FRECA | 2025 Round 8 | Barcelona | Qualifying 2 | Deligny claims pole in wet conditions - Motorsport

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The second Qualifying session at the eighth round of the 2025 FRECA season saw R-ace GP’s Enzo Deligny secure pole-position in a challenging wet-weather session in Barcelona, full report and results below.

The first day of action featured a thrilling day that saw tight battles between PREMA Racing’s Freddie Slater and Trident’s Matteo De Palo, both championship frontrunners. Slater entered Qualifying 1 with a three-point lead and edged out De Palo to pole by just two hundredths. However, De Palo executed a stronger start, controlling the race from start to finish and claimed a dominant victory in Race 1. The Italian now tops the Drivers’ Standings heading into today’s action.

As the final day unfolds at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, will it be another showdown between Slater and De Palo, or will someone else claim pole?

Qualifying was set to start at 10:10 local time in Barcelona, but was quickly delayed due to the rain.

Group B

Today, it was Group B’s turn to head out on track first. The session kicked off under extremely wet conditions as drivers left the pits with wet tyres fitted on. After several exploratory laps, Evan Giltaire was the first driver across the line to set a representative lap. The Frenchman set the benchmark of a 1:56.626 for everyone to chase. Yesterday’s race winner De Palo was next across the line with a 1:57.007.

Pedro Clerot impressed as his first lap catapulted him to the top with a 1:55.660. However, as drivers continued to navigate the wet track conditions, De Palo was seen sliding out of corners aggressively, trying to look for grip on track. Santiago Ramos improved to go fifth with a 1:56.793. But, as it stood, Giltaire Clerot, De Palo, Taito Kato and Romas completed the top five.

Continuing on their push-laps, not many drivers were able to find significant improvements. However, Ruiqi Liu lit up the timing sheets as he set a personal best lap. Next, Hiyu Yamakoshi slotted himself into P4 with a 1:56.589. Clerot, who went even faster than he did, set a purple final sector to go fastest with a 1:54.365. On his next lap, the Brazilian extended his lead out in front and improved with a 1:54.154, putting three tenths between himself and Giltaire.

As the final laps of the session came through, it appeared to be a showdown between Giltaire and Clerot. The Frenchman set two purple sectors before he made a trip into the gravel in the final sector. Now, all eyes were on Clerot to see if he could improve. The Brazilian executed an impressive final lap to put six tenths between himself and Giltaire, improving to a 1:53.773.

Results for Group B in Qualifying 2:

Pedro Clerot 1:53.773
Evan Giltaire
Matteo De Palo
Hiyu Yamakoshi
Jack Beeton
Taito Kato
Santiago Ramos
Ruiqi Liu
Dion Gowda
Macéo Capietto
Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi
Tim Gerhards
Yaroslav Veselaho

Group A

Green lights at the end of the pit lane as all drivers headed straight out on track. However, visibility and spray from the rain was still quite bad. Drivers were seen looking for wet patches on track to nurture those fragile wet tyres. First across the line, Kanato Le set off on the first representative lap as he slid and wrestled his car. The Japanese driver’s first lap on the board was a 1:54.695.

Next across the line, Bedrin slotted into second with a 1:55.520. As it stood, Slater sat in sixth with a 1:56.952. The racing line appeared to be drying up quickly, but it still wasn’t enough for the crossover onto slicks. Michael Belov’s first lap was enough for fourth, as Akshay Bohra shot to second with a 1:55.199. Executing a better lap, Slater’s next lap was enough to slot into second with a 1:54.732, pushing Bohra down to third.

Soon enough, Enzo Deligny slotted into third with a 1:55.073. Rashid Al Dhaheri improved to go fifth with a 1:55.309. Replay showed Giovanni Maschio making a trip into the gravel trap at Turn 5 before he rejoined the track once again. On his next lap, Deligny went to the top with a 1:54.505 before Slater reclaimed his position at the top. Jin Nakamura executed an extremely impressive lap to go four tenths faster than Deligny. The Japanese driver clocked a 1:54.146.

Meanwhile, Bohra was finding ample improvement on his next run, going almost four tenths faster in the first sector alone. Pressure was on Bohra and Deligny as they were the final runners strongly in contention for overall pole. With Slater and Bohra unable to find any improvements, Deligny maintained his position at the top to claim overall pole with a 1:53.250.