Slater rounds off FREC season at Monza with eighth victory

Photo: ACI Sport

Prema’s Freddie Slater rounded off his 2025 Formula Regional Europe season in style with a lights-to-flag triumph in the final race at Monza.

Slater resisted race-long pressure from championship runner-up, Trident’s Matteo De Palo, to clinch his eighth win of the campaign, equalling Gregoire Saucy’s 2021 tally.

Sadly, the hundredth and final race of the five-year cooperation between the Italian Automobile Federation (ACI) and Alpine was denied a race-to-the-flag after a late incident meant the race finished under safety car conditions.

Slater made a strong getaway from pole and although De Palo could draw alongside under braking for the first chicane, the Trident driver had to drop in behind Slater as the field funnelled its way through.

Prema’s bid to snatch the teams’ title was dealt a major blow as Rashid Al Dhaheri was turned around at the Roggia chicane on the first lap, dropping to the tail of the field.

With the third car of Jack Beeton not starting, having incurred a five-place grid penalty after qualifying for two offences, the team’s chances of taking the title for a fourth consecutive season were gone.

The front five of Slater, De Palo, ART Grand Prix’s Evan Giltaire, Sainteloc Racing’s Nikita Bedrin and R-P-M’s series debutant Jan Przyrowski began to pull out a gap on their pursuers.

ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato had jumped to the top of that group, despite a wild trip through the first chicane, depositing gravel across the exit.

Behind him, R-ace GP’s Jin Nakamura was fighting off a three-pronged attack from the Van Amersfoort Racing team, headed by Dion Gowda.

The leaders gradually extended the gaps, with the top three gradually dropping those behind.

Kato had joined the group comprising Bedrin and Przyrowski, but on lap 11 Bedrin was forced into the gravel at the Roggia chicane as he fought for position with Kato, bringing out the safety car.

As the field attacked the first chicane on lap 14, Gowda launched across the kerbs, hitting team-mate Hiyu Yamakoshi and leaving R-ace GP’s Enzo Deligny with nowhere to go.

Deligny could continue at the back of the field but pulled off two laps later, with the safety car already circulating.

With three cars stranded, the rescue operation could not be completed in time to allow a final lap shoot-out, allowing Slater to take the chequered flag at reduced speed.

Kato held on for fourth with Przyrowski taking a promising fifth, and enabling the R-P-M team to finish the year on a high after a difficult year.

With only Slater scoring points for Prema, R-ace GP held on to clinch their second FREC teams’ title, neatly bookending the championship’s Alpine era with wins in the first and last seasons.

The team had been struggling all weekend to find pace in the cold morning qualifying conditions but were able to show more of their underlying pace in the races.

Deligny had put on a strong charge from 21st on the grid, and both Nakamura and Akshay Bohra scored points to secure the title for the French team, which recently celebrated 15 years in motor-racing.

Race results (17 laps)