Freddie Slater delivered a solid weekend at Imola, home to the sixth round of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine. Starting from the front row twice after leading his qualifying group for both races, he stormed back to P2 after dropping one spot at the start. Unfortunately, after a controlled run in Race 2, his car was disqualified for a technical infraction.
It was a tough weekend for teammates Jack Beeton and Rashid Al Dhaheri. The Emirati driver had a couple of tough qualifying sessions, and he crashed out while fighting his way back in Race 1 before ending up in Race 2 in P14.
Jack Beeton showcased a solid growth in terms of pace during the weekend, although the end results did not reflect that. The Australian had positive potential, especially in the second qualifying session, but a couple of collisions got in his way to prevent him from scoring points.
With Slater still on top of driver points and PREMA in close pursuit in the Team Championship, the series will go into a summer break and will come back in early September at the Red Bull Ring.
#14 Rashid Al Dhaheri
"Not a weekend we like. Imola is a tricky place where details are super key, and we did a good job overall, working on some important aspects. Definitely, the result doesn't show the progress, but we were able to learn new things, and hopefully, for Red Bull Ring, we are going to bounce back after the summer break. We'll be ready."
Qualifying 1: P6 Gr.A Fastest lap: 1:39.231
Starting position Race 1: P12 Race 1: DNF
Qualifying 2: P6 Gr.A Fastest lap: 1:38.992
Starting position Race 2: P12 Race 2: P14
#27 Freddie Slater
“We turned up with a good package on Thursday morning, and we knew we were on pace straight away. The team gave me a window to fine-tune my driving, which is always a nice place to be. I focused on myself without worrying too much about tuning the car in a few areas. It's a shame for Race 2, but we will go again to the Red Bull Ring, which we are good at. There’s a big straight, and the weather can be quite unpredictable, so racing should be interesting there. See everyone there!”
Qualifying 1: P1 Gr.A Fastest lap: 1:38.646
Starting position Race 1: P2 Race 1: P2
Qualifying 2: P1 Gr.A Fastest lap: 1:38.530
Starting position Race 2: P2 Race 2: DSQ
#45 Jack Beeton
"We started the weekend strong, on a good note, but then on Friday, we lost pretty much everything we thought we had. In Qualifying on Saturday, we lacked a bit, and I ended up 9th. I was fighting to move forward in Race 1, but I broke my front wing in a collision, which was my responsibility. In Qualifying 2, the pace was actually really good, and we could have finished in P3, but a small mistake pushed me to P5. We made a big step forward; the team and I worked very hard to try to find something. We ended up starting P13 with the penalty but got up to P9 in the opening lap. It was making moves for P8, but I was involved in a collision. It was a racing incident, not much we could have done. If we look at the results, it was not a good weekend, but we learned a lot, which we can definitely use for the rest of the season. We get a month off to refresh and recharge our batteries before going for the final round."
Qualifying 1: P9 Gr.B Fastest lap: 1:39.665
Starting position Race 1: P17 Race 1: P21
Qualifying 2: P5 Gr.B Fastest lap: 1:39.262
Starting position Race 2: P9 Race 2: DNF
