The first round of Formula Regional Europe at Hockenheim saw multiple surprises, including the Van Amersfoort rookies fighting for podium positions. Few had the team on their radars for the championship ahead of the 2024 season, but after the first round it seems they have a realistic chance of fighting Prema and R-ace GP for the teams’ championship this year.

By Finjo Muschlien

A short review

Van Amersfoort found themselves in the midfield of both collective tests ahead of the first race day of the season, at least on the results sheet. Given the team’s inexperienced line-up, they were expected to be in the midfield in the two qualifying and races as well, however, they proved otherwise. 

The first competition was qualifying 1 on Saturday morning. Pedro Clerot finished fifth in group A, whilst Ivan Domingues and Brando Badoer finished fourth and sixth in group B. Per FRECA’s qualifying format, Domingues started the first race from eighth, Clerot from ninth and Badoer from 12th. 

In the first race, which took place later that day, Van Amersfoort underlined their strength again and converted it into solid results on paper. Italian driver Badoer finished the race in fourth, after fighting his way through the field, and completing a switchback manoeuvre on teammate Domingues going into the hairpin with just two minutes to go. Domingues finished the race behind him in fifth, while Clerot crossed the line in 13th. 

The results on Sunday were even more impressive. Domingues topped group B and set the fastest lap time of the two groups, which initially put him on provisional pole position for the race later that day. Badoer finished fourth in the same group and Clerot finished second in group A.

However, multiple laps were reinstated after the session, which meant that Domingues lost his pole position and started the second race from fourth, while Clerot started from fifth and Badoer from 10th. Finding Van Amersfoort drivers in the top ten after qualifying is no surprise and happened on several occasions in 2023. However, what did not happen in 2023 was having all three drivers qualify the top 10. The team always had at least one driver qualifying 18th or lower in 2023, but this streak ended already on Saturday.

The second race saw multiple safety car periods and just a handful of laps with green flag running. Domingues had a great start and moved up to third, whilst further behind, Badoer already moved up to fifth position on the opening lap. Clerot, however, hit Prema driver James Wharton going into the hairpin on the opening lap, which dropped him to seventh position, before the first safety car was brought out. On the restart, Badoer lost his fifth position to Théophile Naël, but would eventually regain it to finish in fifth. 

This result meant the first podium finish for Domingues in just his third career round of FRECA. The Portuguese driver now finds himself in third of the drivers’ championship with 25 points, level on points with Evan Giltaire in second. Badoer is behind Domingues in fourth with 22 points and Clerot sits in ninth with eight points. In the teams’ championship, Van Amersfoort find themselves in second with 47 points, just 11 points behind leaders Prema. R-ace GP, who were undoubtedly Prema’s only challenger in 2023, currently sit in third with 33 points. 

What the team had to say

Following the second race, Feeder Series spoke to Domingues, Clerot and team manager Daniëlle Geel about whether they expected such a promising result from the weekend.

“We spent a lot of time in the workshop during the winter to improve the team and the drivers, to prepare them for the new season,” said Daniëlle Geel. “Also, because they are coming from the Formula 4 championship, so they are all rookies. We really put some time and effort in the drivers to prepare them for this car, even though it’s both Tatuus cars.” 

Clerot was unsurprisingly happy about the team’s strong looking package after finishing sixth in race two. “Overall, yes, I think we did a good job during the winter, and we worked hard, and we managed to find a good balance. This is not a big surprise,” he said to Feeder Series.

However, he did not feel the same with his own performances that weekend. “I am not very happy with the weekend to be honest. [The] speed was there but we were really unlucky in the races with both contacts. I mean it’s the first round, people try to be a hero sometimes and sometimes it doesn’t work. Speed is there, I don’t see why we cannot continue like this but it’s unfortunate to not show our full potential. I truly believe we could have fought for podiums now.”

Despite the self-disappointment for Clerot, team manager Geel was far happier about his performances. “He was not used to European tracks until the winter tests,” she said. “So during the winter test was most of the time his first time [on a new track]. That he is now already fighting in the top 10 is insane. I really like to see that improvement of the drivers.”

She is indeed right about the drivers’ improvements. Not only from weekend debutant Clerot, but also from his teammates Badoer and especially Domingues. Few people had the Portuguese driver on their radars and given his lower midfield finishes in the four races he did in FRECA in 2023, his turnaround is quite impressive. 

“I mean, we rushed quite a bit last year to try and get the last rounds in different categories, which was good in the end for the experience,” Domingues explained to Feeder Series. “We had a lot of testing during the winter and managed to get everything together and pace is looking really good. I just spent a lot of time together with the team and worked really hard and on every little detail and in the end, it’s starting to pay off so I’m really happy for it.”

Team manager Geel looked at Badoer’s performances with a very similar view. “We knew of course Ivan and Brando, they were driving already with us in Formula 4, but I personally didn’t know them that well and now I see already from the winter break to now that they improved a lot, and I cannot wait to see them grow during the rest of the season.”

2024 also marks the first time that Geel has had to manage a team full of rookies, not just inside the cars but in general within the team.

“Well, I have never had this before to be honest, but I really like it. I really like the way they [the drivers] are seeing things and how they learn things, but also how they improve. A big part of the team changed over the winter, with new people, which is obviously nice because it’s not only like a junior series for drivers but it’s also a junior series for upcoming mechanics and upcoming engineers, so we spent a lot of time in training them and guiding them in the right direction, so that is obviously one of the things that has been changed compared to last year. But still, I am really happy with the team performances overall this weekend, because this was the first weekend together.”

An outlook for 2024

The opening round of the 2024 season looked extremely promising for Van Amersfoort and they find themselves ahead of R-ace GP after the first round, so do team manager and drivers expect to be fighting for the title this year?

“It’s hard to say, I mean, after this weekend I am quite confident that we have a good package. If we continue like this, I don’t see why not.”, Clerot said to Feeder Series. Perhaps even more optimistic is Domingues, who confidentially answered the question with “Yeah! As you can see, we can.

Their team manager Geel, however, remains cautious about early expectations. “It’s always dangerous to say because we just had the first race weekend,” she explained. “But I think the collective tests also looked promising and now also this weekend, the pace was there. Hopefully we can continue with this pace. And then of course, that’s why we are here, we are fighting for the championship but let’s see how the upcoming races go and then I give you a better review.”  

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency

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