Paul Aron recovered from a non-scoring opening race of the season on Saturday in perfect fashion as he took victory in race two at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza on Sunday.
The Prema Racing driver is one of the favourites to win the 2022 Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine title, and he started his Sunday by taking pole position, although weather conditions favoured those in his group.
Mercedes-Benz junior Aron led from the start and survived two safety car interventions to take his first win of the season, with team-mate and Saturday race winner Dino Beganovic securing second place ahead of Gabriele Mini of ART Grand Prix.
Conditions at Monza were much better than they had been on Saturday, with a dry track throughout the race, and it was a clean opening few laps for the thirty-six drivers on show. One driver was absent from proceedings, with Axel Gnos being forced out due to an injury, caused during his crash into the barriers exiting the second Lesmo bend during Saturday’s opening race.
It was a clean start heading into turn one, with Mini attacking Beganovic for second. However, the Swede came out on top of that exchange, with Mari Boya also getting himself involved in the battle.
Van Amersfoort Racing’s Kas Haverkort overtook Boya for fourth on the third lap, with the Spaniard then being shadowed by MP Motorsport’s Michael Belov.
The first safety car came as two separate incidents occurred within seconds of each other heading into the second chicane. Firstly, Pietro Delli Guanti spun, while behind Monolite Racing’s Pietro Armanni collided with Prema Racing’s Hamda Al Qubaisi.
Delli Guanti was able to continue, but Armanni and Al Qubaisi were out on the spot, with the former being handed a grid drop penalty for the first race of the next race weekend at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari next month.
Aron controlled the restart perfectly, with Beganovic holding onto second ahead of Mini. However, Belov managed to get ahead of Boya at the restart to run fifth.
With under ten minutes of the race to go, the safety car was needed once more for two separate incidents – Santiago Ramos was spun around at the second chicane by Keith Donegan, with the latter earning himself a grid penalty for the Imola round as a result.
Just before the safety car boards were displayed, R-ace GP’s Léna Bühler found the way approaching the first chicane. Ramos and Bühler were both forced to retire from the race.
Aron again held off the challenge of Beganovic at the final restart, while Haverkort resisted the challenge of Belov in the battle for fourth. Boya ended sixth ahead of R-ace GP’s Hadrien David, while Prema Racing’s Sebastian Montoya was the best of the rookies in eighth.
Gabriel Bortoleto ended ninth for R-ace GP but not after a last lap tangle with team-mate Lorenzo Fluxá that saw the Spaniard tumble down the order after being nudged into the gravel exiting the first chicane. Fluxá’s loss was Monolite Racing’s Macéo Capietto’s gain, the Frenchman taking the final point on offer in tenth.
One of the stars of the race was MP Motorsport’s Sami Meguetounif, who made up fifteen positions from his grid spot to finish eleventh, although he will be disappointed not to make up one more place to break into the points.
But no one had an answer to the pace of Aron or Prema Racing, and they came out the deserving winners on Sunday afternoon.
Autodromo Nazionale Monza Race 2 Result
| POS. | NO. | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TIME/GAP |
| 1 | 3 | Paul Aron | EST | Prema Racing | 32:07.839 |
| 2 | 18 | Dino Beganovic | SWE | Prema Racing | +1.371 |
| 3 | 46 | Gabriele Mini | ITA | ART Grand Prix | +1.873 |
| 4 | 27 | Kas Haverkort | NED | Van Amersfoort Racing | +2.604 |
| 5 | 30 | Michael Belov | MP Motorsport | +3.091 | |
| 6 | 64 | Mari Boya | ESP | ART Grand Prix | +3.588 |
| 7 | 26 | Hadrien David | FRA | R-ace GP | +4.858 |
| 8 | 58 | Sebastián Montoya | COL | Prema Racing | +5.301 |
| 9 | 85 | Gabriel Bortoleto | BRZ | R-ace GP | +7.426 |
| 10 | 5 | Macéo Capietto | FRA | Monolite Racing | +7.762 |
| 11 | 17 | Sami Meguetounif | FRA | MP Motorsport | +8.526 |
| 12 | 70 | Tim Tramnitz | GER | Trident | +9.333 |
| 13 | 13 | Joshua Dufek | CHE | Van Amersfoort Racing | +9.822 |
| 14 | 10 | Joshua Dürksen | PAR | Arden Motorsport | +9.921 |
| 15 | 72 | Leonardo Fornaroli | ITA | Trident | +10.074 |
| 16 | 65 | Keith Donegan | IRE | Race Performance Motorsport | +11.055 |
| 17 | 12 | Victor Bernier | FRA | FA Racing | +11.682 |
| 18 | 4 | Roman Bilinski | POL | Trident | +12.080 |
| 19 | 77 | Dilano van ‘t Hoff | NED | MP Motorsport | +12.559 |
| 20 | 91 | Eduardo Barrichello | BRZ | Arden Motorsport | +13.401 |
| 21 | 21 | Piotr Wiśnicki | POL | KIC Motorsport | +13.952 |
| 22 | 9 | Esteban Masson | FRA | FA Racing | +13.991 |
| 23 | 16 | Lorenzo Fluxá | ESP | R-ace GP | +14.106 |
| 24 | 55 | Pietro Delli Guanti | ITA | Race Performance Motorsport | +14.174 |
| 25 | 19 | Noel León | MEX | Arden Motorsport | +14.685 |
| 26 | 92 | Owen Tangavelou | FRA | G4 Racing | +14.693 |
| 27 | 11 | Levente Révész | HUN | Van Amersfoort Racing | +15.054 |
| 28 | 8 | Matías Zagazeta | PER | G4 Racing | +15.244 |
| 29 | 35 | Nicolás Baptiste | COL | FA Racing | +15.678 |
| 30 | 28 | Francesco Braschi | ITA | KIC Motorsport | +16.222 |
| 31 | 24 | Cenyu Han | CHN | Monolite Racing | +16.344 |
| RET | 15 | Léna Bühler | CHE | R-ace GP | Retired |
| RET | 68 | Santiago Ramos | MEX | KIC Motorsport | Retired |
| RET | 42 | Laurens van Hoepen | NED | ART Grand Prix | Retired |
| RET | 88 | Hamda Al Qusaibi | UAE | Prema Racing | Retired |
| RET | 6 | Pietro Armanni | ITA | Monolite Racing | Retired |
| DNS | 7 | Axel Gnos | CHE | G4 Racing | Did Not Start |