Under the scorching Hockenheim sun, Sebastian Wheldon made a crucial statement in the Formula Regional Europe title fight. The MP Motorsport driver secured pole position for the weekend's first race, also earning two valuable points that slashed the gap to his main rival.
Wheldon's time of 1:34.353 from the first session was enough to beat Emanuele Olivieri, who topped Group B, by a mere 0.071 seconds. With the two points for pole, Wheldon now trails Olivieri by 18 points ahead of Saturday's race.
Group A saw a fierce battle. Trident's Maksimilian Popov initially led with a 1:35.147, but Al Dhaheri and Wheldon traded the top spot. Wheldon lost time when his lap was deleted, but he bounced back to reclaim P1 on his eighth lap with a purple third sector. RPM's Przyrowski closely followed in second, while Popov and Al Dhaheri had to settle for third and fourth.
In Group B, Olivieri immediately showed his pace with a 1:34.665 on his fifth lap. He improved further before opting to cool his tyres for a final attack. However, his last two flying laps didn't yield improvement, and he narrowly missed out to Wheldon. Prema's Stolcermanis took second in the group, followed by Nakamura-Berta who overtook Miguel Costa.
With this result, Wheldon not only secures the front spot but also applies psychological pressure on Olivieri. Saturday's race will be the true test for both drivers in their championship pursuit.
On the other hand, debutant Oleksandr Bondarev had to settle for 10th after never featuring among the leaders. Meanwhile, Lewis Wherrell, substituting for Giovanni Maschio at RPM, finished 13th in his group. Maschio himself was absent due to ELMS commitments, ending his streak of 77 consecutive races since the start of 2023.
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