Alexandre Munoz has become the first Rookie to claim a pole position in the FIA Formula Regional European Championship this year.
The 17-year-old reigning French F4 Champion emerged fastest in Qualifying 1 for the third round of the season at Spa-Francorchamps. The ART Grand Prix driver secured pole position with a superb final lap of 2:14.070, edging out PREMA Racing’s Kean Nakamura-Berta by just 0.014s after the chequered flag.
Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Ninovic finished third in Group B, just 0.037s adrift of Munoz, with team-mate Gabriel Gomez close behind in fourth. Reno Francot (CL Motorsport) rounded out the top five.
In Group A, Rashid Al Dhaheri topped the timesheets for R-ace GP. Last year’s Spa pole-sitter led the session with a 2:14.559 before improving to a 2:14.523 on his final flying lap. Championship leader Sebastian Wheldon (MP Motorsport) was unable to respond and remained second.
Yuki Sano secured third place, ahead of R-ace GP team-mate Emanuele Olivieri. The Italian climbed to fourth in the closing stages after having his first lap time deleted for exceeding track limits. Reza Seewooruthun (Rodin Motorsport) finished fifth.
Alexandre Munoz (ART Grand Prix): “This morning and yesterday were quite tricky in terms of pace, but the team worked really hard to give me a strong package for Qualifying 1 and to make sure we could put everything together over a single lap. That’s exactly what we managed to do on the final run. We delivered when it mattered and came away with pole position, so I’m really happy. I kept learning and gathering information throughout the session. The first couple of laps were quite difficult as we had to manage traffic during the warm-up laps, which made it challenging to get the tyres into the right operating window. But the final lap was a good one, and we managed to put everything together when it counted."
Rashid Al Dhaheri (R-ace GP): "Honestly, it came as a bit of a surprise. Free Practice definitely didn't go the way we wanted, but we managed to put everything together when it mattered. Spa is always a very challenging track because positioning and tyre warm-up are crucial, so getting the lap right is never easy. I think we learned a lot as a team from Zandvoort, and I also learned a lot from Free Practice this morning. In the end, we got the job done and secured pole position, which is an amazing feeling."
The first of tomorrow’s two 30-minute-plus-one-lap races is set to begin at 10:05 CEST. Race 2, featuring a reversed grid for the top 12 drivers from Qualifying 1, will follow at 14:16 CEST.
Both races will be streamed live on the official FIA Formula Regional European Championship YouTube channel (@fiaformularegionaleu) and broadcast by over 80 broadcasters worldwide, including ACI Sport TV. Where to watch.
