Grégoire Saucy Dominates Race Two at Imola to Take First Career Single-Seater Victory

Grégoire Saucy led from start to finish to win for the first time in his single-seater career in race two of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine weekend at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari on Sunday.

The Swiss racer, racing with the ART Grand Prix team, did not put a foot wrong despite another eventful race that saw more safety car interventions and a long yellow flag at the end with a car stranded at the side of the road.

Saucy took the victory by 1.134 seconds from Prema Powerteam’s Paul Aron, with the Estonian having jumped a slow-starting Hadrien David off the line.  David slid towards the bottom of the top ten before he began his rise back through the pack and was able to finish fourth, just behind R-ace GP team-mate Zane Maloney, who took his first podium in third.

The safety car was needed on just the second lap as Monolite Racing’s Jasin Ferati spun off at Variante Villeneuve, ending a difficult weekend for the Swiss racer.

On the eighth lap, the safety car was needed again as Alex Quinn and Dino Beganovic fought for position.  Heading into turn nine, Beganovic appeared to understeer into the Arden driver, with both going into the gravel trap as a result.  Quinn was out on the spot while Beganovic took his Prema Powerteam machine into the pit lane.  Stewards deemed the incident a racing accident.

Whilst behind the safety car, Monolite Racing endured more trouble as their second driver, Italian racer Pietro Delli Guanti ground to a halt with what appeared to be a technical issue.

The race was lucky not to be affected by another safety car late on as Alexandre Bardinon (FA Racing) and Nico Göhler (KIC Motorsport) appeared to clash at Tosa, with both drivers retiring from the race as a result.  However, officials kept the track live and just waved yellow flags until the end of the race.

William Alatalo gave Arden something to cheer by moving from eleventh on the grid to finish deep inside the points in fifth, just ahead of Gabriele Mini of ART Grand Prix and race one winner David Vidales of Prema Powerteam.

Mari Boya took eighth for Van Amersfoort Racing, while Oliver Gøthe took his first points of the season for MP Motorsport in ninth, with KIC Motorsport’s Elias Seppänen doing likewise in tenth.

R-ace GP’s Isack Hadjar was running well inside the top ten only for a few mistakes dropping him outside the points to twelfth at the chequered flag, just behind FA Racing’s Gabriel Bortoleto.

Saucy’s victory also takes him to the top of the championship standings on thirty-five points, four ahead of Vidales, while Mini now takes top spot in the rookie standings. The season will continue in three weeks time with two more races at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain.

Race 2 Result