Camara grabs last-lap FREC pole at Monza to edge surprise Amand

Photo: FRECA

Prema’s Rafael Camara will start the first Formula Regional European Championship race at Monza from pole, having topped the times in qualifying with a last-gasp lap.

The Ferrari junior will line up alongside ART Grand Prix’s Marcus Amand on the front row. The Sauber junior headed the times in Group A, but Camara’s late effort in Group B beat his best laptime by 0.126 seconds.

G4 Racing’s Alessandro Giusti maintained his impressive recent from to grab a second-row grid slot, alongside Prema’s championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Amand benefitted from a tow from MP Motorsport’s Sami Meguetounif to pip Antonelli by one tenth of a second in the opening 15-minute session for Group A.

He had been on the pace throughout, and went fastest with a 1m47.565s set with just under five minutes to go. His time at the top was brief as Antonelli put in a 1m47.258s, with R-ace GP’s Tramnitz improving as well to go third.

Race Performance Motorsport’s Maceo Capietto jumped to second ahead of ART GP’s Laurens van Hoepen, before the last lap improvements from Amand and Tramnitz dropped him back to fourth. Meguetounif’s final effort moved him up to fifth, relegating van Hoepen to sixth at the chequered flag.

Tymek Kucharczyk, making his debut with Sainteloc Racing, spent most of the session in the pits and qualified 34th having failed to set a competitive laptime. He will likely be granted permission to race based on his practice pace.

Camara and G4 Racing’s Michael Belov set the early pace when Group B hit the track next, with Giusti moving up to third with four minutes to go of their session.

In the final minute, Giusti set a 1m47.270s to go top of the times, 0.063s ahead of Camara. However, the Ferrari junior was not to be denied, going fastest in sectors two, three and four to set the fastest lap of anyone and claim pole.

FREC debutant Noah Stromsted impressed with R-P-M, running in fourth in the closing stages, although late improvements from Trident’s Owen Tangavelou and MP’s Victor Bernier, pushed him back to sixth in the group by the finish.

Antonelli’s closest title rival Martinius Stenshorne will face a tough afternoon after qualifying on the 10th row, as a lack of straightline speed led to him struggling. His top speed of 251.2kph was over 10kph down on the fastest drivers through the speed trap.

Qualifying results