Prema’s Rafael Camara fastest in FREC’s Red Bull Ring practice

Photo: FRECA

Two 50-minute pracice sessions for the Formula Regional European Championship took place at the Red Bull Ring today, and it was Rafael Camara who set the pace.

Points leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli quickly got on the pace in FP1, setting a 1m27.750s to lead through the first 10 minutes.

Arden’s Joshua Duerksen bettered Antonelli by 0.017 seconds to take over first place, then KIC Motorsport’s Maya Weug and Van Amersfoort Racing’s Kas Haverkort also beat Antonelli’s early benchmark.

A few minutes later Weug went fastest with a 1m27.523s, and Antonelli improved to climb back up to second. That was only for a few moments though, as Race Performance Motorsport’s Santiago Ramos lowered the pace by 0.161s.

Antonelli reclaimed first a few minutes after, going 0.04s faster than Ramos, and MP Motorsport’s Victor Bernier rose to third with a laptime just 0.059s off the new benchmark.

As the session approached its halfway mark everyone headed to the pits, and there was a new name at the top as Haverkort had set a 1m27.319s to lead Antonelli by 0.003s. He then impoved to extend his gap to 0.078s.

The track got busier, and more improvements were set, with 10 minutes remaining and Antonelli made a statement by going out and setting a 1m26.864s.

R-P-M’s Maceo Capietto joined him in lapping sub-1m27s half a minute later, while Antonelli’s main title rival Martinius Stenshorne was down in 28th.

Camara took over from his Prema team-mate at the top with eight-and-a-half minutes to go, setting a 2m26.654s, and Antonelli was shuffled down to fouth by Ramos and Sainteloc Racing’s Esteban Masson.

Antonelli responded by going 0.048s faster than Camara, but he then went 0.093s faster on his next lap to quickly return to first place. Although he improved again, Antonelli’s next effort was not enough and then it was deleted due to a track limits violation.

He stayed out and found more pace, twice, but so did Camara and they finished FP1 split by 0.073s after Camara set a 1m26.484s on his penultimate lap.

Haverkort and Duerksen meanwhile disputed third place, with it going Haverkort’s way by 0.006s, and Stenshorne’s final lap brought him from 13th up to ninth (which became eighth post-session as Duerksen’s fastest lap was deleted and he dropped to 14th).

FP2 took place in the afternoon, and Alessandro Giusti (G4 Racing), Emmo Fittipaldi (Sainteloc) and Michael Belov (G4) took turns at the top before a more representative pace was set by Duerksen.

Masson moved ahead of him 10 minutes in, then MP’s Sami Meguetounif became the first driver to lap in the 1m27s.

His team-mate Bernier went a quarter of a second faster, and stayed on top for a few minutes before Meguetounif set a 1m27.618s. With many drivers then heading to the pits, that laptime went mostly unchallenged.

Camara went second fastest 10 minutes later, 0.083s slower than Meguetounif, and with 13 minutes remaining Monolite Racing’s series returnee Hadrien David got within 0.006s of Camara before then going to the top by 0.193s.

A minute later Bernier went fastest by 0.029s, then David moved back ahead with a 0.181s advantage.

Duerksen got between them, 0.08s off the pace, before Bernier improved and got within 0.018s of David. Bernier went 0.023s ahead with six minutes remaining, and Meguetounif returned to the top by 0.038s with two minutes left on the clock. That put him 20th overall, one of only two drivers to improve on their FP1 time. Antonelli and Stenshorne ended the session in 12th and 27th.

Free practice results