Dutch delight at Zandvoort as Haverkort wins for Van Amersfoort

Photo: Dutch Photo Agency

The Dutch anthem rang out again at Zandvoort as home driver Kas Haverkort took his second Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine win of the season for local team Van Amersfoort Racing.

Starting from pole, after the fastest qualifier Martinius Stenshorne had been relegated courtesy of a penalty from the previous round at Monza, Haverkort held the lead at the start and controlled the race to the chequered flag.

Prema’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli got the jump on Laurens Van Hoepen off the line, and slotted into second into Tarzan. Antonelli kept the gap to within a second for most of the race but Haverkort always appeared to have enough in reserve to resist any challenge, and extended the gap in the closing stages to win by 1.4 seconds at the flag.

Van Hoepen had come under pressure from a fast-starting Stenshorne into the Hugenholtzbocht at the start as the R-ace GP driver looked to make use of his pace.

Stenshorne got his nose in front, taking the lower line through the banked left-hander but left enough room on the outside for Van Hoepen’s momentum from the higher line to propel him back in front.

Thereafter the leading positions remained stable, as the frontrunners ran in a train with none able to mount a serious challenge for position.

Stenshorne got a run on Van Hoepen as racing resumed after a lengthy safety car period caused by a crash for Monolite Racing’s Giovanni Maschio at Hugenholtzbocht on lap six.

However, the Norwegian locked up and ran wide through Tarzan, almost costing him fourth to the following Bilinski, who had lost out to Stenshorne at the start.

Stenshorne held on, while Tramnitz was unable to capitalise from the lower line at turn three.

In the latter stages, a burst of push-to-pass brought Van Hoepen onto Antonelli’s tail but the Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior soon reasserted himself.

Behind the leading quintet R-ace GP’s Tim Tramnitz withstood race-long pressure from Prema’s Rafael Camara, the Ferrari man having a couple of looks into Tarzan but again being unable to find a way through.

Fellow Prema man, Lorenzo Fluxa had a lonely race in eighth.

Nikita Bedrin held off R-P-M’s Maceo Capietto to take ninth and with it score Monolite Racing’s first points of the season.

Frenchmen Alessandro Giusti and MP Motorsport’s Sami Meguetounif swapped places in a race long battle which saw the G4 Racing driver finish ahead.

Both Antonelli and Tramnitz are under investigation for possible jumped starts so the results remain provisional.

Race result (19 laps)