Emanuele Olivieri is the 2026 FIA Formula Regional European champion. The 18-year-old R-ace GP driver secured the overall title in a four-way showdown at Hockenheim, decided in the final race of the eighth and last round of the season. It capped an outstanding weekend for Thibaut de Mérindol’s team, which had already sealed the Teams’ title on Saturday.

Second place behind his closest rival, Sebastian Wheldon, was enough for the ACI Team Italia and former Scuola Federale trainee driver to celebrate, having already clinched the Rookie title at the previous round in Imola.

Wheldon, who topped both qualifying sessions at the German circuit for MP Motorsport, took the lead in Race 2 and held it to the chequered flag. It was his fourth victory of the season, more than any other driver, and secured him second place in the championship standings.

It was a bitter finale for Kean Nakamura-Berta. Running second, the PREMA Racing driver was caught up through no fault of his own in a collision with Race 1 winner Jan Przyrowski and finished seventh. The result dropped him to third in the championship, after his runner-up finish in Saturday’s opening race had brought him to within seven points of Olivieri.

Wheldon’s MP Motorsport team-mate Alexander Abkhazava completed the Race 2 podium in third. R-ace GP’s Rashid Al Dhaheri, who arrived at the final round fourth in the standings and still with an outside chance of the title, finished outside the points.

RACE ACTION

With three of the four title contenders on the first two rows of the grid, Wheldon started from pole for the final time this season and led into the first corner. Nakamura-Berta held second, ahead of Jan Przyrowski and Olivieri.

An incident in the midfield involving Maksimilian Popov, Tomass Stolcermanis and Saqer Almaosherji brought out the Safety Car almost immediately.

After three laps behind the Safety Car, Rashid Al Dhaheri climbed from 13th to ninth at the restart, while Wheldon continued to lead. Przyrowski then attempted to pass Nakamura-Berta, but the pair made contact. The PREMA Racing driver dropped to fourth, allowing Olivieri and Alexander Abkhazava through into second and third.

Yuki Sano joined the battle at the front and also passed Nakamura-Berta to take fourth. Przyrowski, meanwhile, was handed a 10-second penalty.

Olivieri opened up a gap of more than two seconds over Abkhazava, while Sano defended fourth from Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Ninovic. The order then settled, with the top five holding their positions to the chequered flag. Salim Hanna finished sixth, ahead of teammate Nakamura-Berta. Van Amersfoort Racing’s Oleksandr Bondarev took eighth, with Lewis Wherrell ninth on his debut for RPM. G4 Racing’s Marcus Saeter completed the top 10.

After the race, Ninovic was disqualified for a technical infringement.

Emanuele Olivieri (R-ace GP, 2026 FIA FREC champion): "It still feels strange to say that I’m champion. I’m honestly a bit speechless. The start of the season was very difficult, but R-ace GP believed in me and supported me throughout. I owe the team so much, and I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved together. The race today was tense, with four of us still in contention for the title. I knew I had the pace, so I focused on staying calm. I made a good start, then took advantage of the incident ahead to move into second. From there, I managed the race. I felt I might have had the pace to catch Sebastian, but there was no need to take that risk. Once again, the team gave me a brilliant car."

Sebastian Wheldon (MP Motorsport, Race 2 winner and championship runner-up): "It’s a great way to end the season. We had some very good weekends and some difficult ones, so I’m happy to finish with a win. Of course, I’m disappointed to miss out on the championship. I made mistakes in the middle of the season, and I know things could have turned out differently. Overall, though, it’s been a valuable learning experience. I feel I improved as the season went on, and that’s what you always want as a driver. I’m pleased with what we achieved this year, and I’m already looking ahead to next season."

Results are still provisional 

Sebastian Wheldon claimed the final pole position of the FIA Formula Regional European Championship season at Hockenheim. The MP Motorsport driver set a 1:34.271 in Group A to take two valuable points ahead of this afternoon’s four-way title decider.

