A four-way title showdown awaits at Hockenheim, which this weekend hosts the eighth and final round of an FIA Formula Regional European Championship season that has seen five different drivers lead the standings.
Emanuele Olivieri arrives at the 4.574-kilometre German circuit as the championship leader. The R-ace GP driver secured the Rookie title at Imola, where he also claimed his second victory of the season on home soil, following his maiden win at Monza in June. The Italian has proved the most consistent driver in the field, recording eight podium finishes: two victories, five runner-up results and one third place.
With a total of 56 points still available, Sebastian Wheldon currently trails Olivieri by 20 points. The MP Motorsport driver has claimed three victories so far this season, taking a double win at Zandvoort before adding a further success at Paul Ricard.
It was a difficult weekend at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari for PREMA Racing’s Kean Nakamura-Berta, who arrived at Imola leading the championship. Like Wheldon, the young Williams F1 Team Academy Driver has scored three victories this season and now sits third in the standings, 25 points adrift of the championship lead.
It was a similar story for Rashid Al Dhaheri, who enjoyed an impressive run of form during the middle part of the season, culminating in his third victory of the campaign in Hungary, where he regained the championship lead. Olivieri’s R-ace GP team-mate and Mercedes-AMG F1 Team Junior Programme member heads to Hockenheim on 165 points, ten fewer than Nakamura-Berta.
However, with ten different winners from the 17 races held so far, the series for the new-generation Tatuus T-326 single-seaters could still deliver further surprises at the German circuit. Van Amersfoort Racing has confirmed that Ukrainian driver Oleksandr Bondarev will remain in its line-up after making an impressive debut at Imola, where he converted pole position into a commanding victory in the third and final race of the weekend. Reno Francot (CL Motorsport), Salim Hanna (PREMA Racing), Alexandre Munoz (ART Grand Prix), Maksimilian Popov (Trident Motorsport) and Yuki Sano (R-ace GP) have also claimed one victory apiece this season.
The Teams’ title will also be decided at Hockenheim, with R-ace GP holding a commanding 106-point advantage over MP Motorsport at the top of the standings.
Weekend schedule
The Hockenheim weekend gets under way on Friday with two 50-minute free practice sessions, scheduled to begin at 11:57 CEST and 17:03 CEST respectively. Qualifying 1 takes place on Saturday at 09:10 CEST, with the drivers divided into Groups A and B, before the first of the two 30-minute-plus-one-lap races gets under way at 13:00 CEST. Qualifying 2 begins on Sunday at 09:40 CEST, while the final race of the season is scheduled to start at 16:10 CEST.
Where to watch
The two FIA Formula Regional European Championship races from Hockenheim will be broadcast in more than 200 territories and streamed live on the championship’s official YouTube channel, @fiaformularegionaleu.
