Wharton takes home his first win, Camara continues to lead the championship: the Mugello Freca round as it happened
- Chiara Portello
- Jul 18, 2024
- 3 min read
At Mugello we find more or less the same stories as at the weekend in Hungary: Badoer scores points by finishing second in both races, Taponen dominates race 1, and Câmara gets a podium finish while maintaining the leadership of the Freca championship.
You never forget your first
The first win is never forgotten, it always has a special flavour. It was the case for James Wharton, who took his first one in the Freca championship on Sunday. But these young drivers do not stop, they are always looking ahead and aiming high. The words of the Australian driver express this character perfectly: "I can't wait to go to Paul Richard and win another one".
A perfect Sunday for Wharton. After taking the lead, overtaking Italian driver Badoer at the first corner, he dominated the race until the checquered flag.
Tuukka in pursuit
Tuukka Taponen dominated on Saturday. The Finnish driver took his third consecutive win in the European Formula Regional Championship, he is the second one to achieve this record in the history of this championship after Franco Colapinto. Tuukka, however, cares little about statistics, what he really wants is to snatch the lead from Câmara and win the championship. The last few races show all his determination.
After all, he had already demonstrated his talent in the winter, dominating and winning the Formula Regional Middle East championship.
After starting in first position, he drove an excellent race, never being distracted by the pressure of Brando Badoer, who never managed to force him to make a mistake. Not even the restart after the safety car, caused by Giovanni Maschio, put him in trouble.
Thus, he once again crossed the finish line first and, getting out of the car, said: "This is exactly what I wanted: good tyre control, good pace. We did a great job today".
On Sunday, the Finn was unable to repeat his pole position and was only forced to start from eighth position. At the start, he managed to make up three positions and subsequently gained fourth. An excellent job so far, however, not wanting to be content to stay behind the championship leader, in an attempt to overtake him, he was caught by Clerot.
Despite dropping a few points to his rival, he ended a good weekend.
Disappointed drivers of the weekend
If Taponen can be quite satisfied with the Italian round, the one who was disappointed again this weekend was Brando Badoer. The Italian driver came close to taking pole position on Saturday, starting in second and chasing the Finn's car all race long, without ever being able to seriously fight for victory. Yet, in race 2, after taking an excellent pole position, the opportunity to win his first race in the Freca championship was concrete but he was unable to seize it. In fact, due to a poor start from him but a brilliant one from Wharton, Badoer lost the lead of the race and, trying to regain it, lost the position to Câmara. After a moment of lack of lucidity, he regained control and at managed to take back P2.
Disappointment is great for the Italian driver who, in his home race, had the opportunity to achieve an important result that would allow him to break free and take that step forward. Surely this will serve as a boost for him to improve and perhaps finally get the win.
The driver who was slightly disappointed but not too disappointed was Rafael Câmara. However, the Prema team driver manages to contain the damage on his team's home weekend. On Saturday he ran a decent race, crossing the finish line in fifth position. While in Race 2 he was more of a protagonist, first fighting for second with Badoer and then holding off Taponen and managing to bring home a fine third place, climbing onto the podium for the eighth time this season. These are also good points for him this weekend, allowing him to keep the championship lead. The Brazilian driver must, however, watch out for his rivals, who have been very fast in the last few races and in the next ones will certainly be fierce and ready to snatch as many points as possible from him.
With the Italian round the first half of the championship has come to an end, we will see in a few days whether Câmara will be able to rest easy or whether he will have to start worrying more about his rivals Taponen and Badoer.
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