Making his FIA FREC debut, the Ukrainian driver, who finished second in Race 2 on Saturday from the partially-reversed grid, became the 10th driver to win in the junior single-seater championship’s inaugural season.

By finishing runner-up to Bondarev, R-ace GP’s Emanuele Olivieri moved 20 points clear of Sebastian Wheldon (MP Motorsport) at the top of the overall standings ahead of the next weekend’s final round at Hockenheim in Germany (11-13 September).

Italian Olivieri scored points in all three contests after winning Race 1 from pole and was joined on the Race 3 podium by CL Motorsport’s Reno Francot, who also completed the top three in Race 2.

Wheldon, who finished 12th, is still in FIA FREC title contention, as are Kean Nakamura-Berta (Prema Racing) and Olivieri’s team-mate Rashid Al Dhaheri, who finished the final Imola race in ninth and 10th respectively.

After successfully negotiating three safety car restarts to win, 17-year-old Bondarev, a Formula 4 graduate and member of the Williams Driver Academy, said: “After yesterday, I already felt that this would be a weekend to be really proud of, even if it had ended there. But today was simply amazing. I took pole position this morning with a really good lap, and the car felt fantastic. I got off the line well in the race, which was very important because overtaking is quite difficult here. When you are in front, you can control the race a little better. That is exactly what we did, staying in the lead throughout. It was my first time leading a restart in this car, and it is much more difficult than in Formula 4. I don’t think my restarts were perfect, but they were good enough to keep the lead. I’m extremely happy with the result. A huge thank you to everyone at Van Amersfoort Racing, Williams, my family and all my sponsors, for supporting me throughout the year.”

As well as holding the FIA FREC points lead, Olivieri left Imola as the provisional Rookie champion for 2026*. He said: “It was a mega weekend. I wasn’t expecting to leave Imola leading the championship, but the team and I worked extremely hard during the summer break to find the performance that we were able to show here. I think we had the strongest pace. Yesterday’s victory was amazing, but there was nothing more I could have done today.”

Revisit the FIA FREC Imola race action on YouTube. Click for the provisional results and standings.

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.

*Subject to confirmation of the results by the FIA