The 2022 Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine was a multi-event, Formula Regional open-wheel single seater motor racing championship held across Europe. The championship featured a mix of professional and amateur drivers, competing in Formula Regional cars that conform to the FIA's Formula Regional regulations for the championship. This was the fourth season of the championship and the second after a merger with Formula Renault Eurocup which resulted to the change of the engine supplier to Alpine. The season commenced on 22 April at Autodromo Nazionale Monza and concluded on 23 October at Mugello Circuit, after ten rounds.
Prema Racing won their third teams' championship at Barcelona, with two races to spare. Their driver Dino Beganovic won the drivers' championship, with one race to spare. Leonardo Fornaroli, driving for Trident, won the rookie title.
Teams and drivers Twelve teams were pre-selected on 12 November 2021; JD Motorsport's entry and assets were taken over by Trident. On 23 February 2022, new team Race Performance Motorsport (RPM) was announced to have taken over DR Formula's entry.
Teams No. Driver Status Rounds Prema Racing 3 Paul Aron All 18 Dino Beganovic All 58 Sebastián Montoya All 88 Hamda Al Qubaisi 1–8 Amna Al Qubaisi 9–10 Trident 4 Roman Biliński All 70 Tim Tramnitz All 72 Leonardo Fornaroli All Monolite Racing 5 Macéo Capietto All 6 Pietro Armanni All 24 Cenyu Han 1–5 Nicola Marinangeli 7–10 G4 Racing 7 Axel Gnos 1–7, 9–10 Gillian Henrion 8 8 Matías Zagazeta All 22 Tereza Bábíčková 8 92 Owen Tangavelou 1–5 FA Racing by MP 9 Esteban Masson 1–6 Francesco Braschi 7–10 12 Victor Bernier All 35 Nicolás Baptiste All Arden Motorsport 10 Joshua Dürksen All 19 Noel León All 91 Eduardo Barrichello All Van Amersfoort Racing 11 Levente Révész All 13 Joshua Dufek All 27 Kas Haverkort All R-ace GP 15 Léna Bühler 1–3 16 Lorenzo Fluxá All 26 Hadrien David All 85 Gabriel Bortoleto All MP Motorsport 17 Sami Meguetounif All 30 Michael Belov 1–5 Mari Boya 7–10 77 Dilano van 't Hoff 1–3, 5, 7–10 Francesco Braschi 6 KIC Motorsport 21 Piotr Wiśnicki 1, 3–10 Patrik Pasma 2 28 Francesco Braschi 1–5 Sebastian Øgaard 8–10 68 Santiago Ramos 1–9 William Alatalo 10 ART Grand Prix 42 Laurens van Hoepen All 46 Gabriele Minì All 64 Mari Boya 1–6 Esteban Masson 7–10 RPM 55 Pietro Delli Guanti 1–7 Pierre-Louis Chovet 8–10 65 Keith Donegan 1–5 Owen Tangavelou 6–10 75 Andrea Rosso 6 Santiago Ramos 10 Icon Status Rookie Female Guest drivers ineligible for points Belén García was scheduled to compete for G4 Racing on a part-time basis, but withdrew prior to the start of the season. Kirill Smal was scheduled to compete for KIC Motorsport, but withdrew prior to the start of the season as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Race calendar The calendar was revealed on 25 October 2021. Round Circuit Date Supporting 1 R1 Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza 23 April Italian GT Championship R2 24 April 2 R1 Imola Circuit, Imola 7 May Main event R2 8 May 3 R1 Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo 28 May Monaco Grand Prix R2 29 May 4 R1 Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet 4 June GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup R2 5 June 5 R1 Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort 18 June GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup R2 19 June 6 R1 Hungaroring, Mogyoród 9 July International GT Open R2 10 July 7 R1 Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot 29 July Spa 24 Hours R2 30 July 8 R1 Red Bull Ring, Spielberg 10 September International GT Open R2 11 September 9 R1 Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Montmeló 15 October International GT Open R2 16 October 10 R1 Mugello Circuit, Scarperia e San Piero 22 October Italian GT Championship R2 23 October
