Deligny dominates qualifying for FREC’s second Hockenheim race

Photo: ACI Sport

Enzo Deligny claimed pole for the second Formula Regional Europe race of the weekend at Hockenheim with a dominant display in the first qualifying session.

It was his second successive pole and third from the last seven attempts, and he will be joined on the front row by title rival Matteo De Palo who topped the other group in the split qualifying. Points leader Freddie Slater will provisionally start fifth.

R-ace GP driver Deligny went fastest with his first flying lap in group A, and set the first sub-1m35s lap on his fourth tour.

Honda junior Taito Kato, being supported on-site by Honda Racing School principal Takuma Sato, briefly assumed top spot next time around before Deligny moved back ahead with the fastest splits in two sectors en route to a 1m34.399s lap.

Prema’s Slater moved up to third but was unable to improve further after that, and although many others did he held his position to the chequered flag.

On his final lap, Deligny set new benchmarks in all three sectors to put together a 1m33.989s. Kato also found more pace but was 0.524 seconds adrift of Deligny, and Slater was 0.68s off.

R-ace’s Akshay Bohra was fourth fastest, 0.081s behind Slater and 0.009s ahead of Kato’s ART Grand Prix team-mate Kanato Le. Provisionally missing out on a top 10 starting spot since he was sixth fastest in the group was R-ace’s Jin Nakamura, who was 0.004s off Le’s pace.

Trident’s practice pacesetter De Palo and ART GP’s Evan Giltaire had a duel for top spot through group B’s time on track.

De Palo moved to the front with a 1m34.587s on his fifth lap before Giltaire beat him by 0.153s next time around.

After cooling his tyres, De Palo put in two quick laps late on to improve to 1m34.364s, ensuring he remained on top when the chequered flag waved. He was however 0.375s slower than of Deligny.

Giltaire pushed hard on his final lap, improving in every sector. He bettered De Palo in sector two, but his deficit around the rest of the lap meant he ended qualifying 0.033s shy of his pace.

Trident’s Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi was third fastest in the group, 0.377s off De Palo, ahead of Van Amersfoort Racing’s Dion Gowda, Hiyu Yamakoshi and Pedro Clerot. He is set to be the lowest placed on the grid of the current title contenders, as he will start 12th.

For race one, which has its qualifying session take place tomorrow, CL Motorsport’s Enea Frey and Trident’s Ruiqi Liu have been handed two-place grid penalties due to rule infringements in qualifying. Frey was driving excessively slowly, and Liu was deemed to have been unnecessarily on the racing line when not on a flying lap.

Qualifying results