Home Featured Flying Aron takes pole for FREC race one at Zandvoort

Flying Aron takes pole for FREC race one at Zandvoort

by Roger Gascoigne

Photo: Diederik van der Laan / Dutch Photo Agency

In a thrilling split qualifying, Paul Aron took pole position for Saturday’s Formula Regional European Championship race at Zandvoort.

The Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior continued his strong pace from free practice on a sunny morning, and was the only driver in either qualifying group to break into the 1m30s.

R-ace GP’s Hadrien David joins Aron on the front row start after setting the fastest time in Group A’s earlier session, with Gabriele Mini and Kas Haverkort filling row two.

David jumped to the front of a very competitive group with his final lap in the first 15-minute session to pip Van Amersfoort Racing’s Kas Haverkort by just 0.071s.

These late improvements pushed championship leader Dino Beganovic back to third in group after the Ferrari junior had set the pace through most of the session.

Beganovic had been the first to drop below 1m32s, before lowering his laptime on his fifth, seventh and ninth laps to end on 1m31.207, just 0.002 seconds slower than Haverkort.

Joshua Dufek was fourth fastest at VAR’s home circuit ahead of fellow rookie Joshua Duerksen.

Prema’s Aron dominated Group B, jumping to the front early with a 1m31.621s after which he was never challenged. He was subsequently able to lower his best mark to 1m31.255s, before going faster still with a 1m30.970s on his seventh lap.

Unlike Group A, there were no last minute changes of position at the front. Aron had looked to be on course to go faster still after setting a fastest sector one time but did not improve after losing time later in the lap.

ART Grand Prix’s Gabriele Mini was second fastest, 0.191s slower than Aron, and will start third on the grid. Prema’s Sebastian Montoya was just 0.078s further back, having been Aron’s closest challenger for much of the session.

A late improvement from Mari Boya was good enough for fourth, demoting FA Racing’s Victor Bernier. Trident’s Tim Tramnitz continued his recent strong form with the sixth-fastest time, having run in the top three earlier in the session.

MP Motorsport’s Dilano van’t Hoff took no part in qualifying after having been forced to withdraw from the event following Friday’s first free practice session due to a recurrence of pain from a shoulder injury incurred earlier in the year.

Qualifying results

Pos Driver Team Group A Group B
1 Paul Aron Prema 1m30.970s
2 Hadrien David R-ace GP 1m31.134s
3 Gabriele Mini ART Grand Prix 1m31.161s
4 Kas Haverkort Van Amersfoort Racing 1m31.205s
5 Sebastian Montoya Prema 1m31.239s
6 Dino Beganovic Prema 1m31.207s
7 Mari Boya ART Grand Prix 1m31.316s
8 Joshua Dufek Van Amersfoort Racing 1m31.383s
9 Victor Bernier FA Racing by MP 1m31.401s
10 Joshua Duerksen Arden 1m31.552s
11 Tim Tramnitz Trident 1m31.476s
12 Pietro Delli Guanti R-P-M 1m31.697s
13 Michael Belov MP Motorsport 1m31.635s
14 Leonardo Fornaroli Trident 1m31.705s
15 Eduardo Barrichello Arden 1m31.686s
16 Maceo Capietto Monolite Racing 1m31.809s
17 Esteban Masson FA Racing by MP 1m31.738s
18 Sami Meguetounif MP Motorsport 1m31.838s
19 Roman Bilinski Trident 1m31.781s
20 Gabriel Bortoleto R-ace GP 1m31.839s
21 Noel Leon Arden 1m31.810s
22 Lorenzo Fluxa R-ace GP 1m31.999s
23 Laurens van Hoepen ART Grand Prix 1m32.047s
24 Owen Tangavelou G4 Racing 1m32.098s
25 Santiago Ramos KIC Motorsport 1m32.483s
26 Matias Zagazeta G4 Racing 1m32.124s
27 Axel Gnos G4 Racing 1m32.495s
28 Nicolas Baptiste FA Racing by MP 1m32.238s
29 Levente Revesz Van Amersfoort Racing 1m32.601s
30 Francesco Braschi KIC Motorsport 1m32.490s
31 Pietro Armanni Monolite Racing 1m32.730s
32 Keith Donegan R-P-M 1m32.723s
33 Hamda Al Qubaisi Prema 1m32.840s
34 Piotr Wisnicki KIC Motorsport 1m32.891s
35 Cenyu Han Monolite Racing 1m33.295s