The fifth round of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine took place at the Dutch track of Zandvoort. The Mallorcan driver Lorenzo Fluxá achieved a seventeenth position as his best result, finishing twentieth in the other race. Despite not having achieved the goal of reaching the top 10, Fluxá had a positive weekend, in which he continued to accumulate experience in this championship, where at 16 years old he is one of the youngest drivers.
The Zandvoort circuit, just twenty kilometres from the centre of Amsterdam, was completely new to Lorenzo Fluxá. Although his team, Van Amersfoort Racing, is located east of the Dutch capital, and the track is considered their home track, Lorenzo only knew it through the simulator.
Lorenzo, a 16 year old, who made his single-seater debut last season in an F4 car after a career in karting, this year faces a top level European Championship in the Formula Regional by Alpine. And getting results in this highly competitive event takes time.
The objective of the driver sponsored by LJs Ratxó Eco Luxury Retreat, Reserva Park-Serra de Tramuntana and K-Zero Cancún Real Estate, is to reach the top 10 in both qualifying and the race. At the beginning of the championship he achieved a thirteenth position in Imola and a fourteenth in Barcelona.
For various reasons, Fluxi was unable to achieve his goal in Monaco and Paul Ricard, the third and fourth rounds of the championship. For this reason, the Zandvoort race, the halfway point of the season, was key to his aspirations. Once again, some very close qualifying heats led him to start both races in the middle of the grid, which has more than thirty registered drivers. In the first race, Lorenzo was twentieth, but was unable to make his final attempt due to a red flag that ended the session three minutes early.
In the first race, starting 20th, Lorenzo dropped three positions on the first lap. On the next lap he made up one position to move up to 22nd behind Thomas Then Brinque (ART Grand Prix) and ahead of Brad Benavides (DR Formula). It was at the halfway point of the race when he moved up another place thanks to the retirement of Pietro Delli Guanti (Monolite Racing) to place twenty-first, still behind local rider Then Brinque, and with some advantage over Benavides. With eight minutes to go, the only safety car of the race was deployed. It was due to the accident of Patrik Pasma (KIC Motorsport). Thanks to this retirement Lorenzo moved up to twentieth position, a position he was able to maintain when the race resumed with three and a half minutes to go.
On Sunday, Lorenzo was seventeenth in qualifying. In the race, at the end of the first lap, the Van Amersfoort Racing rider was fifteenth. At that moment he was behind Hadrien David (R-ace GP) and ahead of Elias Seppanen (KIC Motorsport). For most of the race the cars were close together and overtaking in the intermediate zone where Lorenzo was was scarce. Behind, another Spaniard, David Vidales (Prema Powerteam), who had started 25th, was making up positions until the second half of the race when he was on the back of Seppanen. After some very tight laps, both Seppanen and Vidales passed Lorenzo when the latter, riding at the limit, went wide under braking. The Mallorcan finished the race seventeenth, the same place he had started from.
Lorenzo Fluxá: “Both qualifying sessions, the first one due to the red flag and the second one due to several Full Course Yellows prevented us from getting the best out of ourselves. It’s a great circuit, but perhaps too technical, which makes overtaking very difficult to achieve. I’m happy in a way because I’m gaining experience and I’m getting better and better every day, although I’m disappointed that I couldn’t show it with a good result. We are getting closer and closer to where we want to be and in terms of race pace we are at the level of the top ten, although as I say that in the end for one reason or another is not reflected in the standings”.
Zandvoort Classification
Race 1 (30’+1 lap)
1º- Gregoire Saucy (ART Grand Prix), 20 laps, 32’42”854
2º- Gabriele Mini (ART Grand Prix), 3”180
3- Hadrien David (R-ace GP), 3”865
4º- Paul Haron (Prema Powerteam), 4”831
5º- Franco Colapinto (MP Motorsport), 5”283
…
20º- Lorenzo Fluxá (Van Amersfoort Racing), 15”147
Race 2 (30’+ 1 lap)
1º- Gregoire Saucy (ART Grand Prix), 21 laps, 32’32”884
2º- Franco Colapinto (MP Motorsport), 1”023
3º- Gabriele Mini (ART Grand Prix), 6”752
4º- William Alatalo (Arden), 10”793
5º – Francesco Pizzi (Van Amersfoort Racing), 19”612
…
17º- Lorenzo Fluxá (Van Amersfoort Racing), 31”190
FORMULA REGIONAL EUROPA BY ALPINE CALENDAR
– Autodromo di Imola, 17-18 April
– Circuito de Barcelona, 8-9 May
– Mónaco, 22-23 May
– Le Castellet, 29-30 May
– Zandvoort, 19-20 June
– Spa, 24-25 July
– Nürburgring, 7-8 August
– Spielberg, 11-12 September
– Mugello, 9-10 October
– Autodromo di Monza, 30-31 October