The Tatuus cars of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine return to the track at Spa-Francorchamps for the second qualifying session, which determines the grid for Race 1, starting today at 14:50. The Group B took to the track first. The track, still not completely drained in some areas due to heavy overnight rain, is declared wet. However, the conditions are dry enough not to pose any problems for the slick Pirelli tires. Tim Tramnitz from R-ace GP, who was already the pole-sitter for Race 2, set the fastest time and claimed the provisional pole position with a time of 2’15.554.
Italian driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli from Prema Racing followed him in second position with a gap of 0.254. At the end of the session, with a purple middle sector, Antonelli, unfortunately, got caught in traffic and had to abort the final push that could have challenged for pole position. An outstanding result was achieved by Maya Weug from KIC Motorsport, who already had a highly positive qualifying session yesterday. She further improved today, securing P3 with a gap of 0.267. Macèo Capietto representing RPM took fourth place with a gap of 0.416, while the French driver Victor Bernier from MP Motorsport finished fifth with a gap of 0.696.
Next up was Group A, which wasted no time in bringing the battle to the track. Martinius Stenshorne, the R-ace GP driver and current championship leader, is among the first to set a fantastic lap time. The Norwegian driver bested Tramnitz’s time in the early stages of the session. Rafael Camara, the Brazilian driver from Prema Racing, then set the pace, with the lap time valid for pole position, which was further improved at the checkered flag. The driver was later penalized for not slowing down under yellow flag conditions, resulting in his best time being deleted. However, thanks to his fantastic performance on the track, he still maintained the pole position. Rafael Camara’s final time is 2’15.282. Second place went to Stenshorne with a gap of 0.114. Third was Lorenzo Fluxà, the Spanish driver from Prema Racing, who had his best time deleted in Q1 yesterday due to a track limit violation, thereby forfeiting an advanced start in Race 2. However, he will be in the front rows for today’s race with a gap of 0.218. Fourth in Group A was Joshua Duerksen from Team Arden Motorsport, who recorded a gap of 0.343 from Camara. In fifth place was Santiago Ramos from RPM, the Mexican driver who was already the fastest in the group during yesterday’s qualifying. Ramos set the lap time valid for P3 on the track this morning, but it was deleted for not slowing down under yellow flag conditions, and he settled for fifth place with a gap of 0.445.
Rafael Camara: “I think also to be in the second group helped a bit. After the first group, the track was better, cleaner, I think it was way faster than yesterday. In the end, we were able to put the lap together and we did the pole. I am very happy for the lap and for the Team. I think they do an amazing job. From Wednesday we worked really hard, and finally, we got this pole. We have a good pace, we are really fast. In Spa the race is a bit different, because we have a lot of long straights, to me is a bit more fun, because we can fight more. I am really looking forward to start the race and have some good fights.”
Tim Tramnitz: “The track seems to really suit us. It is a lot of fun, I’m enjoying to drive the car. The Team did a really great job all weekend, I am really looking forward for the races now. The positioning for T1 it doesn’t matter so much, because you have this long straight up ahead, and I think the slipstream can change quite a lot of things. If you get a good start and you are quite far ahead it’s fine, but if the others are quite close behind it can be a bit more difficult. That is what we face on this track, you can overtake…it is going to be a lot of fun for sure!”