Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine last race of round 1 at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari di Imola goes to Kas Haverkort, Dutchman of Van Amersfoort Racing. This is Haverkort third win in the series cosigned by Alpine and ACI Sport, the first of the year came as soon as round 1, and, added to yesterday’s P5, constitutes a good haul for the driver’s standings. Second step of the podium is then reserved to Martinius Stenshorne, R-ace GP rookie driver that already won race 1 Saturday and became this way the first leader of the European series. Singaporean driver of Trident Motorsport, Nikhil Bohra, stepped on the podium in third.
The last race of the weekend in Italy was a frantic show. Haverkort took the leadership from Tim Tramnitz, R-ace GP, in a sudden twist at the start from the first row. Behind the duo, the battle in the group breaks out and the Alpine safety car is immediately called in when Rafael Camara (Prema Racing) run into the wall and out of the race after a contact with Joshua Dufek (Van Amersfoort Racing) that eliminates both drivers next to Tamburello turn. Andrea Kimi Antonelli is forced to pit-in and retired due to the persistence of the car problems that had prevented him from performing in qualifying this morning. The Bolognese driver of Prema Racing, one of this season’s most anticipated competitor, must settle for a bittersweet weekend with p2 in Race 1. Haverkort shows all his experience in a perfect safety car restart, leaving no room to any attempt to steal his leadership. Stenshorne took his chance shortly after the restart and gained his p2 with a perfect maneuvre out of Variante Alta on Bohra. In the group Michael Belov (G4 Racing) entertains fans with beautiful overtakings to climb the rankings. Then Joshua Duerksen (Arden Motorsport) and Alessandro Giusti (G4 Racing) clashed into each other. A contact that cost the Paraguayan driver the drop of two positions on the starting grid of the next race.
Again, a safety car restart that didn’t trouble at all the undisputed leader of the race Kas Haverkort, but the tussle infuriates behind him with Owen Tangavelou (Trident) and Belov going off the track while side-by-side. For the vastly experienced G4 Racing driver Race 2 ends with a early stop.
Roman Bilinski (Trident Motorsport) faced misfortune again, after his retirement in Race 1 due to issues with his gearbox, parked on the side of the road in the late stages of Race 2. Though day also for Prema Racing, with Lorenzo Fluxà’s pit-in, all the three drivers of the Italian Team couldn’t finish the race.
The race restarted from the last neutralization in the last lap, when Haverkort again showed his control over the race by not jeopardizing his dominance, and final arrival order, behind the Dutchman saw Stenshorne in P2 and Bohra completing the podium. Fourth position after a brilliant race went to the Frenchman of MP Motorsport, Victor Bernier; followed by R-ace GP Peruvian driver Matias Zagazeta. P6 to Mexican Santiago Ramos, RPM driver, that already last year shown an exceptional consistency in his performances. Coming in seventh was Dilano Van’T Hoff, MP Motorsport, that defended the position in the hard battle with his teammate Sami Meguetounif. The latter is later penalized with 10 seconds for moving before the signal of race start was given and the junior Sauber driver of ART Grand Prix, Marcus Amand, also harshly participating in the battle with the two, moved in P8. Macéo Capietto, Frenchman of RPM, ended the last race of the weekend in P9 and Charlie Wurz, ART Grand Prix, closed into the points rounding the top 10.
Kas Haverkort: “We started from P2 and I got Tim directly from the start corner and I started managing also with the safety cars. I just did my thing, it just feels amazing and I want to thank the team to putting down an amazing car.”
Martinius Stenshorne: “For sure the speed was really good, thanks to the team. When I was in P2 I was for sure looking into go for P1, but Kas was really fast and I had to set for P2. Managing the race is the most important.”
Nikhil Bohra: “We were starting P6 and I knew that I had a good line straight into T1, so I wanted to capitalize and get the best that I could. We jump straight into P3 in the start. It was a little bit up and down, but with the safety cars we managed quite well to stay out of troubles. It was a good race and we ended up on the podium, so I’m happy.”
The next appointment of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine will be in Barcelona, May 19-21.