Results Round Circuit Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Winning team Rookie winner 1 R1 Monza Dino Beganovic Dino Beganovic Dino Beganovic Prema Racing Sebastián Montoya R2 Paul Aron Paul Aron Paul Aron Prema Racing Sebastián Montoya 2 R1 Imola Gabriele Minì Gabriele Minì Dino Beganovic Prema Racing Sebastián Montoya R2 Gabriele Minì Dino Beganovic Gabriele Minì ART Grand Prix Tim Tramnitz 3 R1 Monaco Hadrien David Mari Boya Hadrien David R-ace GP Laurens van Hoepen R2 Dino Beganovic Mari Boya Dino Beganovic Prema Racing Laurens van Hoepen 4 R1 Paul Ricard Dino Beganovic Paul Aron Paul Aron Prema Racing Tim Tramnitz R2 Gabriele Minì Hadrien David Gabriele Minì ART Grand Prix Roman Biliński 5 R1 Zandvoort Paul Aron Hadrien David Paul Aron Prema Racing Sebastián Montoya R2 Paul Aron Paul Aron Paul Aron Prema Racing Sebastián Montoya 6 R1 Hungaroring Kas Haverkort Kas Haverkort Kas Haverkort Van Amersfoort Racing Roman Biliński R2 Hadrien David Gabriele Minì Hadrien David R-ace GP Tim Tramnitz 7 R1 Spa-Francorchamps Dino Beganovic Paul Aron Dino Beganovic Prema Racing Sami Meguetounif R2 Paul Aron Hadrien David Gabriel Bortoleto R-ace GP Tim Tramnitz 8 R1 Red Bull Ring Paul Aron Kas Haverkort Kas Haverkort Van Amersfoort Racing Joshua Dufek R2 Hadrien David Gabriele Minì Hadrien David R-ace GP Joshua Dufek 9 R1 Barcelona Paul Aron Gabriel Bortoleto Paul Aron Prema Racing Joshua Dufek R2 Gabriel Bortoleto Hadrien David Gabriel Bortoleto R-ace GP Joshua Dürksen 10 R1 Mugello Paul Aron Gabriele Minì Paul Aron Prema Racing Victor Bernier R2 Gabriel Bortoleto Gabriele Minì Gabriele Minì ART Grand Prix Owen Tangavelou
Season summary
First half The fourth season of the championship began in late April at Monza with Dino Beganovic on pole for the wet season opener. He kept the lead at the start, while Lorenzo Fluxá next to him dropped back behind Gabriele Minì and Michael Belov, before repassing the Russian. A collision in turn one resulted in the first safety car. On the restart, Belov got Fluxá back while Minì collided with Beganovic, destroying his front wing and with it his chances for a points finish. The top three remained unchanged for the rest of the race, untroubled by two further safety car periods. Paul Aron claimed pole for the second race, and led from the start ahead of Minì, who was overtaken by Beganovic at the start. Aron's lead remained steady, he mastered two safety cars, one mid-race and one close to the end. Beganovic kept close to Aron, but was not able to challenge the leader. Still, his second place together with his win the day before meant he took the championship lead, 15 points ahead of Belov. Sebastián Montoya led the rookie standings.
The championship stayed in Italy, visiting Imola next, where Minì won pole for race one. He kept the lead all throughout a disrupted race: first, the race was stopped for Sami Meguetounif, who crashed heavy and had to be taken to hospital. On the restart, Beganovic claimed second place from Mari Boya, while leader Minì was handed a ten-second time penalty for a false start. Two more safety cars and another red flag, this time for Axel Gnos, saw the race to its end, promoting Beganovic to the win and Aron to the podium. Minì bounced back the day after to take another pole position. A safety car start for damp conditions saw him control the start ahead of Tim Tramnitz in second, before the German was passed by Beganovic, and then by Kas Haverkort, who would later lose his podium to Gabriel Bortoleto after a penalty for a technical fault. A sudden thunderstorm caused a three-car crash and a red flag, and Minì controlled the restart to claim the win. Beganovic's championship advantage rose to 38 points from Aron.
