Although American Wheldon will head into final race of the inaugural FIA FREC season this afternoon 16 points behind Emanuele Olivieri following his non-score in Race 1 on Saturday, the MP Motorsport driver, who set the pace in Group A, will do so at the head of the pack after he posted a session-topping best of 1m34.271s.

Prema Racing’s Kean Nakamura-Berta, one of four drivers still in title contention, will join Wheldon on the front row of the Race 2 grid having topped the Group B ranking by 0.003s ahead of Olivieri following a final-lap charge.

The R-ace GP driver has 200 points, seven more than Nakamura-Berta and 20 more than Rashid Al Dhaheri, who remains in the championship fight despite ending up seventh in his qualifying group this morning.

Race 1 winner Jan Przyrowski was second to Wheldon in Group A for the RPM team and will start Race 2 in third place.

“Yesterday was frustrating, especially given the pace we had, but today is a new day,” said Wheldon, who took pole in Germany with his final lap. “We’re starting from the front row again, so the aim is to get a good start and see what we can do in the race. The team have given me a really good car. I’ve felt confident since the first practice session, and I can’t thank MP Motorsport enough. Now we need to make the most of it in the race.”

Nakamura-Berta said: “Qualifying has been the most important part of the weekend throughout this championship. We’ve seen it everywhere: even with the new push-to-pass system, you still need to be at the front. It’s really good to be back on the front row. We’ve struggled a little over the past two weekends, but I think we’ve finally moved in the right direction. I put a few good sectors together, although it was incredibly close out there. I think we maximised what we had, and we’ll give it our best later today."

The FIA FREC title-deciding Race 2 is due to get under way at 16:15 local time live on YouTube.

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.

Click HERE for the provisional results.