FRECA | 2025 Round 9 | Hockenheim | Race 1 | Slater secures sixth victory of the season - Motorsport

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PREMA Racing’s Freddie Slater secured his sixth victory of the 2025 FRECA season in Race 1 at Hockenheim, full report and results below.

Heading into the penultimate round of the season, title contenders Matteo De Palo and Slater battled closely at the top, trading places during both collective tests. Levelled on points as they headed into the weekend, the championship fight continues to intensify. However, during Qualifying 1, it was Enzo Deligny who came out on top, setting an impressive time of 1:33.989 to take pole position. Unfortunately, the French-Chinese driver will serve a four-place grid penalty which he carries forward from Barcelona for a restart procedure infringement. This then promotes De Palo to pole alongside Akshay Bohra who will start Race 1 on the front-row.

Lights out for Race 1 at Hockenheim!

Due to wet conditions on-track, race control had made the decision to start the race behind a safety car. Hence, 30-minutes on the clock ticked down immediately as all cars left the grid. Although the track surface remained relatively wet, all cars fitted on slick tyres for the race.

Controlling the pack behind the safety car, De Palo weaved his way through the stadium section. The Italian had soon put his foot down and caught Bohra off-guard as they headed down the main-straight. Evan Giltaire ran wide momentarily, allowing Slater to claim third. Next to attempt a move was Jin Nakamura. The Japanese driver lunged down the inside of Pedro Clerot to claim sixth. Meanwhile, out in-front, De Palo managed to pull a one-second gap between himself and Bohra.

Further down the field, Michael Belov was spun around by Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi but managed to get going once again. All eyes were on Slater as the young Briton continued to climb his way through the field. Nakamura soon managed to pass Deligny for fifth. However, getting his elbows out, Slater attempted a move down the inside on Bohra but didn’t manage to make it stick. The Briton slotted back behind Bohra.

Front-wing change for Nikita Bedrin

As the race continued, cameras panned to Bedrin who headed into the pits for a front-wing change. Slater and Bohra continued to fiercely battle for second. Soon enough, the Briton capitalised on an opportunistic move and lunged down the inside of the Indian driver to claim second. Nakamura tried to break away from the rest of the pack who were closely trailing behind him. As it stood, De Palo, Slater, Bohra, Giltaire and Deligny completed the top five.

As De Palo and Slater started to build a gap out in-front, Bohra decided to drop the pair and found himself defending from Giltaire for the net-final spot on the podium.

Championship rivals get their elbows out

Meanwhile, out in-front, Slater closed in on De Palo and looked for a move around the outside of the Italian. The Briton attempted a switch-back on De Palo which resulted in the Italian outbreaking himself, running both drivers off the track. This then allowed Bohra to claim the race lead.

The stewards handed Saqer Al Maosherji a 5-second time penalty for causing a collision. However, all eyes were on Slater who needed to desperately claim the lead of the race in order to gain an advantage over De Palo in the championship. The Briton lunged down the inside of Bohra again to claim the lead of the race.

As drivers settled into a rhythm, Clerot and Deligny started to find some pace. The Brazilian found a gap down the inside of Nakamura and almost ran straight into the side of the Japanese. However, at the front of the field, the top three were now separated by a few seconds between each other.

Final five minutes

While the stewards took note of the on-track tussle between Slater and De Palo, they ultimately deemed that no further investigation was necessary. Finally, attempting his long-awaited overtake, Clerot lunged down the inside of Nakamura and forced him wide, but still managed to claim sixth.

Next, Deligny was still searching for an opportunity to overtake Giltaire. However, the French-Chinese driver knew that he shouldn’t take any unnecessary risk in order to stay in championship contention. Battling with Belov, Al Maosherji spun on the final lap and found himself beached into the gravel.

However, after executing great overtakes and having controlled the race with a comfortable lead out in-front, Slater crossed the line to claim his sixth win in FRECA this year. The Briton now heads into Race 2 tomorrow with a 10-point advantage over De Palo.