PREMA Racing and Rafael Camara extended their championship lead in round 7 of the 2024 Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine at Imola, as the series came back from its summer break. The Brazilian started from pole position on Saturday and dominated the field to take a sensational win. Even a 5-second penalty for a false start was not enough to demote him from P1.

Ahead of Race 2, Camara posted his 10th FRECA pole position. Unfortunately, he was punted out at the first corner. After restarting and requeueing during a safety car, he stormed back to the points zone to finish in P9, mastering the wet conditions.

James Wharton had a positive weekend too. In Race 1, he started from the fourth position and kept the same spot until the end in a clean run. In Race 2, the Australian then delivered a fine recovery. Starting from the seventh spot after qualifying fourth in Group B, he vaulted to another podium finish in P3, managing the start and re-starts from two lengthy safety car situations, one of which took the race to its completion.

Ugo Ugochukwu faced a challenging weekend but rebounded to a top-5 at the end of Race 2. Starting from P16 in Race 1, the American concluded in P15. In the second race, he started from P12 and fought back to a valuable fifth-place finish in tough conditions.

The Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine will be back in one week at Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.

3 UGO UGOCHUKWU

“Not a bad weekend overall in Imola. Saturday was a bit tricky because qualifying was not the best, but we made some progress in the race although not enough to make it to the points. Sunday was better. We still had a tough qualy, but we managed to come through in the race in wet conditions. The pace was great so we managed to go from outside the top 10 all the way to P5, which is good points. Big thanks to the whole team. It will be a doubleheader, so we try to focus and gather more points next weekend in Red Bull Ring.”

Qualifying 1: P8 Gr. B
Starting position Race 1: P16
Qualifying 2: P6 Gr. B
Starting position Race 2: P12
Fastest lap: 1:40.390
Race 1: P15
Fastest lap: 1:40.621
Race 2: P5

5 RAFAEL CAMARA

“It was a very good weekend here in Imola. We were really fast since FP1, and we kept improving. Qualifying was extremely strong and we need to keep it like that, working hard to improve further. It was good to have a victory in the first race. Unfortunately, we had a T1 crash in Race 2, but we managed to make a good recovery and claim two points for the championship. Now we focus on Red Bull Ring. It’s good to be back there. The goal as always is to do the best we can as a team and for sure that will pay off.”

Qualifying 1: P1 Gr. A
Starting position Race 1: P1
Qualifying 2: P1 Gr. A
Starting position Race 2: P1
Fastest lap: 1:39.414
Race 1: P1
Fastest lap: 1:39.171
Race 2: P9

13 JAMES WHARTON

“This weekend we came away with two podiums and the best result of the season in terms of points even if at times we didn’t quite have the pace, so we have to be really happy. We need to try and find some more pace for Red Bull Ring to see if we can keep on this consistent run. We already have five podiums, we need to keep going and get more wins before the end of the season.”

Qualifying 1: P3 Gr. A
Starting position Race 1: P4
Qualifying 2: P4 Gr. A
Starting position Race 2: P7
Fastest lap: 1:39.691
Race 1: P3
Fastest lap: 1:39.759
Race 2: P3

Source | Photo: PREMA Racing