R-ace GP’s Taponen leads VAR trio in FREC qualifying at Mugello

Photo: Dutch Photo Agency

R-ace GP’s Tuukka Taponen picked up his third Formula Regional European Championship pole in a row in qualifying for race one at Mugello.

Taponen topped Group B, and joining him on the front row will be Van Amersfoort Racing’s Brando Badoer who was fastest in Group A.

It was Badoer’s group that was first on track, and MP Motorsport’s Valerio Rinicella initially set the pace.

Truly representative laptimes were not seen until the third flying laps though, and it was Prema’s points leader Rafael Camara who went ot the top with a 1m43.218s. He led Race Performance Motorsport’s Noah Stromsted by 0.357 seconds, with Badoer a further 0.121s behind and with Sainteloc Racing duo Enzo Peugeot and Theophile Nael in fourth and fifth.

Camara improved to 1m42.597s on his next lap, which kept him at the top. Badoer was 0.184s slower than him as he rose to second place, and KIC Motorsport’s Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi left it late to jump up to third ahead of Peugeot, Prema’s Ugo Ugochukwu and Stromsted.

There were few improvements thereon. Stromsted went third fastest with 49s to go, and Badoer was one of the first drivers to meet the chequered flag. His eighth lap, a 1m42.454s, put him on top by 0.143s, and nobody else rivalled him.

Stromsted found more pace but remained in third, while Trident’s Ruiqi Liu, Rinicella and R-ace’s Enzo Deligny filled seventh to ninth place as they all improved on their final laps.

Nael ended up down in 15th, putting him 30th on the grid, and Iron Dames’ Doriane Pin was 14th fastest on her return from injury.

Zachary David was quickest at first in Group B, leading team-mate Taponen by 1.258s.

With six minutes to the pair fell from first and second to 11th and 12th, as Prema’s James Wharton lowered the pace to 1m42.958s to lead ART Grand Prix’s Alessandro Giusti by 0.2s. VAR’s Pedro Clerot was 0.229s behind, G4 Racing’s Kanato Le was 0.593s off the top in fourth and MP’s Nikhil Bohra was fifth. After setting their third flying laps, David and Taponen sat in 10th and 13th.

They saved their qualifying session on their next laps, with Taponen setting a new 1m42.331s benchmark with just under four minutes remaining that would go unbeaten.

Clerot was 0.149s behind in second, MP’s Nikita Bedrin was third and Trident’s Michael Belov was fourth. Wharton improved but was 0.445s off the pace in fifth, with VAR’s Ivan Domingues and David in sixth and seventh.

Domingues rose to third with 42s to go, and Belov returned to fourth just before the chequered flag waved, but with nobody improving on their final lap it meant Taponen secured pole.

Qualifying results