SFDA students Rafael Camara and Tuukka Taponen are among the 33 drivers who will be tackling the ten rounds and 20 races of the European Formula Regional championship which gets underway this weekend at Hockenheim. Both drivers have got ambitious goals based on great results in the winter Middle East series, which Taponen won with five wins and four second places. Camara took two wins on his way to third in the standings.
Different teams. For the 19 year old Brazilian, this will be his second year in the category and once again he races with the Prema team, hoping to build on the experience gained in 2023 when he finished fifth overall with two wins. Last year was Taponen’s first season in single-seaters and he finished fifth overall and second rookie in Italian Formula 4. He races with the R-ace GP team, after establishing a strong working relationship with them in the Middle East series. “I’m very happy to be starting the European season,” said Taponen. “I don’t want to build up my expectations too much and I’ve set myself the target of a top five finish for this first weekend. Pre-season testing showed we had good speed, so I’d be very happy if I managed to finish in the top three, although a bit surprised as I know what that would take.”
Programme. Qualifying for Race 1 at Hockenheim is on Saturday at 11.15, the field split into A and B groups to decide the right and left hand sides of the grid. Pole position will go to the quickest overall. Then comes the first race at 17.40. On Sunday, qualifying for Race 2 is at 11.35, while the race itself gets underway at 16.10.