Photo: ACI Sport
Qualifying for the first Formula Regional European Championship race of the weekend at Spa-Francorchamps was not completed after a bizarre incident.
Akcel GP’s Aditya Kulkarni was first to put a lap on the board in group A, although it was not a representative effort, and the first laptime that looked like it had been completed at pace was a 2m15.527s from Race Performance Motorsport’s Enzo Yeh halfway through the 15-minute session.
Kulkarni posted a 2m14.671s immediately after, then team-mate Saqer Al Maosherji moved ahead with a 2m13.210s.
Trident’s Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi moved to the top with seven minutes to go, setting a more competitive 2m11.701s, and finally the rest of the group joined in with setting flying laps.
A 2m11.312s put Prema’s Rashid Al Dhaheri on top, with team-mate Doriane Pin briefly occupying third before R-ace GP’s Jin Nakamura lowered the pace to 2m11.097s and ART Grand Prix’s Kanato Le and Van Amersfoort Racing’s Dion Gowda went fourth and fifth fastest.
Red flags waved with five minutes-and-23 seconds to go as Al Maosherji spun exiting turn 13 and broke his front-right suspension as he bounced off a barrier. He lost his fastest lap for causing the stoppage, and as track maintenance was required the red flag period went on for a long time.
It was only 39 minutes later that race control communicated that the session was cancelled and deemed null, with group B not getting the chance to go on track as a different series needed to occupy the pitlane for its qualifying session next.
The group A runners had been held in the pits throughout the stoppage, and were then sent back on track briefly to then make their way back to parc ferme. FREC will communicate their plan for setting race one’s grid later in the day.