Mini Rebounds From Race One Penalty To Take Maiden FRECA Victory in Second Imola Race

Gabriele Mini put the disappointment of losing out on his maiden Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine victory due to a penalty on Saturday to finally stand on the top step of the podium in race two at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari on Sunday.

The ART Grand Prix driver was adjudged to have jumped the start on Saturday, with the subsequent ten-second time penalty relegating him from first place on the road to twenty-eighth in the final result.

However, after claiming pole position for Sunday’s race, he did not put a foot wrong despite a race full of disruptions, including a red flag and mid-race downpour.

Rain before the race had seen drivers go to the grid on wet weather tyres, but with the track drying, everyone started on the dry weather tyres, albeit behind the safety car due to the track being wetter on one side of the grid compared to the other.

After two laps behind the safety car, racing finally got underway on lap three, with Mini getting a superb jump on second placed Tim Tramnitz, the Trident driver having impressed in Qualifying earlier in the day to join the Italian on the front row.

It was not long though before Tramnitz was falling down the order, with race one winner Dino Beganovic passing the German around the outside heading into Tamburello, before Michael Belov did likewise at Rivazza.

Kas Haverkort was also a man on the move, with the Van Amersfoort Racing driver passing R-ace GP’s Gabriel Bortoleto for fifth before becoming the latest driver to pass Tramnitz for fourth.

However, the race was soon neutralised by a red flag after a sudden downpour saw Pietro Delli Guanti spin on the run down to Tamburello.  He appeared to be helped into the spin by Prema Racing’s Paul Aron, and he was turned into the path of the Estonian’s team-mate Sebastián Montoya, who ran into the Italian’s car and found himself launched into the air and into the gravel trap.

Behind the safety car, the majority of the field switched to the wet tyres for the restart, and Mini was able to ease away from the chasing pack, which was led by Beganovic.  Tramnitz’s fall through the field continued as he fell behind Bortoleto, Hadrien David and Aron before the chequered flag.

Haverkort pressurised Belov and forced the MP Motorsport driver into a mistake to jump into third, with both Bortoleto and David also finding a way ahead.  However, the safety car was called with the clock running down to zero after Victor Bernier was turned around at Tamburello.

Mini led the field to the line ahead of Beganovic and Haverkort, however, the Spaniard was later disqualified from third due to a technical infringement, which gave Bortoleto the final spot on the podium.

David was moved up to fourth ahead of Belov, Aron and Tramnitz, with Trident’s Leonardo Fornaroli, Monolite Racing’s Maceo Capietto and Van Amersfoort Racing’s Joshua Dufek completing the points scorers.

Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari Race 2 Result

POS.	NO.	DRIVER	NAT	TEAM	TIME/GAP
1	46	Gabriele Mini	ITA	ART Grand Prix	52:44.263
2	18	Dino Beganovic	SWE	Prema Racing	+0.262
3	85	Gabriel Bortoleto	BRZ	R-ace GP	+0.874
4	26	Hadrien David	FRA	R-ace GP	+1.077
5	30	Michael Belov		MP Motorsport	+1.257
6	3	Paul Aron	EST	Prema Racing	+1.752
7	70	Tim Tramnitz	GER	Trident	+2.548
8	72	Leonardo Fornaroli	ITA	Trident	+2.683
9	5	Macéo Capietto	FRA	Monolite Racing	+3.134
10	13	Joshua Dufek	CHE	Van Amersfoort Racing	+3.451
11	16	Lorenzo Fluxá	ESP	R-ace GP	+3.685
12	10	Joshua Dürksen	PAR	Arden Motorsport	+3.899
13	42	Laurens van Hoepen	NED	ART Grand Prix	+4.847
14	4	Roman Bilinski	POL	Trident	+5.157
15	19	Noel León	MEX	Arden Motorsport	+7.181
16	92	Owen Tangavelou	FRA	G4 Racing	+7.561
17	91	Eduardo Barrichello	BRZ	Arden Motorsport	+9.210
18	77	Dilano van ‘t Hoff	NED	MP Motorsport	+10.521
19	68	Santiago Ramos	MEX	KIC Motorsport	+11.145
20	9	Esteban Masson	FRA	FA Racing	+12.990
21	64	Mari Boya	ESP	ART Grand Prix	+13.137
22	11	Levente Révész	HUN	Van Amersfoort Racing	+13.574
23	21	Patrick Pasma	FIN	KIC Motorsport	+14.797
24	28	Francesco Braschi	ITA	KIC Motorsport	+15.013
25	65	Keith Donegan	IRE	Race Performance Motorsport	+15.865
26	35	Nicolás Baptiste	COL	FA Racing	+16.010
27	6	Pietro Armanni	ITA	Monolite Racing	+17.024
28	8	Matías Zagazeta	PER	G4 Racing	+18.979
29	7	Axel Gnos	CHE	G4 Racing	+19.372
30	24	Cenyu Han	CHN	Monolite Racing	+21.847
31	88	Hamda Al Qusaibi	UAE	Prema Racing	+29.148
32/RET	12	Victor Bernier	FRA	FA Racing	+2 Laps/Retired
RET	55	Pietro Delli Guanti	ITA	Race Performance Motorsport	Retired
RET	58	Sebastián Montoya	COL	Prema Racing	Retired
DSQ	27	Kas Haverkort	NED	Van Amersfoort Racing	Disqualified
DNS	17	Sami Meguetounif	FRA	MP Motorsport	Did Not Start