Emanuele Olivieri secured the 2026 FIA Formula Regional European Championship (FREC) title with second place in Race 2 at Hockenheim, completing a championship-winning season for R-ace GP in the final race of the year.
Sebastian Wheldon converted pole position into his fourth victory of the season for MP Motorsport, more than any other driver in 2026, and secured second place in the championship standings. His teammate Alexander Abkhazava completed the podium in third, while Yuki Sano finished fourth for R-ace GP.
Kean Nakamura-Berta endured a difficult finale after contact with Race 1 winner Jan Przyrowski dropped him out of second. The PREMA Racing driver was eventually promoted to sixth following Alex Ninovic’s post-race disqualification but fell to third in the championship, while Rashid Al Dhaheri finished outside the points to end his own title hopes.
Wheldon leads as early Safety Car interrupts start
With three of the four championship contenders starting from the first two rows, Wheldon made the most of pole position and retained the lead into the first corner. Nakamura-Berta held second from Przyrowski and Olivieri, putting the championship leader fourth during the opening exchanges.
The race was neutralised almost immediately when an incident in the midfield involving Maksimilian Popov, Tomass Stolcermanis and Saqer Almaosherji brought out the Safety Car. The interruption prevented Wheldon from building an early advantage and kept Nakamura-Berta directly behind him as the championship battle remained finely balanced.
After three laps behind the Safety Car, the race resumed with Wheldon still leading. Al Dhaheri began to make progress from 13th on the grid and climbed to ninth at the restart, keeping alive his outside chance of challenging for the championship.
Przyrowski contact drops Nakamura-Berta from second
The complexion of the title battle changed when Przyrowski attempted to challenge Nakamura-Berta for second. The pair made contact, sending the PREMA Racing driver down the order and allowing Olivieri and Abkhazava to move through into second and third.
The incident left Olivieri directly behind Wheldon and, more importantly, in a position that would be enough to secure the championship. Przyrowski was subsequently handed a 10-second penalty for causing the collision, while Nakamura-Berta was forced to begin recovering the positions he had lost.
Sano also took advantage of Nakamura-Berta’s setback and moved ahead of the PREMA driver to take fourth. Wheldon therefore continued to lead from Olivieri and Abkhazava, with Sano behind the leading trio as the race entered its second half.
Olivieri settles into championship-winning position
Olivieri gradually pulled more than two seconds clear of Abkhazava as the race settled down, giving the R-ace GP driver a comfortable margin behind as he focused on securing the result required for the championship. Wheldon remained in control at the front and was able to maintain his advantage over the Italian.
Behind them, Sano held fourth from Ninovic, while Salim Hanna and Nakamura-Berta followed. Nakamura-Berta was unable to recover the ground lost in the contact with Przyrowski, leaving Olivieri increasingly secure in his title-winning position as the laps counted down.
Al Dhaheri’s earlier recovery also stalled outside the points. Although the R-ace GP driver had made progress from 13th during the opening stages, he was unable to get close enough to the top 10 to keep his championship challenge alive.
Wheldon wins as Olivieri secures 2026 FREC title
Wheldon completed 18 laps to take his fourth victory of the season, crossing the line 0.895s ahead of Olivieri. The win gave the MP Motorsport driver more victories than anyone else during the 2026 campaign and secured him second place in the final championship standings.
Olivieri’s second place was enough to make him the 2026 FIA Formula Regional European champion. The 18-year-old added the overall crown to the Rookie title he had already secured at Imola and completed an outstanding final weekend for R-ace GP, which had wrapped up the Teams’ Championship on Saturday.
Abkhazava finished another 3.314s behind Olivieri to complete an MP Motorsport double podium, while Sano came home fourth. Ninovic initially crossed the line fifth for Rodin Motorsport, narrowly ahead of Hanna, Nakamura-Berta and Oleksandr Bondarev.
Ninovic disqualification promotes Hanna to fifth
The classification changed after the race when Ninovic was disqualified for a technical infringement. His exclusion promoted Hanna to fifth and Nakamura-Berta to sixth, although the revised result was still not enough for the PREMA Racing driver to retain second in the championship.
Bondarev moved up to seventh for Van Amersfoort Racing, while Lewis Wherrell was promoted to eighth on his debut for RPM. Marcus Sæter took ninth for G4 Racing and ART Grand Prix’s Kabir Anurag inherited the final points-paying position in 10th.
Al Dhaheri was promoted from 12th to 11th following Ninovic’s exclusion and therefore remained just outside the points. Miguel Costa finished 12th ahead of Przyrowski, whose 10-second penalty dropped the Race 1 winner to 13th after the contact with Nakamura-Berta.
The revised result brought the championship fight to a close after four drivers had entered the final race with a mathematical chance of taking the title. Olivieri emerged as champion, Wheldon’s victory lifted him to second overall and Nakamura-Berta finished the year third after his difficult finale.
2026 FREC Hockenheim Race 2 results
- #98 Sebastian Wheldon — MP Motorsport — 31:48.132
- #73 Emanuele Olivieri — R-ace GP — +0.895s
- #15 Alexander Abkhazava — MP Motorsport — +4.209s
- #12 Yuki Sano — R-ace GP — +12.885s
- #88 Salim Hanna — PREMA Racing — +15.720s
- #51 Kean Nakamura-Berta — PREMA Racing — +17.972s
- #11 Oleksandr Bondarev — Van Amersfoort Racing — +18.631s
- #99 Lewis Wherrell — RPM — +19.323s
- #67 Marcus Sæter — G4 Racing — +19.598s
- #19 Kabir Anurag — ART Grand Prix — +19.911s
- #71 Rashid Al Dhaheri — R-ace GP — +20.711s
- #5 Miguel Costa — RPM — +21.810s
- #8 Jan Przyrowski — RPM — +22.274s
- #4 Reza Seewooruthun — Rodin Motorsport — +23.394s
- #28 Zhenrui Chi — MP Motorsport — +24.575s
- #95 Alexandre Munoz — ART Grand Prix — +24.749s
- #55 Dion Gowda — Van Amersfoort Racing — +25.066s
- #23 Rahim Alibhai — G4 Racing — +26.365s
- #27 Mattéo Giaccardi — ART Grand Prix — +27.108s
- #78 Gabriel Gomez — Rodin Motorsport — +27.821s
- #7 Andrea Dupé — Van Amersfoort Racing — +28.119s
- #87 Kai Daryanani — Trident Motorsport — +28.727s
- #69 Reno Francot — CL Motorsport — +29.071s
- #24 Jules Roussel — CL Motorsport — +29.395s
- #46 Ary Bansal — CL Motorsport — +29.465s
Disqualified: #2 Alex Ninovic — Rodin Motorsport — technical infringement.
Not classified: Andrija Kostić, Tomass Stolcermanis, Maksimilian Popov and Saqer Almaosherji.
Penalty: Przyrowski received a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision.
Fastest lap: Rashid Al Dhaheri — 1:36.571 on Lap 18.
