The 2022 season of Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine gets underway at Monza this weekend (23/24 April) with 37 drivers all gunning for glory and 12 different teams.
In the temple of speed, the first out of ten double venues fires up an international calendar which will visit F1 tracks like Imola, the charming street circuit of Monaco, Paul Ricard, Zandvoort, Hungaroring, Spa-Francorchamps, Red Bull Ring, Barcelona and Mugello. This season, 20 rookies are expected on the grid alongside some experienced racers.
The reigning Team champion R-ace GP will line up four cars for Gabriel Bortoleto, Hadrien David, Lorenzo Fluxa and Léna Buhler. French squad ART Grand Prix has confirmed the experienced Gabriele Minì, who was the fastest in the Barcelona and Paul Ricard collective tests, fielding two more cars for Mari Boya and Laurens van Hoepen. Four cars also for Prema Racing with Dino Beganovic (who set the best time in the last official test in Monza), Paul Aron, Hamda Al Qubaisi and Sebastian Montoya, 17-year-old son of former star Juan Pablo.
The other son of art Eduardo Barrichello will compete in the ranks of Arden Motorsport alongside teammates Joshua Dürksen and Noel Leon. MP Motorsport will line up Michael Belov, Sami Meguetounif and Dilano Van’t Hoff. G4 Racing has confirmed Axel Gnos, Owen Tangavelou and Matias Zagazeta. Joshua Dufek, Kas Haverkort and Levente Revesz will race for Van Amersfoort Racing.
FA Racing bets on the trio Nicolas Baptiste, Victor Bernier and Esteban Masson, while KIC Motorsport has confirmed Francesco Braschi, Santiago Ramos and Piotr Wisnicki.
Italian teams Monolite Racing (Pietro Armanni, Maceo Capietto, Cenyu Han), brand new Race Performance Motorsport (Keith Donegan, Pietro Delli Guanti) and Trident Motorsport (Roman Bilinski, Leonardo Fornaroli, Tim Tramnitz) complete the grid.
This year some innovations concern the Push-to-Pass system that allows to trigger additional engine performance for a period of time when activated by a button. Another innovation are the new Pirelli tires (230/570-13 SLICKDMB front and 300/590-13 SLICKDMB back), specially developed with the collaboration of the Scuola Federale ACI Sport, with high levels of grip and consistency.
Collective tests, 50 minutes each, will be held on Friday. Qualifying one (splitted in two groups A and B) is scheduled on Saturday at 9.40 am, ahead of the first of two 30-minute plus one lap races at 3.55 pm. The second qualifying will start on Sunday at 9.25 am. Race 2 will commence at 2.05 pm. Both qualifying and races will be live-streamed on official YouTube and Facebook of the series (links at formularegionaleubyalpine.com).