Photo: ACI Sport
Sebastian Wheldon finished the season on a high with victory in a tense final Formula Regional Europe round at Hockenheim, but second place for Emanuele Olivieri was enough to clinch the title.
Olivieri’s triumph ensured a clean sweep of the 2026 titles for R-ace GP, adding to its back-to-back teams’ title and the rookie crown Olivieri clinched at Imola. The drivers’ title was R-ace GP’s first at the Formula Regional level since taking Oscar Piastri to victory in the 2019 Formula Renault Eurocup.
An almost speechless Olivieri spoke to Formula Scout after the race about the lows and highs of an emotional weekend. “R-ace GP gave me a really good car; the pace was really good. Yesterday there was an unfortunate crash where I was not at fault but this motor-racing.
“Today the pace was again really good so I focused on staying calm. I made a good start, then took advantage of the incident ahead to move into second. From there, I managed the race.”
He admitted to feeling some nerves ahead of the title decider: “I think it’s quite human to be a little bit nervous because it has been one of the tightest championships I have ever seen. But honestly, I was quite chilled because R-ace GP helped me to clear my mind.”
Wheldon drove a measured race, leading from lights-to-flag and managing late race pressure from the Italian as his tyre performance dropped off and the first drops of a rain shower that drenched the paddock moments after the flag fell.
Commenting on his fourth win of the year, a disappointed Wheldon reflected on a “great way to end the season. I maximized what I could but it just wasn’t enough for the championship.”
Kean Nakamura-Berta’s hopes of securing a fifth consecutive drivers’ title for Prema, were dashed when he was torpedoed by race one winner, RPM’s Jan Przyrowski at the Spitzkehre while lying second and chasing Wheldon for the lead.
Pitched onto two wheels, he was able to continue but dropped back to sixth. The fact that Przyrowski was given a 10-second penalty for causing the collision was of no consolation to the Williams junior.
The fourth driver with an outside shot at the title, R-ace GP’s Rashid Al Dhaheri, was unable to build on his early momentum which saw him progress to eighth from 13th on the grid, dropping out of the points at the finish.
Wheldon made good use of his second pole of the weekend to lead into Turn 1 with Nakamura-Berta slotting into second ahead of Przyrowski and Olivieri. While the leaders made it through without incident, the safety car was needed after Maksimilian Popov, Tomass Stolcermanis and Saqer Almaosherji clashed at Turn 3.
Wheldon made a break when racing resumed on lap five to immediately put over a second between him and the pursuing Prema driver who needed the win to overhaul Olivieri in the championship.
Next time around, the Pole made his lunge to the inside of Nakamura-Berta, allowing both Olivieri and Wheldon’s MP Motorsport team-mate Alexander Abkhazava to nip through.
The leading trio gradually extended the gap to the fourth-placed Yuki Sano, who finished a distant 8.7s behind Abkhazava. In the final stages Olivieri closed onto the tail of Wheldon but the Italian knew “there was no need to fight. I was happy with P2.”
Sano held off Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Ninovic for fourth, although the Australian was disqualified after the race for a technical infringement. Prema’s Salim Hanna claimed fifth.
The unfortunate Nakamura-Berta dropped back to eight on the road, fending off a flying Oleksandr Bondarev for Williams junior honours. Bondarev had once again shown had to overtake in FREC with a series of incisive moves as he charged up to ninth on the road, which translated to an impressive seventh once penalties had been applied.
RPM’s Lewis Wherrell completed an impressive debut weekend in FREC with a fine eighth, having run at the front of the midfield group all race.
Race results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Wheldon | MP Motorsport | 31m48.132s |
| 2 | Emanuele Olivieri | R-ace GP | +0.895s |
| 3 | Alexander Abkhazava | MP Motorsport | +4.209s |
| 4 | Yuki Sano | R-ace GP | +12.885s |
| 5 | Salim Hanna | Prema Racing | +15.720s |
| 6 | Kean Nakamura-Berta | Prema Racing | +17.972s |
| 7 | Oleksandr Bondarev | Van Amersfoort Racing | +18.631s |
| 8 | Lewis Wherrell | RPM | +19.323s |
| 9 | Marcus Saeter | G4 Racing | +19.598s |
| 10 | Kabir Anurag | ART Grand Prix | +19.911s |
| 11 | Rashid Al-Dhaheri | R-ace GP | +20.711s |
| 12 | Miguel Costa | RPM | +21.810s |
| 13 | Jan Przyrowski | RPM | +22.274s |
| 14 | Reza Seewooruthun | Rodin Motorsport | +23.394s |
| 15 | Chi Zhenrui | MP Motorsport | +24.575s |
| 16 | Alexandre Munoz | ART Grand Prix | +24.749s |
| 17 | Mattéo Giaccardi | ART Grand Prix | +27.108s |
| 18 | Gabriel Gomez | Rodin Motorsport | +27.821s |
| 19 | Andrea Dupé | Van Amersfoort Racing | +28.119s |
| 20 | Kai Daryanani | Trident Motorsport | +28.727s |
| 21 | Reno Francot | CL Motorsport | +29.071s |
| 22 | Jules Roussel | CL Motorsport | +29.395s |
| 23 | Ary Bansal | CL Motorsport | +29.465s |
| 24 | Dion Gowda | Van Amersfoort Racing | +30.066s |
| 25 | Rahim Alibhai | G4 Racing | +36.365s |
| Ret | Andrija Kostic | Trident Motorsport | |
| Ret | Tomass Stolcermanis | Prema Racing | |
| Ret | Maksimilian Popov | Trident Motorsport | |
| Ret | Saqer Almaosherji | G4 Racing | |
| DSQ | Alex Ninovic | Rodin Motorsport |
Fastest lap: Al Dhaheri, 1m36.571s
Final championship standings
1 Olivieri 218 2 Wheldon 209 3 Nakamura-Berta 201 4 Al Dhaheri 180 5 Francot 123 6 Abkhazava 100 7 Hanna 92 8 Chi 73 9 Sano 67 10 Ninovic 64