TRACKSIDE – FORMULA REGIONAL EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP, MONZA - Motorsportsclicks

The Formula Regional European Championship weekend at Monza began with a collective test on Thursday evening, topped by Rodin Motorsports’ Reza Seewooruthun, who set a lap time of 1:45.588. Race winner from the previous round at Spa, Alexandre Munoz, finished second for ART Grand Prix, while MP Motorsport’s Alex Abkhazava completed the top three. Ahead of the weekend, CL Motorsport made a driver change, with regular GB3 competitor Kyuho Lee stepping into their third car to replace Thomas Strauven.

The second collective test continued to highlight MP Motorsport’s strong form. This time, Chi Zhenrui went fastest with a lap of 1:45.595, finishing ahead of Rodin’s Alex Ninovic and MP teammate Sebastien Wheldon. Both MP Motorsport and Rodin appeared to be among the strongest teams heading into the competitive sessions.

Friday practice confirmed this trend, with Sebastien Wheldon topping the session after setting the fastest lap of the weekend so far at 1:45.469. Alex Ninovic once again finished second, while Trident’s Max Popov impressed by taking third place.

Qualifying 1 took place in challenging conditions, with air temperatures around 32°C and track temperatures exceeding 50°C. In a session where slipstreaming played a key role, R-ace GP’s Emanuele Olivieri came out on top in Group 1 with a time of 1:45.595, identical to Chi Zhenrui’s earlier benchmark from Thursday. Chi again showed strong pace by finishing second in the group. The top five was completed by Sebastien Wheldon, Dion Gowda, and Max Popov.

Group 2 was led by Prema Racing’s Kean Nakamura, who secured pole position for Race 1 with a time of 1:45.376. His teammate Salim Hanna also impressed by finishing second with a 1:45.588. Championship leader Rashid Al Dhaheri took third place for R-ace GP, while the top five was completed by Rodin duo Reza Seewooruthun and Alex Ninovic.

Race 1 began with Nakamura making a strong start from pole position, keeping the lead ahead of teammate Salim Hanna, who moved past Olivieri. However, chaos unfolded behind them when ART driver Mattia Giaccardi ran onto the grass and lost control, collecting several cars in a major incident. The safety car was deployed as Rodin teammates Seewooruthun and Ninovic, Trident’s Popov, and VAR driver Francisco Macedo were all eliminated at Turn 1 in an accident reminiscent of the 2011 HRT incident involving Vitantonio Liuzzi.

When racing resumed, Nakamura maintained a strong restart and pulled away by seven tenths. Battles continued throughout the field, and championship leader Al Dhaheri ran wide into the gravel, dropping from P5 to P11. In the closing laps, Salim Hanna, who had lost position to Olivieri, defended strongly against MP Motorsport drivers Seb Wheldon and Alex Abkhazava. Hanna successfully held position, while Wheldon and Abkhazava crossed the line with identical times, with Abkhazava classified P4 ahead of Wheldon.

At the front, Nakamura converted pole into a dominant victory ahead of Olivieri. One of the standout performances came from RPM’s Jan Przyrowski, who climbed from P28 on the grid to finish P7.

Race 1 Result:

Kean Nakamura (Prema Racing)
Emanuele Olivieri (R-ace GP)
Salim Hanna (Prema Racing)
Alex Abkhazava (MP Motorsport)
Sebastien Wheldon (MP Motorsport)
Chi Zhenrui (MP Motorsport)
Jan Przyrowski (RPM)
Reno Francot (CL Motorsport)
Gabriel Gomez (Rodin Motorsport)
Kai Daryanani (Trident)

The Sprint Race took place later on Saturday afternoon, with the top 12 from Qualifying 1 reversed to form the grid. VAR driver Andrea Dupe started from pole, aiming for his first points of the season. At the start, Dupe made contact with second-place starter Alex Abkhazava, sending the Russian car airborne. Both drivers managed to continue but dropped down the order.

On Lap 2, further contact occurred between the new leaders when Alex Ninovic outbraked himself and hit the rear of Max Popov, sending both cars into a spin. Ninovic later received a 10-second penalty for the incident. With 18 minutes remaining, chaos struck again when Abkhazava was involved in another collision, this time with Dion Gowda, bringing out the safety car.

Dupe regained the lead but could not hold position for long, as both Salim Hanna and Sebastien Wheldon charged through the field. Another safety car was deployed after contact at Ascari between Trident’s Andrija Kostic and ART’s Alexandre Munoz, leaving both cars in the gravel.

On the restart, Hanna missed the chicane, allowing Wheldon, Dupe, and Rashid Al Dhaheri to pass. However, further contact behind led to another safety car after CL Motorsport’s Jules Roussel and Trident’s Kai Daryanani stopped on track. A third safety car ultimately ended the race.

In the closing stages, Al Dhaheri took the lead from Wheldon, while Hanna recovered his position over Dupe. Post-race penalties later altered the classification, including a penalty for Wheldon, promoting Andrea Dupe to a podium finish.

Race 2 Result:

Rashid Al Dhaheri (R-ace GP)
Salim Hanna (Prema Racing)
Andrea Dupe (VAR)
Chi Zhenrui (MP Motorsport)
Kean Nakamura (Prema Racing)
Marcus Saeter (G4 Racing)
Tomass Stolcermanis (Prema Racing)
Kabir Anurag (ART Grand Prix)
Saqer Al Maosherji (G4 Racing)
Gabriel Gomez (Rodin Motorsport)

Qualifying 2 saw Group 1 topped again by Kean Nakamura with a time of 1:45.511. Gabriel Gomez secured second place, achieving his best qualifying result of the season for Rodin. The top five was completed by Jan Przyrowski, Kabir Anurag, and Alexandre Munoz.

Group 2 was led by R-ace GP’s Emanuele Olivieri, who secured his first pole position in the championship with a time of 1:45.102. CL Motorsport’s Jules Roussel impressed with second place, while the top five was completed by Max Popov, Sebastien Wheldon, and Chi Zhenrui.

Race 3 began with Olivieri defending the lead into Turn 1 ahead of Nakamura, while Prema’s Tomass Stolcermanis stalled on the grid but was not collected by other cars. A safety car was deployed after Kai Daryanani stopped on track.

After the restart, Nakamura and Olivieri battled closely until disaster struck when Nakamura made contact with Olivieri into the Lesmo corners, sending himself into the gravel and out of the race. Olivieri continued unscathed and another safety car was deployed.

Further incidents followed, including a third safety car after Marcus Saeter stopped at Turn 1, and a fourth after championship leader Al Dhaheri collided with Abkhazava, ending the Russian driver’s difficult weekend.

On the final restart, Olivieri led ahead of Gomez and Popov, but contact between Gomez and Popov sent the Brazilian airborne and dropped the Trident driver down the order. In the closing laps, Wheldon moved into second place, while a multi-car battle developed for the final podium position. R-ace GP’s Yuki Sano ultimately capitalised on late chaos to secure his first podium of the season after passing multiple cars in the final sector.

Further post-race penalties shuffled the order, but Olivieri remained the winner after a composed drive controlling multiple restarts.