Prema’s Kean Nakamura-Berta was in stunning form in qualifying for the third race at Formula Regional Europe’s opening round in Austria.
The Williams junior dominated the faster second session to beat Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Ninovic to top the times by 0.170s.
CL Motorsport’s Reno Francot will line up alongside Nakamura-Berta on the front row after beating MP Motorsport’s Sebastian Wheldon to top spot in the earlier session.
Wheldon set the early pace in the first group on track with a series of fastest times, going top with a 1m26.183s. ART Grand Prix’s Alexandre Munoz was initially his closest challenger, going second 0.040s down on the Anglo-American.
Francot briefly jumped to the top of the times but his time was deleted for track limits. However, Francot had timed his run to perfection, setting a legal time 0.388s faster than Wheldon.
Race two winner, Rashi Al Dhaheri was down in 15th and last place, as he pitted for attention from the R-ace GP mechanics, who sent him out with only enough time for two laps at the end of the session.
Rodin Motorsport’s Reza Seewooruthun looked like Francot’s main threat, going fastest in the first sector but could only move up to fifth at the flag, one place ahead of Al Dhaheri.
Instead, it was R-ace GP team-mate Yuki Sano who jumped up to third, with Munoz having to settle for fourth.
Aston Martin junior Newman Chi was the first driver to break the 1m26s barrier in Group A. Nakamura-Berta briefly jumped to the front but his time fell foul of track limits, allowing Ninovic to move to the front from Prema’s Salim Hanna, who had endured a frustrating qualifying on Saturday.
However, Nakamura-Berta set sector bests in the first and third sectors to return to the top, and this time without sanction. Neither he nor Ninovic were able to improve in the final minutes, while Hanna’s last lap effort put him just 0.019s behind the Australian, with Van Amersfoort Racing’s Dion Gowda also improving to finish fourth.
The top five all went faster than Francot’s best from Group B, with RPM’s Jan Przyrowski completing the top five.