It follows a dramatic opening race in Germany this afternoon, which began with a first-corner collision between two championship chasers, Emanuele Olivieri and Sebastian Wheldon, who started on pole, and ended with 20 points covering the top four drivers and 28 points still up for grabs across Qualifying 2 and Race 2 tomorrow.
While Wheldon (MP Motorsport) dropped to the back of the field and eventually finished 22nd after he received a 10-second penalty for the opening-lap collision and a further five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an unfair advantage, Olivieri (R-ace GP) retired on the spot.
And with Kean Nakamura-Berta (Prema Racing) and Rashid Al Dhaheri (R-ace GP) finishing second and third respectively behind RPM’s maiden winner Przyrowski, the inaugural FIA FREC title chase has taken another twist.
Despite his early exit, Olivieri continues to top the provisional standings, albeit by a reduced margin of seven points over new second-placed driver Nakamura-Berta. Wheldon has slipped to third, 11 points behind Nakamura-Berta, with Al Dhaheri 20 points adrift of Olivieri.
Przyrowski’s victory continued an impressive Hockenheim weekend for the Polish racer, which included setting the pace in Friday practice and going second fastest in his group during Qualifying 1 this morning. Lining up on the second row, he seized the initiative early on and remained at the head of the pack for all 18 laps of Race 1.
“The team and I have shown really strong pace throughout the weekend,” Przyrowski said afterwards. “We have been at the sharp end since the start of the weekend, so I think we found something that worked particularly well here. I didn’t manage to put everything together in qualifying as I would have liked, but fighting for pole position for Race 2 is definitely possible. There are still a few things we need to work out, but our race pace was amazing.”
Wheldon kept his advantage off the line as Olivieri moved to the outside and drew alongside his American rival into Turn 1. But contact between the pair sent the Italian off the track and Wheldon to the rear. Tomass Štolcermanis profited initially before he slipped to fourth as Przyrowski, Nakamura-Berta and Alexandre Munoz (ART Grand Prix) overtook in that order.
Al Dhaheri ran fifth but pressured Štolcermanis for fourth when racing resumed after three laps behind the safety car.
Štolcermanis and Al Dhaheri’s battle for fourth became a battle for third when Munoz dropped back at the end of lap five. Štolcermanis then retired to the side of the track with two minutes remaining, promoting Al Dhaheri to third.
MP Motorsport’s Zhenrui Chi and Trident Motorsport’s Maksimilian Popov finished fourth and fifth respectively. Oleksandr Bondarev crossed the line in eighth place as the highest-ranked Rookie for Van Amersfoort Racing, behind RPM’s Miguel Costa and Prema Racing’s Salim Hanna. Rodin Motorsport duo Reza Seewooruthun and Alex Ninovic completed the top 10.
“It was a pretty chaotic race,” said Nakamura-Berta. “There was an incident ahead of me at the start, which helped me move through, and that put me in a good position. I was then able to use the slipstream to pass a few cars. Securing second place puts us in a strong position for tomorrow’s championship decider. The possibility of rain later in the day could make things even more interesting. We maximised our result today and will try to do the same tomorrow. We’ll give it everything.”
Al Dhaheri added: “I’m very happy because luck was on our side today. Considering the position we were in after free practice and qualifying, finishing on the podium is a great result. We were fortunate to come away from Race 1 with another opportunity to fight for the championship tomorrow. It will still be very difficult, but the possibility is now greater than it was before today’s race.”
Although the Drivers’ title remains undecided, R-ace GP can’t be caught in the Teams’ standings ahead of Sunday’s schedule, which begins with Qualifying 2 from 09:40 local time followed by Race 2 at 16:15. Watch the deciding action of the inaugural FIA FREC season live on YouTube.
FIA FREC explained
Taking over from the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA) for 2026, FIA FREC enjoys the full support of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, the global governing body for motor sport and the federation for mobility organisations worldwide.
Positioned one step above Formula 4 in the FIA Single-Seater Pyramid, FIA FREC, which is organised by FIA Member Club Automobile Club d’Italia (ACI), caters exclusively for the second-generation Formula Regional Tatuus T 326. All-new for 2026, the Pirelli-equipped car has been developed by the Italian constructor in partnership with the FIA and follows the aerodynamic philosophy deployed in Formula 1 to encourage closer racing. Its design also represents another step in terms of performance and safety.
The second-generation Formula Regional Tatuus T 326 features the new Race Mode push to pass system, which allows drivers to trigger full engine performance for a period of time when activated by a button pressed from inside the cockpit. The amount of time depends on how many times the button is pressed but each driver has a total of 100 seconds available per race. Race Mode’s introduction for the 2026 FIA FREC season is the result of extensive research and development managed by the FIA.
Click HERE for the provisional results.
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