Having claimed his maiden pole position by topping the times in Qualifying Q2 this morning, Al Dhaheri produced a controlled drive from start to finish to kick off part two of the FIA FREC season with his first full points win after he’d claimed two reverse-grid triumphs earlier in the year.
Behind R-ace GP’s Al Dhaheri, MP Motorsport’s Alexander Abkhazava crossed the line in second but was later penalised for a Race Mode infringement. As a result, Al Dhaheri’s team-mate, Emanuele Olivieri, was promoted to second place, the Rookie winner continuing his strong run of form after he triumphed outright at Monza two weeks ago – and having finished fourth in Race 1 at the Hungaroring on Saturday.
Kean Nakamura-Berta reignited his championship challenge in third, but it proved to be a frustrating weekend for Sebastian Wheldon. The MP Motorsport driver, who arrived in Hungary as the points pacesetter, was forced to retire from both races and slipped to third in the standings. Nakamura-Berta heads to round six of the season at Circuit Paul Ricard in France later this month (17-19 July) 21 points behind Al Dhaheri in second.
Yuki Sano, who scored his maiden FIA FREC win in Race 1, stalled on the grid and finished 18th.
Following his third FIA FREC victory, UAE racer Al Dhaheri said: “I’m very happy to finally win what I would call a proper race. In the previous wins we still had to work incredibly hard for it, coming through from P8 on one occasion and around P11 on another. This weekend, the team did a fantastic job to put me in a position to start from pole and that made a huge difference. We had really strong pace throughout the race and were able to build a comfortable gap, even though the safety car restarts always brought an extra challenge. In the end, the most important thing was to execute the race properly, bring the car home and make the most of the opportunity the team gave me.”
FIA FREC explained
Taking over from the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA) for 2026, FIA FREC enjoys the full support of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, the global governing body for motor sport and the federation for mobility organisations worldwide.
Positioned one step above Formula 4 in the FIA Single-Seater Pyramid, FIA FREC, which is organised by FIA Member Club Automobile Club d’Italia (ACI), caters exclusively for the second-generation Formula Regional Tatuus T 326. All-new for 2026, the Pirelli-equipped car has been developed by the Italian constructor in partnership with the FIA and follows the aerodynamic philosophy deployed in Formula 1 to encourage closer racing. Its design also represents another step in terms of performance and safety.
The second-generation Formula Regional Tatuus T 326 features the new Race Mode push to pass system, which allows drivers to trigger full engine performance for a period of time when activated by a button pressed from inside the cockpit. The amount of time depends on how many times the button is pressed but each driver has a total of 100 seconds available per race. Race Mode’s introduction for the 2026 FIA FREC season is the result of extensive research and development managed by the FIA.
