After losing victory in race one on Saturday through no fault of his own, Swiss racer Grégoire Saucy took a commanding win in race two at the Circuit Paul Ricard to extend his advantage at the top of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine standings.
Saucy had dominated race one from pole position but was disqualified for a technical infringement on Saturday, but he took pole position on Sunday morning before taking a lights-to-flag victory in France.
His race was made a little easier by main rival Hadrien David being forced to start from the pit lane after he encountered troubles getting away on the grid, and after fending off an attack from ART Grand Prix team-mate Gabriele Mini heading into turn one, Saucy was in a class of his own once more.
Unfortunately for Mini, he immediately appeared to lose pace and was passed with ease on the straight by Michael Belov and William Alatalo before entering the pits to retire. It ended a six-race scoring run for the 2020 Italian Formula 4 champion.
Saucy drew away from Belov, with the JD Motorsport driver also able to edge away from Arden Motorsport’s Alatalo. However, the Finn was unable to pull a gap to R-ace GP’s Isack Hadjar, although the Frenchman was unable to find a way to pass for the final spot on the podium.
FA Racing’s Andrea Rosso had by far his best race of the season so far, shadowing Alatalo and Hadjar before fending off the challenge of R-ace GP’s Zane Maloney to claim fifth, despite a late safety car making life difficult for the Italian.
Arden’s Nicola Marinangeli was the cause of the safety car, with the Italian spinning out. It looked as though the race would end behind the safety car for a second consecutive day, only for the marshals to do an excellent job in clearing up the track, which allowed a one-lap shootout to the chequered flag.
Behind Maloney, KIC Motorsport’s Patrik Pasma extended his run of good results by claiming seventh ahead of Prema Powerteam duo David Vidales and Paul Aron, while David claimed a remarkable tenth place despite starting from the pit lane.
The Frenchman, who inherited the race win on Saturday following Saucy’s disqualification, charged through the field and was running twelfth when the safety car was called upon. On the restart, he quickly deposed of Prema’s Dino Beganovic for eleventh before passing ART Grand Prix’s Thomas Ten Brinke with just a couple of corners remaining to claim tenth.
With podium finisher Belov again ineligible to score points due to being a guest driver, those inside the top ten all scored the points of the driver ahead of him, while Ten Brinke claimed the final point despite finishing eleventh.
However, no one had an answer all weekend for Saucy, and the Swiss racer now has a twenty-three-point advantage in the Drivers’ championship, with Maloney now second ahead of Hadjar and David. There is now a three week gap before FRECA returns, with the fifth round of the season taking place at Circuit Zandvoort in the Netherlands.
Circuit Paul Ricard Race 2 Result
POS. | NO. | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TIME/GAP |
1 | 26 | Grégoire Saucy | CHE | ART Grand Prix | 33:15.012 |
2 | 33 | Michael Belov | RUS | JD Motorsport | +0.739 |
3 | 8 | William Alatalo | FIN | Arden Motorsport | +1.358 |
4 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | FRA | R-ace GP | +1.663 |
5 | 19 | Andrea Rosso | ITA | FA Racing | +2.502 |
6 | 22 | Zane Maloney | BAR | R-ace GP | +2.956 |
7 | 5 | Patrik Pasma | FIN | KIC Motorsport | +3.406 |
8 | 12 | David Vidales | ESP | Prema Powerteam | +3.954 |
9 | 1 | Paul Aron | EST | Prema Powerteam | +4.265 |
10 | 10 | Hadrien David | FRA | R-ace GP | +5.290 |
11 | 23 | Thomas Ten Brinke | NED | ART Grand Prix | +5.702 |
12 | 17 | Dino Beganovic | SWE | Prema Powerteam | +6.513 |
13 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | ARG | MP Motorsport | +6.675 |
14 | 35 | Pietro Delli Guanti | ITA | Monolite Racing | +7.019 |
15 | 58 | Elias Seppänen | FIN | KIC Motorsport | +7.063 |
16 | 27 | Kas Haverkort | NED | MP Motorsport | +7.472 |
17 | 96 | Oliver Gøthe | DEN | MP Motorsport | +7.771 |
18 | 16 | Tommy Smith | AUS | JD Motorsport | +9.332 |
19 | 55 | Alessandro Famularo | VEN | G4 Racing | +10.234 |
20 | 62 | Lorenzo Fluxá | ESP | Van Amersfoort Racing | +10.760 |
21 | 71 | Brad Benavides | USA | DR Formula | +11.166 |
22 | 21 | Alex Quinn | GBR | Arden Motorsport | +11.409 |
23 | 41 | Emidio Pesce | ITA | DR Formula | +12.204 |
24 | 9 | Alexandre Bardinon | FRA | FA Racing | +12.900 |
25 | 72 | Bélen Garcia | ESP | G4 Racing | +13.222 |
26 | 7 | Axel Gnos | CHE | G4 Racing | +14.194 |
27 | 2 | Nico Göhler | GER | KIC Motorsport | +14.842 |
28 | 85 | Gabriel Bortoleto | BRZ | FA Racing | +14.939 |
29 | 91 | Eduardo Barrichello | BRZ | JD Motorsport | +16.370 |
30 | 15 | Léna Bühler | CHE | R-ace GP | +16.805 |
31 | 64 | Mari Boya | ESP | Van Amersfoort Racing | +19.592 |
RET | 51 | Francesco Pizzi | ITA | Van Amersfoort Racing | Retired |
RET | 14 | Nicola Marinangeli | ITA | Arden Motorsport | Retired |
RET | 13 | Jasin Ferati | CHE | Monolite Racing | Retired |
RET | 46 | Gabriele Mini | ITA | ART Grand Prix | Retired |