PREMA Racing’s Kean Nakamura-Berta will line up alongside Wheldon on the front row after topping Group B by just 0.003s from championship leader Emanuele Olivieri. The R-ace GP driver heads into the final race on 200 points, seven clear of Nakamura-Berta. Wheldon is third on 184, with Olivieri’s team-mate Rashid Al Dhaheri, who finished seventh in his qualifying group, is fourth on 180.

Yesterday’s Race 1 winner Jan Przyrowski also impressed, finishing second to Wheldon in Group A.

GROUP B

Group B was first out on track for the final qualifying session of the season. Olivieri set the early pace with a 1:34.651, putting him 0.222s clear of MP Motorsport’s Zhenrui Chi and more than three tenths ahead of his R-ace GP team-mate Yuki Sano.

With just over four minutes remaining, Olivieri improved in the second and third sectors to lower the benchmark to 1:34.406. Sano moved up to second with a 1:34.543, while Nakamura-Berta was third, 0.297s off the pace. Nakamura-Berta then posted a 1:34.446 to close to within 0.040s of Olivieri. On his final flying lap, the PREMA driver found more time, setting a 1:34.403 to take top spot by just 0.003s. Sano finished third ahead of Chi and Nakamura-Berta’s team-mate Tomass Stolcermanis.

GROUP A

Wheldon opened with a 1:34.434, with RPM’s Przyrowski immediately moving into second, just 0.034s behind. MP Motorsport’s Alexander Abkhazava then took P2 with a 1:34.456, before Przyrowski responded with a 1:34.436. Wheldon improved to a 1:34.420 to strengthen his hold on the top spot.

As the clock ran down, Przyrowski went quickest with a 1:34.356. Wheldon had one final flying lap, though, and delivered a 1:34.271 to reclaim P1 and secure his fourth pole of the season and his second in a row, leaving Przyrowski second by 0.085s. Abkhazava finished third, ahead of Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Ninovic and ART Grand Prix’s Alexandre Munoz.

Sebastian Wheldon (MP Motorsport): "Yesterday was frustrating, especially given the pace we had, but today is a new day. We’re starting from the front row again, so the aim is to get a good start and see what we can do in the race. The team have given me a really good car. I’ve felt confident since the first Free Practice session, and I can’t thank MP Motorsport enough. Now we need to make the most of it in the race.”

Kean Nakamura-Berta (PREMA Racing): "Qualifying has been the most important part of the weekend throughout this championship. We’ve seen it everywhere: even with the new push-to-pass system, you still need to be at the front. It’s really good to be back on the front row. We’ve struggled a little over the past two weekends, but I think we’ve finally moved in the right direction. I put a few good sectors together, although it was incredibly close out there. I think we maximised what we had, and we’ll give it our best later today.”

The final race of the season, which will decide the title, gets underway this afternoon at 16:15 CEST and will be streamed live on the Championship’s official YouTube channel, @fiaformularegionaleu.

Results are still provisional

The 2026 FIA Formula Regional European Championship title will be decided in the final race of the season. The first of the two races at Hockenheim did not settle the Drivers’ Championship battle, but instead produced the 11th different winner of the year and mathematically sealed the Teams’ Championship for R-ace GP.

At the German venue, Jan Przyrowski took victory to cap off an outstanding start to the weekend. The RPM Polish driver, who had topped the overall timesheets at the end of yesterday’s two Free Practice sessions, set the second-fastest time in his group in Qualifying 1 this morning. Starting from the second row, he moved into the lead and remained out front for all 18 laps.

An incident at the first corner with polesitter Sebastian Wheldon forced championship leader Emanuele Olivieri (R-ace GP), who had started from the front row, into an immediate retirement. Wheldon dropped to the back of the field and eventually finished 22nd after receiving a 10-second penalty for the opening-lap collision and a further five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage over Yuki Sano.

