Haverkort takes pole for first race of FREC finale at Hockenheim

Photo: Dutch Photo Agency

Kas Haverkort will start Saturday’s first race of the Formula Regional European Championship finale at Hockenheim from pole after topping the second qualifying session.

The Van Amersfoort Racing driver led the way in the first of the two groups to hit the dry track and set a time that those in the later segment could not match.

He set his time of 1m36.299s with four minutes remaining, with rookie champion Martinius Stenshorne having to settle for second.

Stenshorne improved on his next lap but remained in second until Matias Zagazeta then leapt ahead as he produced his best ever FREC qualifying showing. Stenshorne did respond to take back second with his final effort, but was still 0.064s shy of Haverkort’s time.

Sami Meguetounif also got ahead of Zagazeta, with Alessandro Giusti rounding out the top five. Laurens van Hoepen set a fastest first sector on his final lap but could only manage sixth.

After claiming a home pole position for Sunday’s race in first qualifying on Friday, Tim Tramnitz set the pace in the second group with an early effort of 1m36.499s.

The R-ace GP driver found a small improvement on that before a late effort from Rafael Camara that took the Prema-run Ferrari junior from 10th to first, recording a 1m36.309s.

Tramnitz found another improvement right at the end but stayed second in the group ahead of strong times from Maceo Capietto and Nikita Bedrin.

Champion Andrea Kimi Antonelli had to make do with fifth and is set to start the first race of the weekend from 10th on the grid.

Qualifying results