With second place in Race 1 at Spa De Palo becomes championship leader

The positive moment of Trident and Matteo De Palo in the Formula Regional European by Alpine continues. After the victory and third place achieved in the first round of the season in Misano, on the Belgian circuit of Spa, the stage of round 2, De Palo achieved another podium in the first race of the weekend as he crossed the line in second. An exceptional result for Maurizio Salvadori's team, which projects De Palo to the top of the championship’s overall standings.

Qualifying session 1 was cancelled following an accident without consequences for the driver Saqer Al Maosherji. As a consequence, the positions of the starting grid of the first race were based on the results of the first free practice session. De Palo thus found himself fourth, Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi eighth and Ruiqi Liu twentieth. 

In the race, De Palo immediately moved up to third, then after a long duel with Enzo Deligny, he managed to move up to second, a position he maintained until the checkered flag. Bhirombhakdi was in ninth position when he was pushed off the track by an opponent, finishing only 17th just ahead of Liu, 18th.

Matteo De Palo:“We were unlucky because for the starting grid, the results of FP were taken, a session in which we tried different things on the car without thinking about pushing too much, as instead happened in the second session. But that's how it is, I still started from the fourth spot on the second row and the race was a mental challenge in order to maintain the tires and the push to pass. I dueled with Deligny, then when the time came I managed to pass him easily, creating a good safety gap for the last lap.”