Right after Imola, FR Europe headed straight into a second weekend of racing at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. The alternation between dry and wet conditions tricked even the most experienced championship contenders, and fortunate circumstances led to an unexpected and thrilling first win. 

By Francesca Brusa

Wharton wins race one from pole

A double podium finish at the series’ last event enabled Prema Racing driver James Wharton to keep his championship chances alive. Maintaining his strong performances, the Australian set the fastest lap during the second session of collective testing and brought home pole position in qualifying one.

Wharton then went on to win the first race of the weekend despite mixed conditions that contributed to several incidents and four laps under safety car conditions. He also faced pressure from ART Grand Prix’s Alessandro Giusti and Evan Giltaire, who were fighting him for the top step of the podium.

Having added a fifth-place finish in race two, the Australian racer in the Italian outfit now sits fourth in the standings with 156 points, displacing wet-weather master Giusti, who was taken out of race two.

Naël brings home sensational first win for Saintéloc Racing

On Sunday, the second round of qualifying was characterised by a change in the conditions that helped Group B set laps significantly faster than those of Group A. RPM’s Noah Strømsted took pole position by seven tenths of a second, but his reign was soon over when he lost the lead at the start of race two. 

The driver that crashed the Dane’s party was Théophile Naël. Saintéloc Racing was victorious for the first time in the series’ history, and La Marseillaise rang throughout the curves of the Red Bull Ring.

Not only did the Frenchman celebrate his first win in FR Europe, but he also took his first top-three finish of the season, bagging 25 precious championship points and moving himself from 16th to 12th in the standings. 

Double zeros for Câmara and Taponen

The weather of the Styrian late summer was a significant obstacle to the two main championship contenders. Both Rafael Câmara and Tuukka Taponen left the home of F1’s Austrian Grand Prix without adding a single point to their tallies. 

A four-place grid drop carried over from Imola sent Taponen to the tenth row at the start of race one, but the Finnish driver only managed to knock on the door of the top 10 and took the chequered flag in 12th.

The R-ace GP racer was then a helpless victim of an incident with Valerio Rinicella in the early stages of race two, and he once again failed to score any points.

Despite starting on the fourth row for race one, Câmara tumbled down the order after a slow start and only recovered to 11th. The Prema Racing driver started from fourth in race two but lost his front wing after making contact with Zachary David on lap two.

He was then handed a five-second post-race penalty for causing a collision with Enzo Deligny on on the way to the pits, which dropped the Brazilian from eighth to 16th and left him with no points despite his recovery drive.

These non-scores helped the last three drivers still in mathematical title contention – namely Brando Badoer, Wharton and Giusti – to dream about a possible change to what seemed like a sealed fate.

Rookies in the spotlight

The events of the Austrian round left space for several rookies to shine.

With his podium finish in race one, Giltaire took his third rookie win of the season and briefly led the championship in his category. It was Strømsted, however, who snatched the rookie lead from him by crossing the line second in race two. 

The first race of the weekend also saw Saintéloc Racing’s Enzo Peugeot get his best result of the season with a fifth-place finish. For his part, Rinicella also put his first points on the board, taking the chequered flag in sixth at the end of race one.

At present, Strømsted is atop the rookie standings with 102 points, but Giltaire is only 15 points away.

FR Europe will be back next weekend for its penultimate round, held 27–29 September in sunny Barcelona, alongside the Italian F4 Championship.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency