CHALLENGING FIRST WEEKEND OF THE SEASON
The first race weekend of the 2024 Formula Regional Championship season at the HockenheimRing in Germany, was a challenging one for the team. The weekend started with 2 test sessions on Friday, where our 3 drivers showed some strong pace in a very competitive championship.
After two promising test sessions on Friday, it was time to show that same pace in Q1 on Saturday morning. Noah was able to put in a good lap during Q1, resulting in a P8 in Group A and P15 on the grid of Race 1. Our other Rookie driver, Edgar Pierre, managed to qualify on P28 out of the 33 drivers in his first FRECA qualifying. Giovanni qualified in P23 for the first race of the season.
…HE JUST GOT +0.072s SHORT ON THE FINISH LINE
Starting from P15, Noah was on the hunt for points in Race 1. Unfortunately he lost a couple of places in het first laps of the race, while Giovanni and Edgar gained a few places, having started from P23 and P28. After a short safety car period, Noah was able to retake a couple of places and fight for points. Not far behind Noah, Giovanni and Edgar were fighting for a top-20 position. Unfortunately, Edgar lost control of his car in the last corner and fell back to P29 thanks to visit to the graveltrap. Noah in the meantime got very close to a top-10 finish, but he just got +0.072s short on the finish line.
Hockenheim (GER), MAY 9-12-2024 – Round one of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine at the Hockenheimring. Edgar PIERRE #27, RPM. © 2024 Dutch Photo Agency.
On Sunday morning, Noah and Giovanni had a good pace in the 2nd qualifying session but could not quite get a clean lap on the timesheets, resulting in a P16 and a P20 respectively. Edgar in the meantime was struggling to find a clean lap, which resulted in a P31 on the grid for Race 2. Noah and Giovanni managed to escape the numerous race incidents in another safetycar filled afternoon, but unfortunately Edgar was not able to escape contact with another driver and got pushed into the graveltrap. The race finished behind the safety car which resulted in a P13 for Noah and a P15 for Maschio.
No points for us this weekend, but we’re on the right way and improving every session.
We will be back on track in two weeks at Spa-Francorchamps!