Štolcermanis slips off track in Hockenheim, misses podium chance
Latvian driver Roberts Štolcermanis, who qualified fourth for the Hockenheim FREC round, ran off track late in race one and later retired, losing a chance at his first career podium finish.
In the FREC (Formula Regional European Championship) round at Hockenheim, Latvian driver Roberts Štolcermanis of the Prema team failed to hold a strong position and did not finish race one with a result. In qualifying, he placed second in his group, trailing only rookie standings leader Emanuele Olivieri of Italy (R-ace), and lined up for the race from fourth position.
Right at the start, Olivieri collided with American driver Sebastian Wheldon (MP) and ended up off the racing line, an opening Štolcermanis used to briefly take the lead. He was soon overtaken, however, by pole-sitter Jan Przyrowski of RPM, and before the safety car was deployed, the Latvian slipped back to fourth place.
As the race continued, Przyrowski held first place, Štolcermanis's British teammate Keanu Nakamura-Berta ran second, while Frenchman Alexandre Munoz of ART briefly held third. When Munoz lost that position, an opportunity opened for Štolcermanis to move up the order.
However, with just a few minutes left in the race, Štolcermanis ran off the circuit. Although he managed to rejoin, he retired from the race shortly afterward. His misfortune opened the door for the United Arab Emirates' Rashid Al Dhaheri (R-ace) to claim third place.
Štolcermanis has yet to finish on the podium in his FREC career. The round's second race is scheduled for Sunday. This season, the FREC series runs eight rounds through September at circuits that host or have hosted Formula One races, and the Latvian driver plans to compete in all of them. Over the previous three years, Štolcermanis raced in the Italian, Middle Eastern, and Southeast Asian F4 championships.
