At Paul Ricard, the first race of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine was filled with excitement and provided quite a show from the first to the last lap. After such show and so much overtaking, the winner was Paul Aron, who took his second win of the season in France and redeemed himself after the unlucky weekend in Monaco, where he was left with no points. Prema Racing got a one-two as the championship leader Dino Beganovic fought with his teammate for the race lead until the very last lap, after starting from pole position.
Third was MP Motorsport‘s standard bearer, Michael Belov, who was able to grab the podium in the final part of the race, in which he overtook Gabriel Bortoleto (R-ace GP), who set in turn the best time in Group B qualifying this morning. Fifth came Gabriele Minì (ART Grand Prix), who had managed to get close to the podium at the start of the race but was then mocked by Belov and Bortoleto in the final stages of the race, while attempting to gain third position.
Hadrien David (R-ace GP) finished the race behind the Italian driver, after passing his teammate Lorenzo Fluxa at the end of the race, and thus managing to get the sixth place and other important points. Among the numerous overtakes there was also Mari Boya’s (ART Grand Prix), who took seventh place at the end just ahead of Fluxa, who finished eighth when the chequered flag waved.
Kas Haverkort (Van Amersfoort Racing) and Tim Tramnitz (Trident Motorsport), who took the rookie lead, complete the top 10.
It’s noteworthy the entrance of the safety car during the first lap for a contact between Laurens Van Hoepen (ART Grand Prix) and Joshua Dufek (Van Amersfoort Racing), with the latter forced to wave the white flag.
“It was a fantastic race,” Paul Aron said. “I had a difficult weekend in Monaco where I was also unlucky, but we redeemed ourselves with an outstanding victory. Dino and I had a great duel, both for us in the car and for the spectators. Today we saw that the push to pass makes races even more interesting and exciting. I am very happy with this victory. We have the right pace, and we are aiming for a good performance tomorrow as well.”
The Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine will be back in action tomorrow morning at 9.00 for the second qualifying session, while Race 2 will start at 14.35, always over a distance of 30′ plus one lap to complete.
Official Standings: https://formularegionaleubyalpine.com/standings/?season=2022