The Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine returned to the track this morning at Monza for the final qualifying session of the year. The atmosphere was electric ahead of what promises to be a historic afternoon at the Temple of Speed, where the series will contest its 100th race and crown not only the 2025 Drivers’ Champion, already decided in favour of Freddie Slater, but also the Teams’ title, still open between R-ace GP and Prema Racing.
Fresh from sealing the championship with yesterday’s victory, Freddie Slater (Prema Racing) added another highlight to a remarkable season by taking his sixth pole position of the year, setting the best time of 1:44.334 in Group A. His teammate Jack Beeton confirmed the team’s strength with the second-fastest time, just 0.131s behind. However, the Australian received two separate penalties from the Stewards, one for driving unnecessarily slowly in the pit lane and another for failing to respect the escape lane procedure and will therefore start from eighth position on the grid.
Nikita Bedrin (Saintéloc Racing) followed in third, ahead of Rashid Al Dhaheri (Prema Racing), while Edu Robinson (G4 Racing) completed the top five. Behind them came Taito Kato (ART Grand Prix), Michael Belov (CL Motorsport), Akshay Bohra (R-ace GP), Enzo Deligny (R-ace GP), and Giovanni Maschio (RPM), rounding out the top ten. Both Bohra and Deligny received grid drops from the Stewards for failing to respect the escape lane procedure during qualifying and will start from 19th and 21st positions respectively.
In Group B, Matteo De Palo (Trident Motorsport) set the fastest time of the session with 1:44.407, earning a front-row start alongside Slater for Race 2. The Italian driver edged out Evan Giltare (ART Grand Prix) by just one-tenth of a second, while Jan Przyrowski (RPM) continued his impressive weekend with third.
Dion Gowda (Van Amersfoort Racing) was fourth, followed by his teammate Pedro Clerot, who completed the top five. The remaining places in the top ten went to Jin Nakamura (R-ace GP), Hiyu Yamakoshi (Van Amersfoort Racing), Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi (Trident Motorsport), Ruiqi Liu (Trident Motorsport), and Kanato Le (ART Grand Prix).
Freddie Slater (Prema Racing)
“It was really nice to wrap up the title yesterday and come back this morning with another strong performance. The conditions were quite similar to Saturday, but I made a small mistake at Ascari which affected my last push lap, everyone probably saw that moment. With the tyres getting cold after that, it wasn’t easy to recover, so I’m very happy to still take pole.
It definitely wasn’t a simple session, especially without a tow, but we managed to bounce back and deliver a great lap when it mattered. Now we’ll focus on the race. The Teams’ title fight is still open, so we’ll give it everything to score maximum points and end the season on a high.”
Matteo De Palo (Trident Motorsport)
“It was a really good qualifying this morning. Our pace was strong, and it’s great to bounce back after yesterday, when we struggled a bit in qualifying. Ending my journey in FRECA with a front-row start feels special, and it’s a positive way to close this chapter.
Starting from the front is always key here in Monza, anything can happen in the race, so the goal is to give everything and finish the season on a high with Trident. We made a few small adjustments to the car after yesterday, mainly to improve the balance in these cold conditions, and it worked well. I’m happy with the progress and confident we can fight at the top.”