F.Regional: Leclerc-Petecof, victory first time out

Two wins and first and third places in the championship was the score for the Ferrari Driver Academy (FDA) after the first round of the European Formula Regional championship at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. Gianluca Petecof is the series leader having won Race-3, while Arthur Leclerc is third, 12 points down, having had a win and a podium.

Race-1. Leclerc performed brilliantly in qualifying, securing a clean sweep of pole positions for all three races, with Petecof alongside him on the grid for Race-1 and Race-3. However, their fortunes immediately took a downturn in the first race because of a collision in the hectic first lap. Petecof and Leclerc were both involved in an incident triggered by Juri Vips and the Monegasque’s race ended there. Petecof was still running in last place, but fought back well to finish fourth.

Race-2. Leclerc’s disappointment soon lifted thanks to a dominant win in Race-2. Arthur took the lead, comfortably keeping ahead of Petecof and the FDA duo maintained those positions to the chequered flag. The Prema Powerteam duo lined up for Race-3, aware that they were in with a good chance of securing the win right from the period immediately after the start.

Race-3. Petecof got away perfectly for the final race, getting the jump on pole man Leclerc. The Monegasque managed to stay in his team-mate’s slipstream for a long time, but at half distance, a slight error dropped him back and he settled for second place. The two FDA drivers picked up a lot of points, with Petecof leading the championship on 55 points (tie with Oliver Rasmussen, also driving for Prema Powerteam), 12 ahead of Leclerc in third.