It was a perfect race for James Wharton at the Red Bull Ring, where the Prema Racing driver, after starting from pole, managed to stay in control from the first to the last lap, securing his second victory of the season in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, achieving this result during the 75th race in the history of the series. Applause also went to Evan Giltaire, who, driving one of ART Grand Prix’s cars, staged a sensational comeback, rising from twelfth to second place after challenging Wharton in the final corners. The French driver earned an important second place and crucial points in the rookie standings, where he now once again holds the lead. Giltaire had an exciting battle with his teammate Alessandro Giusti, who held second place for almost the entire race before securing third. Giusti, a Williams Academy driver, also climbed to third in the overall championship standings behind Rafael Camara (Prema Racing) and Tuukka Taponen (R-ace GP), both of whom finished outside the top 10 in the first Austrian race.
A special mention goes to Roman Bilinski (Trident), who delivered a flawless race performance, battling for positions just off the podium and finishing in an excellent fourth place, earning valuable points and a morale boost for the Anglo-Polish driver, who returned to the international series just last week after a long injury. Enzo Peugeot also put on a show in Race 1, with determined pace and heart-stopping overtakes, climbing from thirteenth on the grid to finish in fifth place, ahead of another standout performer, Valerio Rinicella. The Italian driver, starting from 18th, managed to climb to sixth place, his best result of the season, which also earned him his first points in the standings. Finishing behind the MP Motorsport driver was fellow countryman Brando Badoer, who fell behind at the start but recovered to finish seventh, ahead of Ugo Ugochukwu (Prema Racing), Noah Strømsted (RPM), and Matteo De Palo (Sainteloc Racing), who completed the top 10.
The race, characterized by changing weather conditions with light rain at the start that forced teams to use wet tires, eventually saw the track almost dry in the final 10 minutes. Two safety cars were deployed: the first for a collision early on between Zachary David (R-ace GP) and Ruiqi Liu (Trident), which took both out of the race at Turn 4, and the second for a collision between Marta Garcia (Iron Dames) and Yaroslav Veselaho (ART Grand Prix), with Veselaho’s car stuck in the gravel at Turn 6.
James Wharton – Prema Racing
“I had to work a bit in the first laps to get the tires up to temperature. At the same time, I managed to keep the lead, even when the safety cars came out. In the end, it wasn’t easy to maintain the advantage with Giltaire closing in, but it was a great victory.”
Evan Giltaire – ART Grand Prix
“It was a really good race. We dealt with rain during the tests, and today the dry track shuffled the deck. This morning’s qualifying wasn’t so lucky, as it was my first time driving in dry conditions, making it difficult to find the right feel with the car. Achieving a result like this is important for both me and the team, who also celebrated Alessandro’s third place today.”
Alessandro Giusti – ART Grand Prix
“Overall, I can say it was a good race, where we had a good pace even in the dry. This morning, we had a strong qualifying that put us on the front row. We need to keep going in this direction for the remainder of the weekend.”