Emanuele Olivieri claimed his first pole position of the season on home soil at Monza, topping Sunday morning's Qualifying 2 session and setting the fastest lap of the entire weekend.
The Italian R-ace GP Rookie driver will line up at the front of the grid for the final race of Round 4 of the FIA Formula Regional European Championship. Alongside him will be Championship leader Kean Nakamura-Berta, who secured victory for PREMA Racing in Saturday’s Race 1.
GROUP B
Alexandre Munoz (ART Grand Prix) was the first driver in Group B to break the 1m46s barrier, posting a 1:45.979. However, with less than a minute remaining, Kean Nakamura-Berta moved to the top of the timesheets with a 1:45.743. Munoz improved on his next attempt but remained second, just 0.059s behind the PREMA Racing driver. Nakamura-Berta then lowered the benchmark further to a 1:45.511, a time that remained unbeaten for the rest of the session. Rodin Motorsport’s Gabriel Gomez moved up to second, just 0.017s adrift, before Jan Przyrowski (RPM) delivered a late improvement to clock a 1:45.540 and finish third. Kabir Anurag secured fourth for ART Grand Prix, while Munoz slipped to fifth. It proved a disappointing session for Race 2 winner Rashid Al Dhaheri (R-ace GP), who could manage only 13th place.
GROUP A
Group A drivers took to the track in the second session, with Sebastian Wheldon setting the pace on a 1:45.350, going quicker than Nakamura-Berta's Group B benchmark. Emanuele Olivieri was second, two tenths behind, with Andrea Dupé third. Moments later, Olivieri moved to the top with a 1:45.102. As the chequered flag approached, Jules Russell of CL Motorsport climbed to second, 0.197s behind Olivieri, who became the fifth different pole-sitter of the season. Trident Motorsport’s Maksimilian Popov secured third place ahead of Wheldon in fourth. MP Motorsport’s Zhenrui Chi rounded out the top-5.
Wheldon had originally crossed the line second in Saturday's Race 2, but a pair of five-second penalties dropped him down the order, promoting Salim Hanna by one position and allowing Dupé (Van Amersfoort Racing) to secure his maiden podium finish in third place.
Emanuele Olivieri (R-ace GP): “It feels great to be starting from pole position at my home track. I'm really looking forward to the race. I can't thank the team enough because, after the crash yesterday [in the second race], they rebuilt the car overnight. I'm incredibly grateful for all their hard work and I'm happy to have been able to repay them with this pole position. Honestly, I'm really pleased with how we executed the session and I'm excited for what's to come. We've worked really well together all season. Even though the start of the year wasn't what we expected, the team has always supported me and helped me in every way possible. I'm very happy to finally deliver a result like this for them."
Kean Nakamura-Berta (PREMA Racing): "I think we did a good job, to be honest. It wasn't as straightforward a qualifying session as it had been on Friday afternoon. We didn't really find the perfect track positioning, so it was a bit more difficult. I don't think I had the best position on track and, because of that, I had to get a bit more out of the car - and probably out of myself as well - than I expected. In the end, though, we managed to pull it off. The car was obviously very good to drive, but I had expected to spend a bit more time in dirty air. Anyway, it was still a really good result. Starting on the front row is something to be happy about. We always knew it was going to be difficult to take pole position, especially being the first car on track, but I'm really, really pleased with the outcome."
Race 3 is scheduled to get underway at 13:00 local time and will be broadcast in more than 200 territories worldwide. Among the broadcasters is ACI Sport TV. Fans can also watch the action live on the championship's official YouTube channel, @fiaformularegionaleu. Full broadcast details are available here.
* Qualifying 2 results are still provisional.
Event supported by the Italian Minister for Sport and Youth