With the top two drivers in the standings failing to score, PREMA Racing’s Kean Nakamura-Berta and Olivieri’s R-ace GP team-mate Rashid Al Dhaheri took full advantage, finishing second and third respectively. Olivieri retained the championship lead, but Nakamura-Berta closed to within seven points. Wheldon dropped to third in the standings, 11 points behind Nakamura-Berta, while Al Dhaheri is now 20 points adrift of Olivieri. With a maximum of 28 points still available across Qualifying 2 and Sunday’s race, the title battle remains between the same four drivers.

RACE ACTION

With the top two drivers in the Championship lining up on the front row in reverse standings order, polesitter Wheldon retained the lead at the start of Race 1. Olivieri moved to the outside and drew alongside him into Turn 1, but contact between the pair sent the Italian off the track. The American was able to continue, although he dropped to the back of the field.

PREMA Racing’s Tomass Stolcermanis initially took the lead before slipping to fourth, as Przyrowski, Nakamura-Berta and Alexandre Munoz of ART Grand Prix moved past him in that order. Al Dhaheri ran fifth.

The Safety Car was deployed and, after three laps of neutralisation, racing resumed with Przyrowski retaining the lead. Al Dhaheri immediately launched an attack on Stolcermanis, while the other ART Grand Prix driver Kabir Anurag spun following contact with Oleksandr Bondarev.

At the end of lap 5, Munoz dropped back, allowing Stolcermanis and Al Dhaheri to move up to third and fourth respectively. With around two minutes remaining, however, Stolcermanis suffered a problem and pulled over at the side of the track, promoting Al Dhaheri to third.

Przyrowski continued to lead the field, setting the fastest lap and extending his advantage over Nakamura-Berta to more than two seconds.

The final incident of the race involved Andrija Kostic, who crashed his Trident Motorsport car into the barriers.

At the chequered flag, Przyrowski took victory ahead of Nakamura-Berta and Al Dhaheri. MP Motorsport’s Zhenrui Chi and Trident Motorsport’s Maksimilian Popov finished fourth and fifth respectively. Oleksandr Bondarev crossed the line eighth as the highest-placed Rookie, behind RPM’s Miguel Costa and PREMA Racing’s Salim Hanna. Rodin Motorsport duo Reza Seewooruthun and Alex Ninovic completed the top 10.

Jan Przyrowski (RPM, winner): "The team and I have shown really strong pace throughout the weekend. We have been at the sharp end since the start of the weekend, so I think we found something that worked particularly well here. I didn’t manage to put everything together in qualifying as I would have liked, but fighting for pole position for Race 2 is definitely possible. There are still a few things we need to work out, but our race pace was amazing.”

Kean Nakamura-Berta (PREMA Racing, 2nd): "It was a pretty chaotic race. There was an incident ahead of me at the start, which helped me move through, and that put me in a good position. I was then able to use the slipstream to pass a few cars. Securing second place puts us in a strong position for tomorrow’s championship decider. The possibility of rain later in the day could make things even more interesting. We maximised our result today and will try to do the same tomorrow. We’ll give it everything and see what happens."

Rashid Al Dhaheri (R-ace GP, 3rd): "I’m very happy because luck was on our side today. Considering the position we were in after free practice and qualifying, finishing on the podium is a great result. We were fortunate to come away from Race 1 with another opportunity to fight for the championship tomorrow. It will still be very difficult, but the possibility is now greater than it was before today’s race. I’m extremely proud of the team. They have done an excellent job and helped me continue to perform despite a few difficult races. Congratulations to everyone at R-ace GP on winning the Teams’ Championship; they worked incredibly hard and thoroughly deserved it. It is difficult to set expectations for tomorrow because nobody expected us to still have this opportunity, particularly considering where we started today and the deficit we faced after Imola. My priority is to focus on myself and on the areas I want to improve for my development as a driver. The final outcome of the Championship is not entirely under my control, so I will concentrate on doing the best job possible.”

Oleksandr Bondarev (Van Amersfoort Racing, Rookie winner): "To be honest, qualifying did not go particularly well this morning. We struggled slightly with the balance and I also made a mistake on my lap. With the field so closely matched, it proved very costly and left us around 10 positions further back on the grid. However, the pace was there and I think I managed the race slightly better than some of the drivers ahead of me. I recovered from 19th to eighth, so it was a very strong comeback and a really good race. We managed everything well and the car felt very competitive. It gives us a solid starting point to build on, and hopefully we can have an even better day tomorrow."

