Spa-Francorchamps race 1, Rafael Camara seals the first success in Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine
Brazilian pole-sitter Rafael Camara took home the first victory of the season for Prema Racing. Camara dominated Race 1, maintaining control from the pole position with a perfect get away when the lights went out. He managed the race and built a gap, encountering no issues even during the restart from the Safety Car period caused by a race incident between Josh Dufek (Van Amersfoort Racing) and Sami Meguetounif (MP Motorsport) at Les Combes. After the brief neutralization, the race resumed for the final lap assault, and Camara sealed the deal, securing his first win in the series co-managed by Alpine and ACI Sport.
Tim Tramnitz, the German driver from R-ace GP, held onto second place throughout the race, occasionally getting close to his rival and challenging him for the victory. However, there was no room to attempt an overtake on the rollercoaster of the Ardennes. Third on the podium and Rookie winner was Martinius Stenshorne, doubled the podium up for the French Team currently leading the Team standings. Stenshorne did a fantastic job, especially in the early stages after the race start, to hold onto third place despite attempts from Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Prema Racing. Antonelli, starting from the second row, had to settle for fourth place after a race mostly spent in pursue of his rival, being also forced to look in the mirror, with his teammate behind him in the final lap. It was Lorenzo Fluxà who tried to snatch fourth place from Antonelli, with a spectacular attack in the closing stages of Race 1. Fluxà went wheel to wheel on the straight, but Antonelli defended his position and closed the door, defending as well from al the subsequent attacks. Fluxà finished the race in fifth place, with the trio from Team Prema Racing managing to place themselves in the top five.
Sixth place went to the French driver Macéo Capietto from RPM. Capietto was heavily involved in the battle to climb positions in the points zone, performing a spectacular overtaking maneuver on Paraguayan driver Joshua Duerksen from Arden Motorsport. Seventh to cross the finish line was Frenchman Victor Bernier from MP Motorsport. Bernier, then, received a post-race penalty of 2 seconds for leaving the track and then rejoining with advantage, without giving back the position gained on Joshua Dufek from Van Amersfoort Racing. The penalty set him back to ninth place. Climbing to seventh was KIC Motorsport’s driver, Maya Weug, who executed a perfect overtake on Duerksen, followed by further overtakes that briefly brought her up to sixth position. Weug thus secured her first points in the series, building on a weekend that saw her display impressive speed already in qualifying. Eighth place in Race 1 went to Mexican driver Santiago Ramos from RPM, who, thanks to his P1 in his group during qualifying, is now facing a first row start for Race 2, alongside pole-sitter Tim Tramnitz. Completing the top 10 and earning the final point at stake was Paraguayan driver Joshua Duerksen.
Tomorrow, one last race before the conclusion of the fourth round of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine. Tramnitz will start from pole position, Ramos will be with him on the front row. Antonelli and Race 1 winner Camara will be on the second row. Race 2 promises to be another action-packed spectacle, with the top positions fiercely contested right from the very beginning.
Rafael Camara: “It was a really good race. We worked really hard for this race, for all the races. Some races were a bit off, but finally we got back the place where we need to be. The race approach was just trying to focus, for example in T1, in trying to have a good exit, to avoid any attacks from T5. There is always a bit of mess, because you are at such high speed, and you need to do really good braking, otherwise you can do mistakes. It was a really good race, we had a really good pace. I think my car was really good, the Team did a really good job. It was all perfect, we got this home.”
Tim Tramnitz: “I can be very happy with the P2 finish. Big thanks to the Team, the car was quite good. Very important, of course is the start, which is a key moment. I didn’t have a perfect start this time, I couldn’t attack Rafael in front. Obviously, this would have been the best situation. At the Safety Car restart, I think everyone used the push to pass. It is really difficult to get close as soon as the other one in front of you uses the push to pass as well, it made it quite difficult. In the end we were missing a bit in the second sector, which made it a bit difficult for us, and that’s why we are P2 and not P1. I’m quite happy with the P2, it is just very important to score every race, be very consistent.”
Martinius Stenshorne: “It was quite difficult. The slipstream was quite big so it was difficult to defend, and also to attack. It was possible, but in the end, we managed to bring home P3, which I think is good result for the Team, P3 and P2. I’m quite happy with it. Tomorrow we will start P26, I think, due to a track limit in qualifying and some traffic, so it will not be as easy, but we will do our best tomorrow as well to get some positions. We will see where we will finish.”
The last race of the weekend will take place on Saturday, July 1st, at 9:30, also lasting for 30 minutes + 1 lap of intense battles.
Both the qualifying sessions and the races of the weekend will be streamed live on the official Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine YouTube page (@formularegionaleubyalpine). Ticket info are available on www.spa-francorchamps.be