FRECA | 2025 Round 10 | Monza | Race 2 | Slater secures record-equalling eighth win as De Palo crowned vice-champion and R-ace GP seal teams' title - Motorsport

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PREMA Racing’s Freddie Slater claimed the final victory of the year in Race 2 at the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA) season finale in Monza — marking the championship’s 100th race, full report and results below.

After sealing the title yesterday, newly-crowned 2025 FRECA Champion Freddie Slater carried his momentum into Sunday, edging out Trident’s Matteo De Palo to take pole position in Qualifying 2 earlier today. The pair have fiercely battled all season, displaying remarkable maturity and race craft throughout their championship fight. However, to close out a brilliant season, Slater and De Palo will once again share the front-row on a historical day for the championship, as it marks the 100th race in FRECA history.

Several battles remain in the Drivers’ and Teams’ Championship

With Slater wrapping up the title in Race 1, the focus now shifts to other battles in both the Drivers’ and Teams’ Championship. De Palo has put himself in a strong position to secure second overall, especially with R-ace GP’s Enzo Deligny starting down in P17. For the Italian, a clean race should be enough to lock in the runner-up spot.

R-ace GP look set to secure the Teams’ Championship as they hold an advantage over PREMA Racing heading into the final race. With all 3 R-ace GP cars outside the Top Ten, if PREMA were to score at least 33 points this race, the Italian outfit would seal the teams’ title by a mere point.

Lastly, the final fight for third remains on Van Amersfoort Racing’s Pedro Clerot and Deligny. If Clerot finishes inside the Top 5 while Deligny fails to score, the Brazilian can claim third overall.

Lights out for the 100th race and the final time in 2025!

It was a great launch off the line for Slater, as De Palo immediately tucked in behind the Briton. Yesterday’s pole-sitter Evan Giltaire outbroke himself, running straight across the first chicane. Meanwhile, heading into Curva Grande, two teammates Clerot and Dion Gowda battled it out fiercely as the Brazilian tried to fight his way through.

Further down the field, a Van Amersfoort car ran into the back of Rashid Al Dhaheri, which sent him spinning around. Ultimately, this meant PREMA’s hopes of securing the Teams’ Championship were now gone. As it stood, R-ace GP’s 32 point lead would be enough to secure the teams’ title.

Starting the race in P10, Clerot had only managed to climb up a spot. As drivers settled into the rhythm, the Brazilian continued to search for an opportunity to overtake Jin Nakamura. Into Turn 1, a cloud of smoke was seen as Taito Kato locked up and cut across the Rettifilo chicane.

All eyes on Deligny and Clerot

The fight for third in the Drivers’ Standings continued to be the centre of attention. With Deligny in P14, Clerot desperately needed to progress through the field. Side-by-side with Nakamura, the Brazilian momentarily claimed P8 before running across the Ascari chicane. While he’d let Nakamura through, Clerot was left vulnerable and found himself aggressively defending from Gowda.

Meanwhile, further up the field, Kato lunged down the inside of Jan Przyrowski as they headed into Parabolica side-by-side to claim P5. However, Clerot continued to chase down Nakamura as 16 minutes remained. Soon enough, Deligny had now made his way through to claim P11.

Nikita Bedrin and Kato battled fiercely for P4, as both drivers weren’t afraid to get their elbows out. Around the outside of Bedrin in Parabolica, Kato claimed P4. Heading down the main straight, Kato attempted to break the tow and locked his tyres up, but managed to keep Bedrin at bay. However, around the outside of Kato, Bedrin quickly reclaimed P4.

Safety car deployed for Bedrin

The fight between Bedrin and Kato continued. As Kato attempted a move around the outside, Bedrin sustained damage to his front-right suspension that ultimately forced him to retire. This incident deployed the first safety car of the race.

As chaos unfolded further up the field, Deligny had now found himself in P10, and Clerot in P7. Acing the safety car restart, Slater managed to catch De Palo off-guard and pulled a gap immediately. However, Clerot continued to struggle and was still unable to pass Nakamura. As it stood, the top five were Slater, De Palo, Giltaire, Kato and Przyrowski.

Second safety car deployed for multi-car pileup

Drama unfolded for Van Amersfoort Racing as Gowda ran into the side of Hiyu Yamakoshi. Somehow, Deligny found himself involved in the incident as well. This incident triggered the second safety car of the race.

Ultimately, with Deligny dropping down the order, this left the door wide open for Clerot to secure third, but still needed to progress through the field. However, as time continued to tick down, the safety car remained out for the rest of the race. As Deligny came to a stop on-track, the race finished behind the safety car as Slater crossed the line to secure his eighth win of the season, equalling the championship record for the most wins in a season. And, for Trident, De Palo crossed the line to be crowned vice-champion on home-soil.

With Nakamura and Bohra scoring points, this solidified R-ace GP’s lead and were crowned the 2025 Teams’ Champion. And, with Clerot failing to finish inside the Top 5, Deligny finished third in the Drivers’ Standings.