Track action will resume tomorrow at 09:40 CEST with Qualifying 2, ahead of the final 30-minute-plus-one-lap race of the season at 16:15. Both sessions will be streamed live on the championship’s official YouTube channel, @fiaformularegionaleu.

Sebastian Wheldon will start from pole position for the first of two races at Hockenheim, the final round of the FIA Formula Regional European Championship, where the title will be decided this weekend. The MP Motorsport American earned two valuable points, reducing his deficit to championship leader Emanuele Olivieri (R-ace GP) to 18 points. The Italian, who set the fastest time in Group B, will line up alongside him on the front row.

Jan Przyrowski, who topped the overall timesheets at the end of yesterday’s two Free Practice sessions, will start behind them on the second row. The RPM Polish driver will be joined by Tomass Stolcermanis, who finished ahead of his PREMA Racing team-mate Kean Nakamura-Berta in Group B. Nakamura-Berta arrives in Germany third in the championship and remains in title contention, as does R-ace GP driver Rashid Al Dhaheri, who finished fourth in Group A.

GROUP A

Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Ninovic was the first driver to set a representative time, moving to the top of the order with seven minutes remaining thanks to a 1:35.290. Trident Motorsport’s Maksimilian Popov then went 0.143s faster, with CL Motorsport Rookie Ary Bansal climbing to second behind him.

With five minutes remaining, Al Dhaheri moved into the lead with a 1:35.048, before Wheldon became one of the first drivers to break the 1m35s barrier with a 1:34.661. Al Dhaheri responded, reclaiming first place with a 1:34.501. Przyrowski, who had been quickest in Free Practice yesterday, then moved into third. Wheldon subsequently set a 1:34.353 to return to the top of the timesheets, while Przyrowski improved again to close to within 0.075s of the MP Motorsport driver. Al Dhaheri slipped to fourth behind Popov. Alexandre Munoz (ART Grand Prix) completed the top five.

GROUP B

MP Motorsport’s Zhenrui Chi started the session with a 1:34.883, provisionally taking the top spot with a 1:34.883. Olivieri then moved into first place with a 1:34.645 before improving in all three sectors on his following lap to set a 1:34.424. Stolcermanis climbed to second, just over a tenth behind, followed by Miguel Costa (RPM) and Marcus Saeter (G4 Racing).

Olivieri was unable to improve in the closing minutes but remained at the top of the order. Stolcermanis finished 0.181s behind in second, followed by team-mate Nakamura-Berta, who moved up to third ahead of Chi and Costa.

Sebastian Wheldon (MP Motorsport): "I wasn’t expecting to take pole position, especially as the second group is usually quicker. But I managed to put together a lap that was fast enough for overall pole, so I’m pleased. We’ll see what we can do in the championship, starting from the front. The aim is to keep it clean into Turn 1. The hairpin at Turn 6 can also get a bit hectic, particularly on the opening lap, so I’ll try to stay out of trouble and score as many points as possible.”

Emanuele Olivieri (R-ace GP): "It has been another strong weekend so far and we have once again shown that we have good pace. We missed out on pole position this morning by a very small margin, but I’m still pleased with the result. We’re starting from the front row, so we’re in a good position for the race. We’ll see what happens. The goal is to finish ahead of Sebastian, as that would obviously be very important. However, I’ll focus on my own race and, if I have the pace, I’ll try to overtake him.”

The 30-minute-plus-one-lap Race 1 will get under way today at 13:05 CEST and will be streamed live on the Championship’s official YouTube channel, @fiaformularegionaleu.

Jan Przyrowski set the pace at Hockenheim in the second Free Practice session. The RPM driver, who had finished second in the opening session earlier in the day, once again emerged as one of the front-runners, setting the fastest time of the day with a 1:35.026.

