Rashid Al Dhaheri claimed his third victory of the 2026 FIA Formula Regional European Championship (FREC) season after leading every lap of Race 2 at the Hungaroring.
Starting from his first pole position of the year, the R-ace GP driver converted it into his first full-points victory of the season, extending his advantage at the top of the championship standings.
Alexander Abkhazava crossed the line in second for MP Motorsport but was later handed a post-race penalty for a Race Mode infringement. The penalty promoted R-ace GP’s Emanuele Olivieri to second place, with PREMA Racing’s Kean Nakamura-Berta completing the podium in third.
It was a difficult weekend for championship rival Sebastian Wheldon. The MP Motorsport driver retired from both races after arriving in Hungary leading the standings, dropping to third in the championship. Nakamura-Berta now moves into second overall, 21 points behind Al Dhaheri.
Yuki Sano stalls off the line
Al Dhaheri made a clean start from pole position to retain the lead into Turn 1 ahead of Abkhazava, while fellow R-ace GP driver Yuki Sano stalled from the second row of the grid.
The slow getaway allowed Olivieri to climb into third ahead of Nakamura-Berta, with Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Ninovic rounding out the top five.
Over the opening laps, Al Dhaheri steadily pulled away from Abkhazava, building a lead of almost 1.5 seconds as the MP Motorsport driver came under increasing pressure from Olivieri behind.
Further down the order, Zhenrui Chi completed a strong move on RPM’s Jan Przyrowski into the final corner at the start of Lap 5 to move into 13th place, while G4 Racing teammates Marcus Saeter and Saqer Almaosherji battled over ninth position.
With 14 minutes remaining, Wheldon’s race came to an early end after the MP Motorsport driver pulled off the circuit from eighth position.
Moments later, contact between PREMA Racing’s Tomass Stolcermanis and Van Amersfoort Racing’s Dion Gowda eliminated Stolcermanis from the race. Gowda received a five-second time penalty for causing the collision, while the incident brought out the first Safety Car of the weekend.
Racing resumed with just over eight minutes left on the clock, with Al Dhaheri once again controlling the restart ahead of Abkhazava. Behind them, Nakamura-Berta continued to pressure Olivieri in the fight for the final podium position.
However, another incident five minutes from the finish involving PREMA Racing’s Salim Hanna forced the Colombian into retirement and triggered a second Safety Car.
The race remained neutralised until the chequered flag, allowing Al Dhaheri to secure a commanding lights-to-flag victory ahead of Olivieri and Nakamura-Berta after Abkhazava’s post-race penalty.
2026 FREC: Hungaroring Race 2 results
- #71 Rashid Al Dhaheri – R-ace GP
- #73 Emanuele Olivieri – R-ace GP
- #51 Kean Nakamura-Berta – PREMA Racing
- #2 Alex Ninovic – Rodin Motorsport
- #69 Reno Francot – CL Motorsport
- #11 Francisco Macedo – Van Amersfoort Racing
- #67 Marcus Sæter – G4 Racing
- #3 Saqer Almaosherji – G4 Racing
- #4 Reza Seewooruthun – Rodin Motorsport
- #78 Gabriel Gomez – Rodin Motorsport
- #8 Jan Przyrowski – RPM
- #19 Kabir Anurag – ART Grand Prix
- #15* Alexander Abkhazava – MP Motorsport
- #5 Miguel Costa – RPM
- #7 Andrea Dupé – Van Amersfoort Racing
- #14 Noah Lisle – CL Motorsport
- #95 Alexandre Muñoz – ART Grand Prix
- #12 Yuki Sano – R-ace GP
- #23 Rahim Alibhai – G4 Racing
- #33 Maksimilian Popov – Trident Motorsport
- #99 Giovanni Maschio – RPM
- #24 Jules Roussel – CL Motorsport
- #27 Mattéo Giaccardi – ART Grand Prix
- #47 Andrija Kostić – Trident Motorsport
- #87* Kai Daryanani – Trident Motorsport
- #28* Zhenrui Chi – MP Motorsport
- #55* Dion Gowda – Van Amersfoort Racing
Not Classified:
- #88 Salim Hanna – PREMA Racing
- #60 Tomass Štolcermanis – PREMA Racing
- #98 Sebastian Wheldon – MP Motorsport
Penalties and notes
- #15 Alexander Abkhazava – MP Motorsport – 6 second time penalty for using race mode when not permitted
- #87 Kai Daryanani – Trident Motorsport – 5 second time penalty for a false start
- #28 Zhenrui Chi – MP Motorsport – 10 second time penalty for causing a collision
- #55 Dion Gowda – Van Amersfoort Racing – 10 second time penalty for causing a collision
