Academy Report: A historic FREC debut for Sasha at Imola
A maiden FREC win for Oleksandr Bondarev, plus points for Alessandro Giusti and Kean Nakamura-Berta in their penultimate rounds
Published
07 SEP 2026
Est. reading time
3 min
Header image © Dutch Photo Agency
It was a weekend to remember for the Atlassian Williams F1 Team Driver Academy, headlined by one of the most eye-catching debuts in the history of the Formula Regional European Championship.
While Oleksandr Bondarev was making headlines at Imola, Alessandro Giusti enjoyed one of his strongest weekends of the season at Monza, while Kean Nakamura-Berta remained in the title hunt in FREC.
Oleksandr Bondarev
Formula Regional European Championship | Round 7 - Imola
There are debut weekends, and then there is this. It was announced that Sasha would arrive at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari not to drive in Italian F4, but instead for his first-ever FREC round.
Free practice showed early signs of encouragement with P3, while Qualifying 1 placed him P5 in Group A.
Race 1 was an opportunity to learn more about the series and these cars in racing trim. He finished P10, but Race 2 showed exactly what Sasha is capable of. Starting P3 on the reversed grid, he fought his way to second, finishing 0.352 seconds behind winner Salim Hanna despite three Safety Car periods repeatedly closing the field back up. Rookie honours were his.
© Dutch Photo Agency
Then came Sunday. Sasha put his Van Amersfoort Racing machine on pole position for Race 3, his first in the championship, and converted it into victory, holding off a relentless challenge from championship leader Emanuele Olivieri across 15 laps to win by 0.443 seconds.
In doing so, Sasha became the first Ukrainian driver to win in the Formula Regional European Championship – a historic moment and a statement of intent ahead of his second and final FREC round at Hockenheim.
Alessandro Giusti
Formula 3 | Round 8 - Monza
The pace that has been there all season was on full display at Monza, making the Feature Race outcome all the more frustrating.
Sandro topped Friday's free practice, leading a 1-2-3 for MP Motorsport. Qualifying was less straightforward, with P4 in his side of the group still representing a useful starting position for the weekend.
Starting P5, Sandro ran strongly throughout the Sprint and led for several laps, avoiding some fairly dramatic incidents, even by Formula 3 standards.
Ultimately, he came home P5 with six championship points, a reward for a composed performance. It moved him from P20 to P17 in the standings.
The Feature Race didn't bring quite as much fortune. Sandro was running as high as P7 but received the black-and-orange flag and was forced to pit, ultimately retiring from the race.
He remains on 23 points as F3 heads towards its finale in Madrid this weekend.
Kean Nakamura-Berta
Formula Regional European Championship | Round 7 - Imola
It was not the Imola weekend Kean had been hoping for, arriving at a circuit where he has raced before with his eyes firmly on the championship fight. Free practice placed him P5, and while Q1 returned P7 in Group A, the race results across the weekend didn't reflect the pace he has shown at the front of this championship throughout 2026.
P15 in Race 1 and P10 in Race 2 were difficult returns, with a stronger Q2 session returning P5 in Group A ahead of Race 3, where he recovered to P9. It adds up to a points haul that will leave him frustrated given the circumstances.
Kean heads into the final round at Hockenheim third in the championship on 175 points – 25 points off the lead, with the title dream still alive.
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