Championship leader Emanuele Olivieri finished second, just 0.061s behind the Polish driver, and edged out his R-ace GP teammate Yuki Sano by just over a tenth. After placing inside the top 10 in Free Practice 1, Rodin Motorsport’s Reza Seewooruthun took fourth ahead of G4 Racing’s Saqer Almaosherji.

Almaosherji was one of the first drivers to move to the top of the timesheets, setting an early benchmark of 1:35.430. Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Ninovic then took over at the front with a 1:35.305, followed by Trident Motorsport’s Maksimilian Popov, who was one tenth off the pace.

With 15 minutes remaining, Seewooruthun moved into first place with a 1:35.258. Przyrowski then lowered the benchmark by 0.040s, before Olivieri posted a 1:35.131, which was also quicker than Sebastian Wheldon’s best time from the morning session.

Przyrowski responded with a 1:35.026 to take top spot for good. Olivieri improved further to a 1:35.087 but remained second, while Sano climbed to third after the chequered flag with a 1:35.215.

“Today has been pretty good,” Przyrowski commented. “I think we managed to find something in the car set-up, as well as in my driving. We finally managed to put everything together, and the pace looks decent. So, it could be a good weekend for me. I just need to stay focused, remain calm and keep pushing.”

Qualifying 1 will take place tomorrow at 09:10 CEST, with the drivers splitted into Groups A and B, before the first of the two 30-minute-plus-one-lap races gets under way at 13:00 CEST, streamed live on the championship’s official YouTube channel, @fiaformularegionaleu.

Sebastian Wheldon topped the opening Practice session for the final round of the FIA Formula Regional European Championship at Hockenheim.

The MP Motorsport driver set the best time of 1:35.150 in the closing stages. RPM’s Polish driver Jan Przyrowski finished second, with Wheldon’s team-mate Alexander Abkhazava third, just over a tenth off the pace.

Reno Francot followed closely in fourth with the leading CL Motorsport Tatuus T-326. Championship leader Emanuele Olivieri was fifth with a time of 1:35.395.

The three ART Grand Prix drivers Mattéo Giaccardi, Kabir Anurag and Alexandre Munoz finished sixth, seventh and ninth respectively. MP Motorsport’s Zhenrui Chi split the trio in eighth, while Rodin Motorsport’s Reza Seeworuthun completed the top 10.

With half an hour remaining, Olivieri was the first to set a representative time, going quickest with a 1:35.789, 0.039s ahead of Wheldon. RPM’s Miguel Costa and Chi were third and fourth, with both drivers also breaking the 1:36 barrier. Seeworuthun then took his turn at the top, shaving more than a tenth off the benchmark with a 1:35.660.

Several drivers improved with 10 minutes to go. Wheldon moved to the top with a 1:35.778 before Przyrowski went quickest with a 1:35.363. Wheldon then went quickest once again and remained at the top.

Also of note were the debuts of Indian driver Ary Bansal, who set the 16th-fastest time for CL Motorsport, and Britain’s Lewis Wherrell, who took the wheel of one of RPM’s cars.

Free Practice 2 will start at 17:03 CEST.

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.

Oleksandr Bondarev rounded off his Imola weekend in perfect fashion. The Ukrainian driver, who impressed on his FIA Formula Regional European Championship debut, converted the pole position he secured in Sunday morning’s Qualifying into his maiden victory. In doing so, he became the 10th different winner of the season and handed Van Amersfoort Racing its first victory of the year.

With his second-place finish, Emanuele Olivieri further extended his advantage at the top of the overall standings. The R-ace GP driver, who claimed victory in Race 1 on Saturday to mathematically secure the Rookie title, scored points in all three races and now holds a 20-point lead over MP Motorsport’s Sebastian Wheldon, who finished outside the top 10 in Race 3. CL Motorsport’s Reno Francot also made it onto the podium, with the Dutchman matching the third-place finish he achieved in Saturday’s Race 2.

Wheldon finished 12th, while PREMA Racing’s Kean Nakamura-Berta and Olivieri’s team mate Rashid Al Dhaheri, who both remain in title contention, finished ninth and 10th respectively.

