FRECA | 2025 Round 8 | Barcelona | Qualifying 1 | Slater edges out De Palo for pole - Motorsport

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Prema Racing’s Freddie Slater dominated Qualifying 1 in Barcelona to secure pole for the eighth round of FRECA in 2025, full report and results below.

Trident’s Matteo De Palo kicked off his weekend in Barcelona strongly, dominating Thursday’s Collective Testing by topping both sessions. Championship leader Freddie Slater wasn’t far behind in the first collective test, keeping the pressure on De Palo. Meanwhile, R-ace GP’s Enzo Deligny emerged as a strong contender, finishing just 0.244s off De Palo’s pace in the second collective test of the day. With the title fight intensifying, all eyes turn to Qualifying to see who will claim pole position for Race 1 later today.

Group A: Drivers from odd-numbered championship positions

The first group of drivers took to the track as the first 15 minute session ticked down. Drivers weaved down the main straight, trying to get their tyres up to temperature, as they continued on their preparatory laps.

First driver on a representative lap was G4 Racing’s Edu Robinson. The rookie set the benchmark with a 1:36.719 for the rest of the group to chase. Crossing the line next, the R-ace GP trio of Jin Nakamura, Akshay Bohra and Deligny were next to set a representative time. However, once again, Deligny led the trio to go to the top with a 1:36.035.

Chasing Deligny’s time, Slater crossed the line to go to the top with a 1:35.731. The Briton’s lap was enough to put three tenths between them. Slater’s teammate Rashid Al Dhaheri slotted himself into third with a 1:36.176. However, on their next laps, all drivers continued to find significant improvement. Nakamura improved to go second with a 1:35.843.

Pushing Al Dhaheri down, Saintéloc Racing’s Nikita Bedrin catapulted himself into third with a 1:35.685. As it stood, Slater, Deligny and Bedrin completed the top three. On his next lap, Slater improved once again with two purples sectors to extend his lead out in front with a 1:35.250. However, Deligny’s final lap just wasn’t enough to dethrone Slater. The Frenchman was forced to settle for second.

Results for Group A in Qualifying 1:

Freddie Slater 1:35.250
Enzo Deligny
Jin Nakamura
Nikita Bedrin
Rashid Al Dhaheri
Akshay Bohra
Edu Robinson
Michael Belov
Kanato Le
Saqer Al Maosherji
Yuanpu Cui
Giovanni Maschio
Edouard Borgna

Group B: Drivers from even-numbered championship positions

The final 15 minutes ticked down as De Palo led the group out on track. Similar to Group A, drivers were seen weaving down the straights on preparatory laps, trying to get their tyres up to temperature.

Crossing the line first, De Palo was the first driver on a representative lap. The Italian was lighting up the timing sheets, setting a purple first sector before his teammate Nandhavud Bhirobhakdi took it away. The Italian crossed the line with a 1:35.589, setting the benchmark for his group to chase. Next across the line, Bhirombhakdi slotted behind De Palo in second with a 1:35.913.

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Pedro Clerot soon split the two Trident’s as he crossed the line with a 1:35.84. On his next lap, De Palo found some improvement to extend his lead out in front with a 1:35.359. Like De Palo, Bhirombhakdi joined his teammate to move himself up into second with a 1:35.565. However, it wasn’t long before Clerot split the Two Tridents once again.

ART Grand Prix’s Evan Giltaire finally put a decent lap together to go fourth with a 1:35.705. With a minute left on the clock, De Palo lit up the timing screens once more with a 1:35.279, but it ultimately wasn’t enough to secure overall pole position.