Daizun Download: FREC Zandvoort - Round 2
2026 FIA Formula Regional European Championship Race Report - Circuit Zandvoort, Round 2
Credit: © Dutch Photo Agency
Qualifying 1
I started the weekend with good pace in Free Practice. I was placed in Group A for the opening qualifying session of the weekend, and it was immediately clear how competitive this field is at Zandvoort. The circuit doesn't give anything away, you have to fight for every tenth. I managed to find some improvement late in the session and finished 8th in my group, which put me in the middle of the pack overall. Pole across both groups went to Sebastian Weldon of MP Motorsport, who was the only driver to break the 1:30 barrier all session with a 1:29.943 - a sign of just how fine the margins are out here. The top 14 in Group A finished within a second of each other, which tells you everything about how close the new Tatuus T326 era is going to be.
Credit: © Dutch Photo Agency
Race 1
I started from 16th on the grid and set about working my way through the field. An incident with Kabir Anurag and Miguel Costa triggered a safety car in the first lap.
The race settled into an intense mid-pack battle fairly quickly, and I found myself in the thick of it alongside the likes of Jules Roussel, which made for some close and physical racing through the tight sections of the circuit. Sebastian Weldon controlled things from the front for MP Motorsport and was untouchable on the day. I crossed the line in 14th, not the result I was after, but a clean race and more laps under my belt on a circuit that demands real precision. Zandvoort is a difficult circuit to overtake even with push to pass. There's clear pace to extract and I'm confident we'll find it.
Credit: © Dutch Photo Agency
Qualifying 2
Another split-group session, and another tight battle in the midfield. I was showing green through the first sector on my final runs, which was encouraging. The frustration was not being able to string it all together in the middle sectors, which cost me the lap time I needed to push further up the order. I ended up 7th fastest in Group A. Kian Nakamura Berta took pole after a late surge following a red flag interruption caused by an incident for Gabriel Gomez at turn three. It was a disrupted session for everyone, but I was pleased with the direction the car was going.
Credit: © Dutch Photo Agency
Race 2
A chaotic race, but one I navigated well after starting from P17. The opening corner set the tone as Marcus Saeter took a trip through the gravel and Francisco Machego locked up, creating early drama before we'd even completed a lap. By the end of lap one I'd worked my way up to 14th, running behind Popov with Hanna close behind me. Lap two brought the biggest incident of the weekend, as a collision involving Giovanni Maschio and Kai Daryanani sent Andrija Kostić's car rolling at the chicane. Thankfully he was able to climb out unharmed, but a red flag was necessary to allow the recovery crew to safely crane all three cars clear of the circuit.
Credit: © Dutch Photo Agency
With 20 minutes back on the clock, we were racing again. I stayed focused and kept myself out of trouble through the restarts. I managed my tyres carefully through the safety car phases and stayed patient in the sprint to the flag, though it wasn't without a final scare most notably when Max Popov and Andrea Dupe came together and eliminated each other from the race. I had reserved some push to pass for the final laps but was unable to utilise it due to the safety car. I crossed the line in P12 to take a points finish, P10 was possible without a safety car. While I was hoping for a higher result, there are plenty of positives to carry into the next round.
