Tramnitz holds off Antonelli for maiden FREC win in Barcelona

Photo: FRECA

Tim Tramnitz held off Andrea Kimi Antonelli to take his maiden victory in the first race of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine at Barcelona.

Though Mercedes-AMG junior Antonelli kept the gap at around half a second for the duration of the race, he was unable to challenge R-ace GP’s Tramnitz in front, although a late incident meant the race finished behind the safety car.

Tramnitz made an excellent start from the outside of the front row to pull alongside polesitter Antonelli on the long run down to turn 1, slotting into the lead before the braking zone.

Behind them, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Kas Haverkort initially looked to the inside before switching back to the outside into the corner but, finding no way through, dropped back into third.

However, the race was soon neutralised as an incident between the MP Motorsport pair of Dilano van’t Hoff and Sami Meguetounif left both beached in the gravel at Turn 4, while RPM’s Santiago Ramos dropped to last of the remaining runners having also run wide at the same corner.

With the marshals unable to remove the cars quickly, the red flag was thrown at the end of the third lap, sending the field into the pits behind the safety car.

The leaders maintained position when racing resumed after two laps behind the safety car, with the RPM car Maceo Capietto looking left and right to find a way past Lorenzo Fluxa for fourth, before tucking back in behind the Prema machine.

Championship leader Martinius Stenshorne had made strong progress from the eighth row in the opening laps, running in seventh, behind VAR’s Joshua Dufek who began to challenge Capietto.

Up front, Antonelli was beginning to edge closer to Tramnitz, closing to within half a second at the end of the eighth lap.

Haverkort held a watching brief on the leaders, having built a gap of over a second to Fluxa in fourth.

Braking for Turn 1 starting lap 12, Antonelli was right on Tramnitz’s tail, with Haverkort gradually closing the gap to the leading pair.

With the gap between the top three having stabilised, an incident at turn 1 brought out the safety car again with just over three minutes plus a lap remaining.

With the marshals unable to clear the track for racing to resume, the chequered flag was shown as the drivers crossed the line behind the safety car, giving Tramnitz his first victory in the series.

Haverkort took the final podium position, and with it the championship lead, with Fluxa in fourth, ahead of Capietto and Dufek.

Stenshorne, Trident’s Nikhil Bohra, G4 Racing’s Michael Belov and ART Grand Prix’s Laurens van Hoepen completed the top ten.

Race results (18 laps)