Zachary ‘Zach’ David faced one of the toughest weekends in Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA) during the penultimate round at Circuit de Barcelona. Struggling with pace and short on luck, the Malta-licensed Filipino driver put on a solid drive on track but could only manage 13th place at best.
The R-ace GP driver enjoyed positive results in Testing and was even 9th fastest in one of the sessions, giving him confidence ahead of Qualifying. This clearly showed on Saturday with David setting the 3rd fastest lap in Group A, which placed him P6 on the grid for Race 1 later that day.
But as the championship drew to a close, tensions were running high and caused several drivers to make an error right before the lights went out. The start had to be aborted twice and forced the entire 32-car grid to lap the 4.657 km track a few more times. Finally, the field was able to get away cleanly on the third attempt, with the exemption of David whose car had a problem at the start. He was eventually able to get up to full speed albeit dropping back to P22.
After the Safety Car restart, David improved a position up into P21 and looked for a way to claw back lost ground. However, it proved harder and harder to make a clean overtake on the F1 circuit as he struggled for pace as the race progressed. Clearly gutted, the 17-year-old was then forced to settle for 21st at the finish.
Day 2 of racing gave David new hope of securing a strong result in Barcelona. He was 6th fastest in Group A Qualifying and would line up P12 on the grid, right behind his teammate and championship contender Tuukka Taponen.
Although still a few rows back from pole, the pair had a good chance at landing in the Top 10 if they worked together. But the race almost ended as quickly as it started with an opening lap pile-up that took out several drivers, Taponen included. David even had to go off track to avoid the stricken car of his teammate and luckily escaped unscathed. Now a few places down in P15, he again made up a place after the Safety Car restart. And like in the previous day, a general lack of pace left David unable to fight to take the chequered flag in 13th place.
Scoring no points at Barcelona made it a weekend to forget for Zach David. But he will have one last chance to shine in the 2024 season of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA) as it wraps up at the end of October, with the finale taking place at the Monza Circuit in Italy.
Zach David: “Luck was not on our side this weekend and also lacked overall pace as a team. Still, there were some positives from Barcelona and thankful to have avoided collision in Race 2. We’ll work hard to fix the issues and come back strong for the final round in Monza at the end of October.”
