Taito Kato passed his team-mate Le for fifth.
Le had alreadu lost out to Van Amersfoort Racing’s Hiyu Yamakoshi, who then passed Nakamura at the end of the lap.
Deligny moved back into first place before Les Combes on lap five, and behind them was a spicey battle for seventh between Race Performance Motorsport’s drivers. Giovanni Maschio and Enzo Peugeot went side-by-side through Les Combes, but Peugeot went off at the corner after and lost out to R-ace’s Akshay Bohra. He tried to make it a double move at Bruxelles but locked up and Prema’s Jack Beeton and VAR’s Dion Gowda went through.
Kato and Le were fighting again on lap six when G4 Racing’s Edouard Borgna crashed out and caused another safety car period, which ended on lap eight. On the restart, Yamakoshi flew past the top two entering the Kemmel Straight.
Nakamura then had the inside line for Les Combes in the battle for second place, but contact with Al Dhaheri sent the poleman sideways, off track and down the order.
Deligny became the leader again on lap 11, getting the move done on the Kemmel Straight, while the battle for third continued to the end. Kato tried the inside of Nakamura at La Source on the final lap, then on the outside down the Kemmel Straight. He was ahead until Nakamura cut the final chicane, but he let Kato back through.
Trident’s points leader Matteo De Palo put in a charging drive, starting 16th and finishing seventh as he made multiple passes then profited from last-lap drama to gain more spots. His rival Evan Giltaire (ART GP) recovered to 13th from the back of the grid.
Race results (12 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Enzo Deligny | R-ace GP | 32m40.072s |
| 2 | Hiyu Yamakoshi | Van Amersfoort Racing | +0.478s |
| 3 | Taito Kato | ART Grand Prix | +1.986s |
| 4 | Jin Nakamura | R-ace GP | +2.189s |
| 5 | Kanato Le | ART Grand Prix | +4.701s |
| 6 | Dion Gowda | Van Amersfoort Racing | +6.379s |
| 7 | Matteo De Palo | Trident | +6.825s |
| 8 | Giovanni Maschio | R-P-M | +7.697s |
| 9 | Nikita Bedrin | Sainteloc Racing | +8.045s |
| 10 | Jack Beeton | Prema | +8.416s |
| 11 | Enzo Peugeot | R-P-M | +8.766s |
| 12 | Rashid Al Dhaheri | Prema | +9.254s |
| 13 | Evan Giltaire | ART Grand Prix | +9.286s |
| 14 | Ruiqi Liu | Trident | +9.731s |
| 15 | Akshay Bohra | R-ace GP | +10.642s |
| 16 | Pedro Clerot | Van Amersfoort Racing | +10.673s |
| 17 | Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi | Trident | +11.641s |
| 18 | Enzo Yeh | R-P-M | +12.559s |
| 19 | Maceo Capietto | CL Motorsport | +13.365s |
| 20 | Aditya Kulkarni | Akcel GP | +13.460s |
| 21 | Saqer Al Maosherji | Akcel GP | +14.225s |
| 22 | Tim Gerhards | Sainteloc Racing | +14.606s |
| 23 | Yaroslav Veselaho | Sainteloc Racing | +15.520s |
| 24 | Arthur Aegerter | G4 Racing | +20.455s |
| Ret | Edouard Borgna | G4 Racing | |
| Ret | Doriane Pin | Prema | |
| Ret | Freddie Slater | Prema | |
| Ret | Michael Belov | CL Motorsport | |
| Fastest lap: Deligny, 2m11.472s
Championship standings |
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