De Palo's title chase fades in the first race at Monza

The decisive round for the Formula Regional European by Alpine title, held at Monza, featured a close duel for the title between Trident Motorsport’s Matteo De Palo and Freddie Slater, with the latter having only four points to make up, but everything went wrong on Saturday for the Roman driver. First, a less than perfect qualifying yielded seventh position, which became ninth on the grid due to a penalty. In race one, after a strong start and climbing from ninth to fifth, a collision at the first chicane damaged De Palo’s front wing, causing an off-track at the Ascari chicane a few laps later and forcing him to a stop in the pits to change the car’s front cone. De Palo thus found himself in the back of the pack, recovering to 11th place, but unfortunately, his dream of postponing the title fight until race two vanished. Slater won the race and crowned himself champion. Congratulations to him from the entire Trident squad.

Maurizio Salvadori's team applauds the excellent day of his other two drivers, Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi and Ruiqi Liu. The Thai driver, a brilliant fifth overall in qualifying, dropped to 22nd while trying to avoid a spin at the first chicane after the start. Extremely unlucky, Bhirombhakdi rolled up his sleeves and put together a sensational comeback that took him to ninth place overall. Liu also performed well, starting 11th, moving up to sixth on the first lap, and surviving the various battles to finish tenth and conquer the last available point.

Matteo De Palo: “It was a very disappointing day. Qualifying didn’t go as we hoped, even though we were always there at the front. Then came the penalty from the stewards. In the race I had a perfect start, I was already up to fifth, but at the first corner, unfortunately my teammate hit me from behind, pushing me into the car in front and breaking my front wing. I tried to recover as much as possible, but there wasn’t enough time. That’s how it went. Tomorrow we’ll try to finish the weekend in the best way possible”.

Ruiqi Liu: “Overall, I think it could have been a really good day. In qualifying, I was P11 until the last push, but I got a bit confused with the information and didn’t improve like the others who managed to use the grip better. In the race, I had a pretty good start, but after the first safety car restart, the car was slightly damaged, and I struggled a lot with my pace. I think it could have gone much better than what the result shows today.

Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi: “I’m very  disappointed, to be honest. After a promising qualifying in P5, I really hoped I could fight for the podium. About the Turn 1 incident, I think I could have dropped to last, but I tried to recover as much as possible and get back into the points. The pace was strong, so hopefully tomorrow will be better”.