Photo: FRECA
ART Grand Prix’s Gregoire Saucy claimed his fifth pole of the Formula Regional European Championship season for Sunday race at Paul Ricard.
The Swiss led from lights-to-flag on Saturday for his fourth win, but then had it taken away by a technical disqualification. He rebounded in the Sunday morning qualifying session by setting the pace by over a third of a second.
His closest challenger through much of the session was R-ace GP’s Hadrien David, the driver who inherited race one victory, and the Frenchman was briefly at the top of the times before Saucy went fastest halfway through qualifying.
He made several improvements to keep himself in top spot after that, bringing his fastest lap down from a 1m58.550s to a 1m58.139s that was set with two minutes to go.
David’s team-mate Isack Hadjar was in second place when the chequered flag was waved, but David was among several drivers who had timed their laps to be the very last on track and he moved back into second at the very end with a 1m58.487s.
Saucy’s team-mate Gabriele Mini shuffled Hadjar to fourth, while JD Motorsport’s Michael Belov continued to impress on his debut FREC weekend by qualifying fifth.
Being two of the last drivers over the line helped William Alatalo (Arden) and Andrea Rosso (FA Racing) qualify sixth and seventh, while Monolite Racing’s Pietro Dellli Guanti did an impressive job to go eighth fastest.
Patrik Pasma (KIC Motorsport) and Zane Maloney (R-ace) completed the top 10.
After setting the early pace, Prema’s Paul Aron and KIC’s Elias Seppanen could only manage 16th and 23rd places respectively, with Dino Beganovic the top Prema driver in 12th place.
Qualifying results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gregoire Saucy | ART Grand Prix | 1m58.139s | 9 | |
| 2 | Hadrien David | R-ace GP | 1m58.487s | +0.348s | 9 |
| 3 | Gabriele Mini | ART Grand Prix | 1m58.504s | +0.365s | 9 |
| 4 | Isack Hadjar | R-ace GP | 1m58.523s | +0.384s | 9 |
| 5 | Michael Belov | JD Motorsport | 1m58.639s | +0.500s | 10 |
| 6 | William Alatalo | Arden | 1m58.660s | +0.521s | 9 |
| 7 | Andrea Rosso | FA Racing by MP | 1m58.723s | +0.584s | 10 |
| 8 | Pietro Delli Guanti | Monolite Racing | 1m58.810s | +0.671s | 10 |
| 9 | Patrik Pasma | KIC Motorsport | 1m58.814s | +0.675s | 10 |
| 10 | Zane Maloney | R-ace GP | 1m58.860s | +0.721s | 9 |
| 11 | Alex Quinn | Arden | 1m58.895s | +0.756s | 9 |
| 12 | Dino Beganovic | Prema | 1m58.906s | +0.767s | 9 |
| 13 | Thomas ten Brinke | ART Grand Prix | 1m59.002s | +0.863s | 9 |
| 14 | David Vidales | Prema | 1m59.047s | +0.908s | 9 |
| 15 | Oliver Goethe | MP Motorsport | 1m59.097s | +0.958s | 9 |
| 16 | Paul Aron | Prema | 1m59.099s | +0.960s | 9 |
| 17 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | 1m59.099s | +0.960s | 10 |
| 18 | Kas Haverkort | MP Motorsport | 1m59.162s | +1.023s | 9 |
| 19 | Gabriel Bortoleto | FA Racing by MP | 1m59.243s | +1.104s | 10 |
| 20 | Alessandro Famularo | G4 Racing | 1m59.332s | +1.193s | 9 |
| 21 | Francesco Pizzi | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m59.403s | +1.264s | 9 |
| 22 | Eduardo Barrichello | JD Motorsport | 1m59.419s | +1.280s | 10 |
| 23 | Elias Seppanen | KIC Motorsport | 1m59.500s | +1.361s | 9 |
| 24 | Lorenzo Fluxa | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m59.522s | +1.383s | 9 |
| 25 | Alexandre Bardinon | FA Racing by MP | 1m59.826s | +1.687s | 10 |
| 26 | Nicola Marinangeli | Arden | 1m59.973s | +1.834s | 10 |
| 27 | Nico Gohler | KIC Motorsport | 1m59.990s | +1.851s | 8 |
| 28 | Axel Gnos | G4 Racing | 1m59.733s | +1.634s | 9 |
| 29 | Tommy Smith | JD Motorsport | 2m00.068s | +1.929s | 10 |
| 30 | Lena Buhler | R-ace GP | 2m00.093s | +1.954s | 9 |
| 31 | Emidio Pesce | DR Formula | 2m00.106s | +1.967s | 9 |
| 32 | Jasin Ferati | Monolite Racing | 2m00.143s | +2.004s | 10 |
| 33 | Brad Benavides | DR Formula | 2m00.155s | +2.016s | 9 |
| 34 | Belen Garcia | G4 Racing | 2m00.399s | +2.260s | 9 |
| 35 | Mari Boya | Van Amersfoort Racing | no time | 3 |