Round three supported the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix, and one qualifying session was held, where Hadrien David and Beganovic claimed pole for the two races. David held the lead in race one, and there were little changes to the order before the red flag was thrown when the track was blocked by Esteban Masson at the Fairmont Hairpin. When the race restarted, passing remained tricky, so Beganovic could do nothing but follow David to the finish to grab his fifth top-two finish in a row. Haverkort came third, having held back Minì all race long. Race two saw the top pair reversed, with Beganovic leading David, before two separate crashes for Roman Biliński and Macéo Capietto brought out the safety car. There were a few little fights with slight contact further down the field, but almost no passes were made, and the top trio of Beganovic, David and Minì held position until the finish. David's great weekend saw him grab second in the standings, but Beganovic's lead now stood at 55 points over the rest of the field.
A week later, Paul Ricard hosted the next round, and Beganovic started the first race on pole. He kept Bortoleto behind at the start, before Joshua Dufek crashed and caused a safety car. On the restart, Aron in third managed to pass Bortoleto. The Prema pair gapped the field fighting for the win, and eventually Aron was able to pass his teammate. On the last lap, Bortoleto in third had to relinquish his podium to Belov. Race two saw Minì on pole, surviving another first-lap safety car ahead of Beganovic, who had already passed Bortoleto. The lead group was close together all race, before another safety car neutralised the race, leaving a short dash to the finish. Beganovic pressured the leader, but was not able to make a move, so came second behind Minì and ahead of Haverkort. His run of now eight top-two finishes was brought to an end however, as his car was found to be non-compliant and he was excluded from race two. This initially gifted Aron a podium, but Beganovic's championship lead was still 45 points over Minì. Beganovic's team appealed the decision. After the team won its appeal in front of the Italian Federation's Court of Appeal in October, the Championship Promoter made a further appeal against the Italian Court's ruling, which was finally denied by the FIA International Court of Appeal. Beganovic was thus reinstated to second place.
The first half of the season concluded at Zandvoort with Aron winning the first qualifying. He held David back at the start and kept a consistent gap to the Frenchman, before coming under attack in the latter stages of the race. Keith Donegan had an incident in turn two that resulted in a late safety car, but David was not able to make a move on the leader during the restart. Behind the pair, Haverkort held back Minì to complete the podium. David later lost his podium when he was penalized for misuse of the push-to-pass system. Qualifying for race two again saw Aron come out on top. He was once again strong in the race, holding the lead from Beganovic as Minì jumped from fifth to third before a red flag was thrown when Pietro Delli Guanti's car flew over the barrier at Hugenholtzbocht. Through the rest of the race, Minì passed Beganovic for second, but Aron's lead was uncontested. He completed a perfect weekend, his two wins earned him second in the standings and cut Beganovic's lead down to 36 points.
Second half Next, the series travelled to the Hungaroring, where Haverkort picked up his maiden pole position in first qualifying. He controlled the start, as Aron in second got overtaken by Minì, before he got pushed off by Dufek and fell down the order. Dufek was then passed himself by Roman Biliński and Leonardo Fornaroli. This order then settled down and remained the same until the end, earning Haverkort his maiden win in the series. Race two began with David on pole alongside Minì, with the Italian getting overtaken by Bortoleto around turn one, who then tried to pass David for the lead, but failed. This order remained until Joshua Dürksen crashed, bringing out a safety car and setting the field up for a late restart. This was where Minì quickly passed Bortoleto for second before the safety car was called again and the race ended behind it. Beganovic had a rare off-day, qualifying twelfth, then having a troubled race and finishing 16th. This coupled with two second places for Minì meant his lead was slashed to only nine points.