RACE REPORT

Bondarev made a strong getaway from pole, while Olivieri slotted into second and immediately shut the door on Francot. The Dutchman settled into third, with CL Motorsport team mate Jules Roussel close behind.

A collision between Yuki Sano of R-ace GP and CL Motorsport's René Lammers followed at Piratella, sending Lammers into the barriers and bringing out the Safety Car.

Racing resumed after almost three laps under neutralised conditions, with Bondarev retaining the lead. Olivieri set the provisional fastest lap, while further back Nakamura-Berta and Al Dhaheri battled over ninth place, with Wheldon running outside the top 10. Bondarev responded to Olivieri by setting the fastest lap himself.

On Lap 7, Giovanni Maschio and MP Motorsport’s Alexander Abkhazava made contact at the first chicane, leaving the RPM driver stranded in the gravel and triggering another Safety Car period. The race restarted with nine minutes and 23 seconds remaining. Olivieri applied the pressure, but Bondarev did not put a foot wrong. At the start of Lap 10, PREMA Racing’s Tomass Stolcermanis passed Roussel at the end of the main straight to move up to fourth.

Almost simultaneously, G4 Racing’s Rahim Alibhai went off track, prompting a third Safety Car period. Racing resumed with three minutes remaining. Olivieri tried to attack Bondarev while coming under pressure himself from Francot, but the leading trio crossed the line in the same order.

Oleksandr Bondarev (Van Amersfoort Racing, winner):"Honestly, after yesterday, I already felt that this would be a weekend to be really proud of, even if it had ended there. But today was simply amazing. I took pole position this morning with a really good lap, and the car felt fantastic. I got off the line well in the race, which was very important because overtaking is quite difficult here. When you are in front, you can control the race a little better. That is exactly what we did, staying in the lead throughout. It was my first time leading a restart in this car, and it is much more difficult than in Formula 4. I don’t think my restarts were perfect, but they were good enough to keep the lead. I’m extremely happy with the result. A huge thank you to everyone at Van Amersfoort Racing, Williams, my family and all my sponsors, for supporting me throughout the year".

Emanuele Olivieri (R-ace GP, 2nd):"It was a mega weekend. I wasn’t expecting to leave Imola leading the championship, but the team and I worked extremely hard during the summer break to find the performance that we were able to show here. I think we had the strongest pace. Yesterday’s victory was amazing, while today there wasn’t much more I could have done because of all the Safety Car periods. Even if you have more pace, it is very difficult to make a difference in those circumstances. I also didn’t want to take too many risks because my championship rival was outside the points, so I focused on securing as many points as possible. Overall, I’m really happy with the weekend. In the final race, I never really had a clear opportunity to pass Oleksandr. Without all the safety-car periods, I might have had a chance towards the end of the race by using the push-to-pass, because he appeared to be using more of it than I was at the beginning. However, with so many safety-car periods, we reached the final two laps with almost all of our push-to-pass still available, so we were effectively using it everywhere and there was no real opportunity to save it and create a proper advantage. I tried to put him under pressure and force him into a mistake, but credit to him because he drove a fantastic race. There was nothing more I could have done. I don’t have a particular strategy for Hockenheim. I’ll simply do everything I can, give it my best and see what the outcome is".

Reno Francot (CL Motorsport, 3rd): "It was a very difficult race. Having three safety-car restarts made it almost impossible to get anything done. Even with the new Race Mode system, it is still extremely difficult to overtake at this circuit. We were all running in one long train. I did everything in my power to move up to second place, but in the end there was very little I could do. Nevertheless, I’ll take the positives from this weekend. Two third-place finishes are definitely something to be proud of, especially after the difficult period we had before the summer break. I’m happy with the progress we have made. We can head to Hockenheim with this level of performance and see whether we can fight for another race victory."

The next and final round of the FIA Formula Regional European Championship will take place in just a few days at Hockenheim in Germany, where the 2026 title will be decided next weekend.

* Results are still provisional