Arden Motorsport head to Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia this weekend (25-26 September) aiming to continue their recent progress back towards the front in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine.
The Banbury-based team have endured a rollercoaster season thus far in Europe’s premier single seater category, including podium finishes at Imola, Barcelona and Paul Ricard, coupled with some character-building weekends.
After a solid haul of points last time out at the Red Bull Ring, the team’s trio – Britain’s Alex Quinn, Finland’s William Alatalo, and Italy’s Nicola Marinangeli – arrive at the 2.48-mile Spanish venue keen to capitalise on their recent momentum.
The Red Arrows sit a comfortable fourth in the Teams’ standings, but crucially just 14 points shy of a top-three position. Quinn and Alatalo sit well-placed in the Drivers’ stakes to move up through the top ten, with Marinangeli’s quest for his first points of the campaign drawing ever closer to success.
Following two days of pre-event testing to acclimatise to the technical, flowing nature of the circuit, the team’s competitive action kicks off with qualifying at 08:00 (BST), with the opening race to follow at 13:30 that afternoon.
The format repeats again on Sunday, with the sessions scheduled to start at 08:00 and 12:05 respectively. Live coverage, as usual, is available via the championship’s YouTube channel and social media platforms.
Ben Salter, Arden Formula Regional Team Manager said:
“The atmosphere within the team has been positive recently, and that was definitely helped by a step in the right direction at the Red Bull Ring.
“All three drivers are feeling confident, and everybody from an engineering standpoint has been putting the hours in, as usual, to ensure we arrive in Valencia with a competitive car and a platform to go out and score some points.
“There’s still every reason to be looking up the championship standings rather than over our shoulders, so that’s a good position to be in, and will hopefully be a springboard to success over the final three events, starting this weekend.”
William Alatalo (#8) said:
“I think qualifying is going to be crucial this weekend, Valencia is an extremely hard circuit on which to overtake, so it’s important to maximise those sessions in order to set us up for a strong weekend.
“I’m looking forward to being back in the car and hopefully fighting up the front.”
Nicola Marinangeli (#14) said:
“After another positive weekend at the Red Bull Ring, with good pace, my focus this weekend is on giving it my all to bring back some good results.
“The team will provide me with a good car and we’ve prepared well, now we just need for things to go our way out on track and the results will speak for themselves.”
Alex Quinn (#21) said:
“Last time out in Austria was a positive weekend for us, so the focus for me in Valencia is to carry that momentum forward and bring back another set of strong results.
“We’re heading into the business end of the season now and there’s still plenty left to play for, so our objective has to be to take it race-by-race and maximise each opportunity that comes our way.”