It was a memorable day at Misano for Trident Motorsport, as Matteo De Palo secured the team’s first-ever victory in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine. The Italian driver delivered a commanding performance, building his win from a strong qualifying session earlier in the morning, which earned him a front-row start alongside pole-sitter Freddie Slater (Prema Racing).
The latter found himself in the spotlight early on following contact initiated by Jin Nakamura (R-ace GP) at Turn 2, which eliminated both drivers from the race and brought out the safety car. As a result, the Japanese driver has been handed a four-place grid penalty for the next race.
Evan Giltaire (ART Grand Prix) claimed second place after climbing up from fourth on the grid. The Frenchman held the position throughout the race, withstanding constant pressure from a determined Rashid Al Dhaheri (Prema Racing). The Mercedes Junior Programme driver impressed on his series debut by clinching third place with a strong performance all the way to the final corner.
Brazilian Pedro Clerot (Van Amersfoort Racing) finished fourth after a clean and consistent run, ahead of Taito Kato (ART Grand Prix), who crossed the line in fifth.
A notable mention goes to Jack Beeton, who steadily climbed from ninth to sixth place, ahead of Nikita Bedrin (Saintéloc Racing), who was involved in a close battle with Hiyu Yamakoshi (Van Amersfoort Racing) for seventh. Rounding out the top ten were R-ace GP drivers Akshay Bohra and Enzo Deligny.
Among the rookies, Dion Gowda (Van Amersfoort Racing) emerged as the top finisher. Meanwhile, fellow debutant Tim Gerhards (Saintéloc Racing) was unable to start the race due to a technical issue that prevented him from leaving the grid before the formation lap.
The Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine returns to action tomorrow morning at 8:30 local time for the second qualifying session of the weekend.
Matteo De Palo – Trident
“It’s a really special feeling to win here in Italy at Misano. I’m super happy because I think we maximised everything today. I had a good start and managed to go side by side with Freddie into Turn 1, which got quite chaotic with cars going off and rejoining the track. After that, it was all about managing the tyres and the car. We had great pace and I’m really proud of the work we did during the off-season, this result shows how well we prepared. A big thank you to Trident for giving me a mega car and for their support, and also to my management team, my trainers, my family, and my sponsors.”
Evan Giltarie – ART Grand Prix
“It’s the third time in my career that I’ve stepped on the podium in the opening round of the championship, so I’m really happy with that. We need to keep pushing and focus on improving in qualifying, as we only managed P4 this morning. Overall, it was a strong race and a good recovery. P2 is a great result to start the season, and we aim to build on this tomorrow.”
Rashid Al Dhahery – Prema Racing
“It was quite an exciting race. Kicking off the season with a podium at a home event for the team here in Italy is a great feeling. We’ve had a strong weekend so far and we’ll keep pushing to see where we can improve. Tomorrow is a new day, with a fresh qualifying and another race, so we’ll aim to build on this result. Towards the end we pushed as much as we could. The dirty air definitely had an impact, and I tried to stay close enough in the key overtaking zones while managing push-to-pass. We exchanged moves a few times, but in the end he was able to hold position. Still, it was a good race, we applied solid pressure, and I’m confident in our pace heading into tomorrow.”
Dion Gowda (Van Amersfoort Racing)
“Of course, I’m happy to come away with the rookie win, but it’s been a challenging day. I made a few mistakes on my side, so there’s definitely learning to do. Tomorrow is a new opportunity, with another qualifying and race, and I’m confident we can make a strong step forward. We’ve shown good pace in pre-season testing, and we just need to bring that performance onto the track. The plan now is to take everything we’ve learned today and apply it tomorrow. The team at VAR has done a fantastic job, the car feels strong, so it’s about putting everything together. Hopefully we can aim for a different kind of win next time out.”