Fresh from the Singaporean summer, one thing was evident the moment Akshay Bohra sat down to speak with Pit Debrief—the confidence he brought in. The Indian-American driver, who calls The Lion City his home, has been in more places than one this 2025 Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA) season. The most memorable place, so far, was being at the top step of the podium at Imola’s Race 2, achieving both his first pole position and victory in one weekend.
Winning in Imola wasn’t a miracle for Bohra. The combination of familiarity, a good package courtesy of R-ace GP, and lessons of the past brought him to where he is now—a first-time FRECA race winner for India.
Putting on new team gear for the season
2025 marked a change in the trajectory of Bohra’s career, joining R-ace GP for their Formula Regional Middle East Championship (FRMEC) and FRECA campaigns respectively. Prior to joining the French team, he competed in Italian F4 under US Racing. “Obviously, it was a new team for me coming in this year,” he explained, “I worked with them throughout the winter, and we had a few tests together in the past, so it wasn’t a massive transition, to be honest.”
One aspect Bohra highlighted was having a good and tight-knit relationship with the core members of his team. “I definitely think the relationship I have in the team, especially with the team around me, being me, my engineer, my coach, and everyone else who helps me in my management, has been really strong, and is really coming together well the last few rounds.”
“I’d say, especially me and my engineer have a really close connection, and I think it does make a difference,” the Indian-American pointed out. This approach proved effective for him, such as his victory in FRMEC at Abu Dhabi.
The transition from FRMEC to FRECA
Now in the main FRECA campaign, Bohra carries over his learnings from the FRMEC. Asked on any important lessons over the course of the championship, the Indian-American driver looked back at his progress.
“I think, yeah, FRMEC, I struggled a lot, it’s no surprise. And there are a lot of things that I wasn’t doing correctly, and not only from a technical standpoint, but also moving into a different category. In F4, it’s really easy to do that. You know, I’d done it a year before, and I was just fast by nature there,” he narrated, “But then going into a higher category, it was about making progress and accepting that, you know, it’s not going to be smooth sailing. So, I mean, there’s definitely technical learning as well.”
Bohra also noted the differences between the FRMEC and FRECA cars as part of his development. “You know, the [FRECA] car has more power, more aero, bigger tyres, different tyres,” he said, “But there was more than just car learning. It was also still me developing as an athlete.”
However, when asked if doing FRMEC was crucial for his FRECA development, Bohra felt the opposite considering his performance. “FRMEC felt like, if anything, a step backwards initially from what I was doing in the winter test and even F4.”
“It was just about aligning everything. But then again, maybe it was a necessary low point to kind of rebound stronger. Or maybe if I didn’t do it, I would have never had that divot.”
All about the Imola weekend
The mention of Imola alone brought a smile to the Indian-American’s face. It was in the iconic track where R-ace GP became victorious twice in one weekend, with Enzo Deligny dominating the first race before Bohra went on to win the second race on Sunday. Reliving the experience, he explained how Imola worked so well for him and the team.
“Imola was no exception. You know, we’re fast in Imola, it was clear. But I think we definitely had a good package. I mean, we were the fastest team combined,” he replied.
“But that being said, I think we’re also doing a good job as drivers. I mean, Enzo is really confident with the track. He was great there last year. It was my personal favourite track other than Spa. And Jin also really got… It was his first time there and he really enjoyed it. So I think it’s a bit of both.”
When asked whether his Imola victory affected his confidence for the season, Bohra was quick to emphasize his mindset. “I wouldn’t say so. Because at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter what happened in the past.”
“All you got to do is drive as fast as possible at any given moment. And so going forward, you know, whatever I won in Imola or did win in Zandvoort doesn’t affect what I need to do for the next four rounds. And I’m just going to take it race by race.”
Looking forward to the future
With a competitive FRECA grid, drivers from the series often graduate to Formula 3. Bohra’s current teammates Jin Nakamura and Enzo Deligny have been slated to be part of Hitech and Prema’s lineups respectively. Bohra felt no pressure, emphasizing importance of his current form, with or without teams watching. “It’s already been, again, one of the most competitive junior series in the world. And it’s already a reputable series. And there’s no extra pressure,” he said.
“I mean, at the end of the day, if you want to go to F1, you need to be the best, you need to drive as fast as possible, regardless of if everyone’s watching and no one’s watching. So it doesn’t really change what you need to do.”
Bohra also considered other racing series besides Formula 1, aware of the struggles of getting in such a competitive grid. “It takes a lot of things to go right to get you in F1. I mean, you could do everything right and sometimes not even make it. F2 champions are not even graduating to F1. So realistically, it isn’t guaranteed for anyone, and for my side, I am interested in racing in other series. If I can make a living from racing cars, then I’ll be living my dream.”
Why new motorsport fans should watch FREC
With FREC officially part of the FIA’s roadmap to Formula 1 by 2026, this opens new opportunities for the latter series’ audiences to watch the future racing stars grow. The Indian-American was eager to share his reasons on why audiences should stay tuned not only to his journey, but also to FREC as a whole.
“The grid’s really competitive, but at the same time, it’s all super close. I think we’re one of the closest series in the world, objectively. If you’re a motorsport fan and you like racing, you should definitely watch it.”
“If you’re interested in motorsport, you want to follow my journey as an Indian American racing driver, trying to go as far as I can, then I’m the driver to follow,” Bohra said with a smile, “I wouldn’t sell myself too much on this, I’ll just be myself. And if you like what you see, you can keep watching.”
