The Formula Regional European Championship took the stage at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for its penultimate round of the season. One driver delivered a statement performance, while both titles were decided with still two races to go. 

By Francesca Brusa

Wharton dominates in Barcelona

The Prema driver from Australia seems to have a particular affinity with the Catalan race track. Despite not being at the top of the timesheets in either of the collective tests, James Wharton brought home both pole positions and both race wins in Barcelona. 

The Australian racer has a history of success at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, being victorious three of the five times he has competed there.

Having taken the chequered flag 6.5 and 5.3 seconds ahead of his nearest competitors in races one and two, respectively, Wharton made a statement with his performance, highlighting the strong form he has been showcasing since the return of the series at Imola.

The driver in red bagged the maximum number of points available for the weekend and leapt to second in the standings, displacing Ferrari-backed Tuukka Taponen and almost threatening teammate Rafael Câmara’s run for the title.

Câmara crowned 2024 FR Europe champion

With a visit to the lowest step of the podium in race one and a fourth-place finish in race two, Câmara scored just enough points to bring home the title of 2024 FR Europe champion. The Brazilian driver achieved this result with one round still to go and two races to be contested. 

Since the first event of the series at Hockenheim, Câmara has established himself as the dominant force of the campaign. Snatching the record for most pole positions in FR Europe history at Imola, and taking six wins out of 18 races, the Prema Racing driver became the ideal successor to the throne of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, after being his teammate in his championship-winning season.

It wasn’t an easy road for the Brazilian racer to follow. The series’ round at Hungaroring almost seemed to have opened the title fight to fellow Ferrari junior Taponen. A few too many mistakes from the two drivers kept the fire burning, but it was Câmara who held up the trophy at the end of the day. 

Prema Racing secures the team title

After a good haul of points in race one, which saw two Prema drivers on the podium, the Italian outfit could claim the title of 2024 FR Europe team champions. For the third time in a row, the Grisignano di Zocco-based squad is number one in the standings, with an unbridgeable 181-point lead over Van Amersfoort Racing.

As it lays, Prema Racing could even bag a 1-2 finish in the championship. The crown has already been handed to Câmara, who marked a total of 266 points on the board. His teammate Wharton, however, follows him just out of reach, with 206 points to his name. The Australian needs to keep Taponen at bay, who sits third with 196 points, if he wants to achieve second-place in the series.

Ugo Ugochukwu, on the other hand, contributed 45 points to the total, having scored on only eight occasions. The American driver has had a best finish of third place, achieved in race two at the Hungaroring. 

A different picture

On the edge of the break that split the 2024 FR Europe season in half, a very different scenario to the one presented to us right now was forming.

Coming off the back of three consecutive wins between Budapest and Mugello, Taponen was dangerously threatening Câmara’s dominance, mathematically two wins away from taking the top of the standings. Since Paul Ricard, the Finnish driver has scored only 46 points due to his constant involvement in incidents and out-of-the-points finishes. 

During the second race in Barcelona, Taponen was tagged by Saintéloc Racing’s Matteo De Palo, and saw his hopes of still being in the fight for the championship vanish before the first lap was even completed. 

The driver that triggered that incident was Brando Badoer, who was given a ten-second penalty for causing a collision. The Italian was another protagonist in the first half of the season. Before Imola, he had been collecting a streak of podiums that allowed him to hold steadily to third in the standings. Since then, Badoer has returned to the podium only once in race two at the Red Bull Ring, and has dropped to fifth in the championship.

Leading him by only three points is Alessandro Giusti. After winning a wet race two on home soil at Paul Ricard, the Frenchman went on to secure another triumph in similar conditions in Imola. A heavy DNF in race two in Austria was enough to put an end to Giusti’s hope to re-enter the title fight, and not even two podium finishes in the last two rounds could salvage the situation in which the ART driver found himself in.

He is currently fourth in the standings, less than 20 points behind a still competitive, yet hopelessly unlucky Taponen. 

The Formula Regional European Championship will be back for its season finale, alongside Italian F4, in The Temple of Speed, Monza, 25-27 October. 

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency