FIA Formula Regional European Championship battle enters its final phase at Imola
The final stretch of the FIA Formula Regional European Championship gets underway at Imola this weekend (4-6 September), before heading to Germany’s Hockenheim circuit just a few days later for the eighth and final round of the 2026 season.
Following the summer break, the series featuring the second-generation Tatuus T-326 single-seaters heads to the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Italy with the top four drivers in the standings separated by just 20 points, with eight different race winners so far this year.
A first and a third-place finish in the most recent round at Paul Ricard moved PREMA Racing’s Kean Nakamura-Berta to the top of the points table. The young Williams F1 Team Academy Driver has claimed three victories in total, having also won at the Red Bull Ring and Monza.
R-ace GP’s Rashid Al Dhaheri and MP Motorsport’s Sebastian Wheldon have also claimed three victories apiece. The pair are tied on points, just 13 behind Nakamura-Berta. After taking a double victory at Zandvoort last May, Wheldon enjoyed another strong weekend at the French venue, which he rounded off by winning Race 2.
Mercedes-AMG F1 Team Junior Programme member Al Dhaheri claimed victory at Spielberg, Monza and the Hungaroring, where he moved into the championship lead, before enduring a difficult weekend at Le Castellet with a best result of sixth.
Emanuele Olivieri heads to his home track fourth in the standings, having shown impressive consistency throughout the second half of the season. The Italian claimed his maiden victory at Monza before taking three consecutive runner-up finishes across the Hungaroring and Paul Ricard rounds. At Imola, Al Dhaheri’s team-mate can mathematically secure the Rookie title, as he currently holds a 104-point advantage over second-placed Rodin Motorsport driver Gabriel Gomez.
Reno Francot sits fifth, 90 points adrift of the championship lead. The CL Motorsport Dutchman claimed victory at Spielberg and will be aiming to return to the podium after nine races without a top-three finish. R-ace GP’s Yuki Sano has also taken one victory so far, triumphing in Hungary, while Trident Motorsport’s Maksimilian Popov and ART Grand Prix rookie Alexandre Munoz claimed one win apiece at Spa.
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Action at Imola gets underway on Thursday with the pre-event tests. A 50-minute free practice session will start on Friday at 9:55 CEST, ahead of Qualifying 1 at 15:15 CEST, with the drivers split into Groups A and B. Race 1, run over 30 minutes plus one lap, will begin on Saturday at 10:10 CEST. Race 2, featuring a reversed grid for the top 12 drivers from Qualifying 1, will get underway at 16:30 CEST. Sunday’s program begins with Qualifying 2 from 08:45 CEST, which will determine the grid for the final race of the weekend, scheduled to start at 16:30 CEST.
WHERE TO WATCH
The three FIA Formula Regional European Championship races from Imola will be broadcast across more than 200 territories and will be available via live streaming on the championship’s official YouTube channel, @fiaformularegionaleu.
Il FIA Formula Regional European Championship inizierà la sua fase finale questo fine settimana a Imola (4-6 settembre) prima di spostarsi a Hockenheim per l’ultimo appuntamento della stagione 2026. I primi quattro piloti in classifica sono racchiusi in soli 20 punti, con otto vincitori diversi quest’anno.
Kean Nakamura-Berta del team PREMA Racing è in testa alla classifica dopo aver conquistato un primo e un terzo posto nell’ultimo round a Paul Ricard, portando il suo bottino stagionale a tre vittorie, incluse quelle al Red Bull Ring e a Monza. Anche Rashid Al Dhaheri del team R-ace GP e Sebastian Wheldon del team MP Motorsport sono a pari punti, entrambi con tre vittorie, e inseguono Nakamura-Berta a 13 punti di distacco. Al Dhaheri ha avuto un ottimo inizio di stagione con vittorie a Spielberg, Monza e all’Hungaroring, mentre Wheldon ha ottenuto una doppia vittoria a Zandvoort e una vittoria a Paul Ricard.
Emanuele Olivieri è attualmente quarto in classifica, con una serie di ottimi piazzamenti, tra cui una vittoria a Monza e tre secondi posti. Ha un solido vantaggio di 104 punti nella classifica Rookie. Reno Francot, quinto, punta a tornare sul podio dopo una lunga assenza.
Il programma del weekend prevede test giovedì, seguiti da prove libere e qualifiche venerdì. Gara 1 si terrà sabato, con Gara 2 in programma lo stesso giorno. Qualifiche 2 e gara finale si svolgeranno domenica. Le gare saranno trasmesse in diretta streaming sul canale YouTube del campionato.
