Zandvoort – Race 1: Slater brilliant winner, Giltaire and Deligny in the top 5

With a best time of 1:33.443, Pedro Clerot (VAR) managed to take pole position for the first time this season, beating Freddie Slater to the post by 15 thousandths of a second. Ultimately, the British driver's excellent start was quickly rewarded. From third on the grid, the Italian F4 champion first tried to pass on the left, before cutting back to the right, taking every risk in front of traffic, in the middle of the track. Tenacious, Slater got the better of his opponent, then opened up a gap with the rest of the grid. Despite two race interruptions, the Briton managed to restart twice in fine style, and ultimately won the race. At this stage, when the driver manages to finish a race, victory or second place awaits him at the very least at the finish.

While Pedro Clerot and Bohra Akshay (R-ace GP) managed to complete the podium, two French riders followed in their footsteps. Fourth and fifth at the start, Enzo Deligny and Evan Giltaire simply swapped positions throughout the race, without benefiting from any opportunities to significantly move up the order later on. Just behind them, however, Matteo De Palo (Trident) and Hiyu Yamakoshi (VAR) battled it out, but the Italian was the stronger rider and finished this first race of the weekend in sixth place in the standings.

Pine in difficulty, many abandonments to deplore

Like this Saturday morning, the other Italians in the field did not experience the same success as the current championship leader. In addition to the retirements of Édouard Borgna (G4 Racing) and Aditya Kulkarni (AKCEL), who were in contact from the first lap, Nikita Bedrin (Saintéloc Racing) and Giovani Maschio (RPM) once again experienced misfortunes. In the same place as during qualifying, Bedrin stopped his car for a presumably similar mechanical problem. The unfortunate driver is the subject of a post-race investigation. As for Maschio, contact with the wall on the approach to the final lap caused him to lose his front wing, preventing him from finishing the race.

Finally, on the side of Dorian Pin, this new FRECA weekend is definitely not bringing her any more success. The Frenchwoman, in the fight for the title in F1 Academy finished the race in 20th place. It didn't seem able to move up after a qualifying session in which it was already struggling to make its mark.

The pilot supported by Mercedes Like the other entrants, they will meet tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. (French time) to qualify again for the second race at Zandvoort. This will start at 13:30 p.m. this Sunday.

FRECA – Zandvoort
Race 1 – Ranking