KTF Sports Academy driver won in Spa-Francorchamps

The Spa-Francorchamps Circuit, in Belgium, received this weekend, 29th and 30th of July, the 7th round of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine. Representing the KTF Sports Academy, Gabriel Bortoleto conquered his first win of the series in the Saturday race, the 14th of the year.

In one of his favorite tracks of the calendar, Bortoleto had a very atypical weekend. After having the 14th place on the first Free Practice and the 5th on the second, the R-Ace GP decided alongside his engineers for the third change of Power Unit of the year. That decision influenced directly all of the weekend strategy and, thus, the activities were quite different.

On the Qualifying for the first race, aware of the penalty to start from the end of the grid, the Brazilian driver didn’t use new tyres and marked the 24th time. Such position, however, wasn’t even considered and he went on to the race from the end of the pack. On the race, that took place on Friday, Bortoleto showed why he has been considered one of the main drivers of the Championship. In an extremely bold race the driver managed to get no less than 17 places and crossed the finish line in 15th place.

For the Saturday race, the reality was different. After claiming the 4th place in Qualifying and with a new set of tires (that he didn’t use for Qualifying), Bortoleto went on very excited for the race. Aware of his privileged position before his direct opponents, the driver had a calculated race, overtook the Championship leaders that were ahead of him and stood behind of his teammate Hadrien David that crossed the line first. Nevertheless, a few hours after the end of the race, David was penalized for an overtake under yellow flag, and, thus, Bortoleto got his first win of the year.

With that result, the KTF Sports driver, adds now 117 points and, among the 40 subscribed to the Championship, he stands in 6th. The 8th round of the Formula Regional European by Alpine will take place in Red Bull Ring, Austria, in 40 days – after the European summer break – between the 8th and 10th of September.

“I’m very happy with my first win in the series. I’ve been dedicating a lot to prepare personally and also with the team. The new Power Unit really made a difference as well as our fantastic tyre strategy. I’m going to rest a little bit in the next few days, in Brazil, and renew my energies for the end of the Championship”, concluded the 17-year-old.