It’s Aron as Beganovic stumbles
The Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine will be decided at Mugello this weekend after points-leading Ferrari protege Dino Beganovic had a messy penultimate round at Barcelona. The Swede qualified 11th and 10th for the two races and finished in those positions too, while Prema team-mate Paul Aron took a lights-to-flag success in race one and R-ace GP’S Gabriel Bortoleto did the same in race two.
Mercedes junior Aron claimed pole in Saturday qualifying with a late lap in a session where the full 35-car field ran together due to a fog-caused delay. The Estonian started race one strongly and looked to have victory wrapped up halfway through. But hot temperatures led to tyre degradation, and Aron came under late pressure from R-ace’s Hadrien David, who had cleared Dilano van’t Hoff and Eduardo Barrichello, second and third in qualifying.
David tried passing Aron around the outside of Turn 1 with a few laps remaining but could not get by, and Aron tried breaking the tow down the pitstraight each time. He managed to hold on to victory, by just 0.147 seconds, with MP Motorsport driver van’t Hoff completing the podium.
Behind fourth-placed Kas Haverkort, Gabriele Mini also reduced Beganovic’s points lead by finishing fifth.
Bortoleto earned pole on Sunday by topping the faster group. Alongside him was Lamborghini young driver Pierre-louis Chovet, with David and Aron behind.
Aron encountered drama straight away when Haverkort tried going between him and Owen Tangavelou down the pitstraight and ended up riding the rear wheels of both, sending Tangavelou into retirement. That instigated a safety car, after which Bortoleto pulled away before David then closed in as tyre management again became a factor.
David was fighting Bortoleto for the lead when Victor Bernier crashed out in a clash with Beganovic, who was reprimanded for earlier contact, and the safety car was sent out for the remaining laps. Chovet was third, with Aron in fourth.
Beganovic now leads by 38 points over Mini, who finished seventh, with Aron and David also title contenders.